Our reality has changed with the inception of 4D materials. With our resources diminished the use of advanced smart technologies and evolving 3D & 4D printing  has pushed us to think differently about how we used ordinary materials. As ordinary materials became less accessible to the the growing populations other smart technologies began to adapt themselves with these printed technologies to produce something completely revolutionary. Two-dimensional printing has made objects that were flat and 3D printing made objects that had volume, but add in the fourth dimension, time, and you created objects that move on their own. Aside from objects that can be printed with the capacity to move on their own, the ability to control the movement to any configuration was the goal of this technology. Compared to 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, the process which used conventional additives to form solid 3D objects was a thing of the past. 4D printing had taken a completely different approach to the matter, and as a result with architects constantly looking for new materials and technologies to design in a more effective and efficient manner, 4D materials have distorted our reality on how we interact with these structures.

Published: April 08, 2014