Assistant Professor Benjamin Dillenburger was featured in a Q&A in the Globe and Mail last week. The interview focused on the architect and programmer’s design of the first-ever 3-D printed room. Called Digital Grotesque, the intricate room was created using a computer, which allowed the designers (Dillenburger collaborated with architect Michael Hansmeyer on the project) to create something much more complex than would otherwise be possible.

“With computational design, we can design forms that we can hardly imagine,” Dillenburger told Globe writer Matthew Hague. “That’s the most special thing about Digital Grotesque. That we were able to envision and build forms that we could not draw manually, which we could never do before.”

with these 3-D printers, the complexity doesn’t matter. You might be able to fabricate complex building elements for the same cost as standardized ones. I think this could change architecture dramatically. We might be able to free ourselves from standardized components, which could result in better buildings. Visually more complex, more attractive buildings.

The article was published shortly after Dillenburger presented a talk at the Construct Canada Conference as part of a roundtable featuring “Architects on the Front Lines of Innovation.” The December 3rd panel brought together “thought-leaders known for spatially complex and programmatically innovative approaches on the front lines of innovation.”

The full Q&A with Dillenburger can be found on the Globe and Mail website.

Related:

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• Benjamin Dillenburger shortlisted for MoMA P.S.1’s Young Architects Program
• Benjamin Dillenburger and Michael Hansmeyer design "The room with 260 million surfaces," the first 3D printed room