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Connect, Create, Cairo – exploring 3D printing at the Ismaili Centre Toronto
Students and teachers decide where to place their 3D-printed buildings on the Cairo exhibition model. Zulfikar Hirji
The Ismaili Centre Toronto
Canada
Toronto, 17 February 2015 — A teaching and community building architectural exhibition and associated 3D printing workshops titled Connect, Create, Cairo is being held at the Ismaili Centre Toronto from 9 November 2014 until end of February 2015. Using a novel exhibition concept that includes an architectural model of historic Cairo and the emerging technologies of 3D printing, the exhibition and workshops explore contemporary issues facing cities and urban spaces through a look at Cairo’s historic Islamic architecture and urbanism.
The workshops have been widely attended by various audience segments including youth, university students, adult learners and teachers in the Greater Toronto Area as well as to Bait-ul-Ilm students. Participants are introduced to the challenges facing contemporary cities with a focus on issues of living with a historically unique urban landscape. Participants also learn to use cutting edge 3D printing technology to visualize, design, build and collaboratively locate buildings that respond to the challenges facing 21st century cities. The buildings made by workshop participants are continually added to the exhibition’s architectural model of historic Cairo and will result in a unique vision of the city.
The project is part of a thematic series of programmes titled Cities of Arrival curated by Professor Zulfikar Hirji in collaboration with Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) teachers, volunteer architects, and MakeLab, a 3D printing start-up organisation that regularly runs large, interactive 3D printing and design events at public and private functions.
