The 3D Printed Chair - Gemini Acoustic Chaise

[Larry]

This is a simply amazing piece of work that MIT Professor Neri Oxman unveiled today. It is a 3D printed acoustic chaise, which was printed by the best of best 3d printers, the Stratasys Objet 500 Conex3.


The chair was printed using 44 different digital materials.

"The twin chaise spans multiple scales of the human existence extending from the warmth of the womb to the stretches of the Gemini zodiac in deep space. It recapitulates a human cosmos, our body, like the constellation, drifting in quiet space. Here the duality of nature is expressed through the combination of traditional materials and state-of-the-art 3D printing," says Oxman. "Stratasys' new multi-material color 3D printing capability has allowed me to create a rich dialog between sound and light, rigid and flexible, natural and man-made materials and high and low spatial frequencies in ways that were impossible until now."

Here's a video of the Chaise:

"Gemini is fundamentally about the complex and contradictory relationship between twins, which is mirrored in the geometrical forms of the two-part chaise and the dualities that drive their formation, such as the combination of natural and synthetic materials," explains Professor Oxman. "The Objet500 Connex3 Color Multi-material 3D Printer and technology enabled us to print 44 material combinations that not only target specific pressure points on the body to form a sensorial landscape, but also act as a soundproof anechoic chamber, an architecture for quieting the mind."

If you are in the area the Gemini will be on display at Le Laboratoire Paris from March 28th 2014.

[makerjim]

I don't get it. What is it supposed to do? Does it change what things sound like when you are sitting in it? I couldn't understand from the video.

[Compro01]

I don't get it. What is it supposed to do? Does it change what things sound like when you are sitting in it?

They say the hood-thing acts as an anechoic chamber, meaning it blocks out ambient sound.