Im Zuge der Corona-Pandemie mobilisierte die Bjarke Ingels Group innerhalb weniger Tage sämtliche ihrer 3D-Drucker zur Produktion sogenannter „Faceshields“. Die Architekten entwickelten die Open-Source-Design-Datei des schwedischen 3D-Printing Unternehmens 3DVerkstan so weiter, dass das New Yorker BIG-Büro inzwischen mehrere tausend Stück pro Woche drucken kann. Wir haben Bjarke Ingels gefragt, welche Verantwortung Architekten diese Tage im Kampf gegen den C-Virus tragen und welche Chancen er in der aktuellen Situation sieht. Hier ist seine Antwort.
“In response to the acute and escalating need for PPE here in New York City, we had the possibility to mobilize our 3D printing and modelmaking capabilities to make nearly 10,000 face masks per week for the medical forces on the front lines across New York, Copenhagen and London.
One thing that we find intriguing out of this situation is the idea of distributed just-in-time manufacturing capabilities. Just like computers went from business machines to PC’s to handheld devices – the internet went from institutional to businesses and internet cafes to cable and wireless – and perhaps manufacturing is in the process to move from purpose-built factories to general capabilities and eventually to the maker hub on the block or the PF Personal Fabricator.
Out of the massive urgency and shortcomings of the traditional provisions and supply chain during the COVID-19 outbreak, the silver lining here is perhaps in revealing the flexible making capacity that resides in so many places you don’t normally associate with the in manufacturing industry – like Architecture and Design studios. Our BIG NYC Model Shop has been spearheading our 3D printing efforts these past days, adapting the open source face shield design by Erik Cederberg of 3DVerkstan to be optimized for high-volume print production. As with distributed computing, perhaps distributed manufacturing has potentials we haven’t even thought of yet. The cloud of the material world – that allows instant and omnipresent translation from data to matter.”
– Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG.
