World’s first 3D-printed steel pedestrian bridge was unveiled in Amsterdam on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal. The opening ceremony of this bridge was attended by the Queen of the Netherlands, Máxima.
The 3D printed steel bridge is made of 6-ton stainless steel structure. Here comes its unique aspects:
The 3D-printed steel bridge features
- The length of the bridge stretches to nearly 40 feet.
- The bridge is a 6-ton stainless steel structure.
- This bridge is constructed by MX3D an Amsterdam based 3D metal printing company.
- The entire printing process took just six months as it was made with the help of four robots.
- The bridge is designed by the Joris Laarman Lab and was first unveiled during the Dutch Design Week in the year 2018.
- There were plans to install the structure in early 2020 after several load-testing rounds were carried out in 2019. However, the ongoing site preparation work at the canal delayed the bridge’s installation.
Tenure of the bridge
The stainless steel structure is named the MX3D Smart Bridge and it will remain in place for minimum of two years while the previous footbridge which was spread over the canal undergoes renovation. During its two-year tenure, this bridge will act as a living laboratory and its performance will be analyzed and monitored in real time by researchers from the Alan Turing Institute’s Data-Centric Engineering Programme, Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.