Famed for its geometrically challenging organic form and ability to frustrate architects and model makers decades after its completion, Le Corbusier’s chapel “Notre Dame du Haut”, more commonly known as Ronchamp, has proved incredibly difficult for model makers to accurately replicate.
In fact, it is such a particular and well-known form, that when modelled inaccurately, it is very obvious. After seeing many model makers suffer the same fate as the builders that constructed the original building located on the hill of Bourlémont near Belfort in Eastern France, London based, 3D printing studio, Digits2Widgets (D2W) set itself the challenge of creating the most accurate model of the chapel ever produced, with the aid of 3D printing.
...The entire CAD production process took around two weeks to complete, including not just a completely accurate exterior but also the incredibly detailed interior with the model being created in four parts in order to reveal those all-important details. The base site was 3D printed in multicolour whereas the main body of the building was printed in a single Nylon SLS piece. The roof was separated from the whole CAD model in order for it to be removable to reveal the inner details and a final piece, a small water trough that catches rainwater at the rear of the chapel, was dyed grey.
The complete model will be on display at this year’s TCT Show + Personalize (Stand H23) and the studio is also in talks with a London museum to introduce the model into their shop as a new form of on demand retail.
