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Home >> Case Studies >> Zaha Hadid Ltd - Guggenheim Museum Taichung, Taiwan

Project:	Guggenheim Museum Taichung, Taiwan Museum, Education Facility, Restaurant, Café and Museum Store
Architect:	Zaha Hadid Ltd, London
Size / Area:	28,000m²
Model Size:	Over 2m long
Goal:	To produce a powerful 3D model to give visual impact for presentation purposes
Concept:	Proposal was based on the concept of the museum as an ever-changing event space

3T RPD Ltd produced scale models using their Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology, which were delivered as an architectural presentation to the office of the Mayor of Taichung, to promote the project. This is now under consideration whilst funding is being negotiated for the full development of the project.

SLS is a modern technology enabling 3D computer generated data to be converted into a tactile 3D model, giving functional form and visual impact. SLS is a cost-effective, quick and extremely accurate process when compared to more traditional model-making techniques.

Rendered Artist's Impression

SLS Prototype Model

Urban Setting: The generous site on Taichungkang Road is tied into a masterplan of two crossing axes that give an organsing structure to the ensemble of four new landmark buildings that shall comprise the Guggenheim Museum, the new Town Hall, the City Assembly and the National Opera.

Architectural Form: The building gradually emerges from a soft landscape foundation. The formal language and architectural articulation is premised on the idea that the building bleeds into the open public space of the urban axis.

Due to the complex organic forms of Zaha Hadid's design and the need to show an accurately presented final design, SLS was deemed the best solution for achieving and meeting their requirements. To place the building in context the laser sintered ‘building’ was merged with a CNC ‘landscape’ to underline the synergy of the proposal. The resulting 3D model gave an incredible visual image of the proposed building when compared alongside the computer generated artist’s impression, allowing the Mayor’s office to see, touch and feel an actual tactile scale version of the proposal.

3T’s suite of SLS machines allows single piece parts to be built up to 700mm x 380mm x 580mm, and their unique joining process enables larger components to be built in several pieces and assembled, with form and functionality unaffected.

Dillon Lin, Project Architect for Zaha Hadid, says "The SLS piece gave a very convincing presentation model that the mayor of Taichung is putting to good use in promoting the project. When accuracy is required with complex forms, SLS proves to be an economic process for producing models of these forms when compared to other, more expensive options, including making them by hand, which is extremely labour intensive.

Credits

Architectural Design: Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
Project Architect: Dillon Lin
Design Team: Jens Borstelmann, Thomas Vietzke, Yosuke Hayano
Production Team: Adriano De Gioannis, Selim Mimita, Simon Kim, Juan-Ignacio Aranguren, Ken Bostock, Elena Perez, Ergian Alberg, Rocio Paz, Markus Planteu
Structural Engineer: Adams-Kara-Taylor: Hanif Kara, Andrew Murray, Sebastian Khourain, Reuben Brambleby, Stefano Strazzullo
Services Consultant: IDOM, Bilbao
Cost Consultant: IDOM UK, IDOM Bilbao
Model Photographs: David Grandorge

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3T RPD LTD
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