Architectural 3D Printing

Single-colour, multi-material colour, or hand-painted? How to choose the right finish for an architectural model — matching cost and impact to planning, presentation and sales-suite needs.

Not using Revit? How to export a clean, printable architectural model from ArchiCAD, SketchUp and Rhino — watertight meshes, the right STL/OBJ settings, and which program needs the most geometry clean-up.

Massing models capture a scheme's form and site fit — the questions planning committees ask first. Why clean, single-colour 3D printed massing models suit planning and zoning submissions, and how fast iteration helps through design review.

Housing developments and masterplans are where build volume decides model quality. How we print multi-block schemes on large-format equipment for fewer seams and cleaner results — with a real Costa del Sol example.

Which scale should your architectural model be? A practical guide to 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 and 1:500 — and how to match scale to housing developments, masterplans and presentation models without losing the detail that matters.

A step-by-step guide to exporting a Revit model for 3D printing: creating a print view, what to turn off, getting watertight geometry, STL vs DWG export, and preparing your model for an accurate architectural scale model.