Earlier this year, Queen Maxima helped open the first 3D printed stainless steel bridge in
Amsterdam. The bridge is the brainchild of MX3D, a Dutch company that has developed a proprietary
software to turn an ordinary welding robot into a high end industrial 3D metal printer.
Plans for this bridge began 6 years ago, in 2015, when MX3D proposed 3D printing a metal
bridge on site. They developed several design concepts, and got the support of Autodesk and
the city of Amsterdam. After finding a location in the Red Light district, they scanned the site
and created a highly detailed digital site model. The scan helped them develop edesign constraints
like dimensions and strength of medieval canal walls, the limits of 3D printed steel,
on-site assembly, city regulations, and engineering and practical limitations.
MX3D teamed up with Joris Laarman, who is most famous for his “bone chair” design.
This biomimetic design was inspired by human bones that develop the most mass in
areas exposed to high stress. The chair is a volume optimized structure that performs
with the least amount of material. MX3D and Joris Laarman tried to use
the same volume optimization approach in the design of the bridge but it failed.
So they teamed up with engineers at Arup on a sheet-construction approach.
Stress analysis software generated force lines through the bridge. Since the bridge heads are not
aligned, the shape had to be asymmetrical. They had to also scrap the idea of printing it on site
because of safety and technical concerns. The eventual design shows off the capabilities
of 3D printed metal technology. They developed a software called Metal XL
that calibrates materials, performs feasibility checks, slices the design and plans a toolpath,
prints the object, monitors the process and finally prints a report.
They call this printing method robotic wire arc additive manufacturing technology or WAAM.
A 6+ axis robot and a MIG/CMT welding machine creates pieces by depositing metal layer by layer.
Although this bridge was made of stainless steel, they can also print in carbon steel, duplex steel,
aluminium and bronze. Even though the walls of the bridge are thin, the overall shape makes it
strong. The bridge measures 41 feet or 12.5 meters and weighs 9,920 pounds or 4,500 kg.
The actual printing process took 6 months, and was completed in 2018.
They had to wait almost 3 years to install it because of renovations to the canal’s walls.
When it was ready to be installed, the bridge was cut up into 3 parts and transported to the site on
barges. The pieces were lifted by a crane and welded together on site.
Scientists at the Alan Turing Institute, IoT specialists and engineers embedded
a sensor network into the bridge and created a “digital twin”. The data from the sensors serves
multiple purposes. It helps them monitor changes in the bridge’s health over time, understand how
3D printed steel behaves, collect structural measurements such as strain, displacement and
vibration, count the number of pedestrians that cross it and measure environmental factors such
as air quality and temperature. This data also allows them to “teach” the digital twin bridge
to understand what is happening on it like how many people are crossing it and how quickly.
I looked into the origins of 3d printed steel. One of the earliest records of it is a patent filed
by Ralph Baker in 1920. He described using an electric arc to deposit metal in layers
to form various ornamental and useful articles like a water jug and a basket.
To go from that initial idea to a full size bridge is very impressive. Since they were
the first to attempt this, they went through a lot of growing pains and failed designs.
They had to wait 6 years to finally see it installed; now that’s a labor of love.
While the design itself isn’t biomimetic like the Bone Chair, it has a unique futuristic language of
its own. It’s a statement, a piece of art, a hint at the future of 3D printed designs. I’m sure some
people think that it sticks out but I think that it is so drastically different from the vernacular
architecture of Amsterdam’s Red Light District, that it works. I love that they didn’t paint it
or powder coat the steel, they left it honest and raw. I haven’t seen the bridge in person
yet, but from the photos, it looks like the metal reflects the color of the sky during the day and
the red lights at night. It’s transformative. Now the downsides. Just like with
outlandish Zaha Hadid or Gehry projects, there’s always a question of why? This bridge is going
to be in place for just 2 years, while the original bridge is restored. Why spend so much
time and energy building this? It’s a valid question, but this bridge pushes the limits
of new technology that has the potential to change the way we design and build.
The team also claims that the bridge is hyper-efficient and uses minimal materials.
Robotics enabled “significant weight reduction and reduced impact for parts manufactured in
the tooling, oil, and gas and construction industries.” However, architect Philip Oldfield
calculated that the stainless steel used has 27.7 tons of embodied carbon.
Nicolas, who is a part of our YouTube community, recently visited the Netherlands and experienced
the 3d printed bridge. He left me some personal and helpful feedback. He said that the layered
print and welding is crude and uneven. It’s not as sleek as it appears to be in photos.
He also said that design does not take the directionality of the layering into account
in the way a concrete bridge does. The layers look arbitrary which is an excellent observation.
Nicolas’s father created large aluminum sculptures back in the 1980s
by casting them around blocks styrofoam shaped with a hot wire. This method created smooth,
polished surfaces in a much shorter timeframe than 3D printed steel.
Nicolas also said that the curved hand rails are used as a trash can by people passing by.
This is why humans can’t have nice things. Lastly, there’s a significant misalignment
between one side of the bridge and the pavement. They tried to fill the gap with brick pavers,
but it looks very sloppy. It’s definitely not wheelchair accessible on that side. Even though
they had high-tech 3D scans of the site, they still couldn’t fit it cleanly into the context.
I think we need to understand that this bridge is an experiment. It’s a rough,
first iteration in this exciting, new technology. It may be more expensive, and take much longer
to produce right now, but it has the potential to change the way we design and build in the future.
If you’ve visited the bridge, let me know in the comments. Also, let me know what other
applications of 3D printed steel. I’ll link my Patreon page in the description. If you
can support me, I’d really appreciate it. A big thank you to everyone already supporting me. Don’t
forget to hit the like button and subscribe to my channel. Thanks for watching. See ya.