The Sphere

The Sphere is a cast-bronze lantern fabricated using 3D printed molds. It was designed by students from Studio MAD at the Aarhus School of Architecture, and fabricated at the School during a 2-week workshop. The course explored making processes informed by a broad range of techniques bridging the gap between advanced digital design and fabrication technologies and traditional craft methodologies.

The project discusses a hybrid making process where students are exposed to making as a discursive and iterative process that studies an d challenges material behavior and limitations in each successive phase, from the translation of precise geometry to gooey plastic in FDM printing processes, to the cracks in ceramic investments and the rapid transmutation of bronze from fluid to solid in the moments of its pouring into a cold mold. As much as the project relies on digital production process for a level of geometric specificity in the final piece, it joyfully leaps into a material domain where each process leaves its mark on the artifact, from the meshing algorithm used in the software, to the stratified layers of the 3D printer, to the delicate imperfections of the ceramic mold as it warms and cools. Students are exposed to the felicitous conversation with material behavior in the realization of an artifact.