Hanth Park in Thessaloniki is home to furniture made from plastic waste using a 3D printer. Citizens were able to participate in the design process as part of the pilot project.
Two architects launched their “Print Your City” project in the Netherlands in 2016. The creative team uses large-format 3D printers to produce street furniture from plastic waste. The first prototypes are now available in Thessaloniki.
Last year, Setaki and Sakkas opened the “Zero Waste Lab” in the center of the Greek port city of Thessaloniki. The lab is equipped with a robotic arm and recycling systems. Visitors can find out more about recycling and follow the production process live.
Citizens can actively participate in the pilot project and design street furniture themselves, as well as having a say in its future location. A dedicated website allows them to choose the shape and color. Additional functions can also be integrated into the furniture. These include, for example, a dog food bowl or a metal bicycle stand. Once the design has been completed, the computer program calculates the amount of plastic required.
The Greek community suggested several locations in Thessaloniki for the site. In a voting process, the citizens choose their favorite piece of furniture and the location. Citizens are very interested in this pilot project. The website went online in December last year. Since then, 3,000 designs have already been submitted.
New designs in the works
The first voting process has now been completed. The citizens have chosen the ten most popular pieces of street furniture. These have now been installed in Hanth Park. The New Raw sorted, cleaned and shredded over 900 kilograms of plastic waste and then processed it using a 3D printer. But the project is not yet finished. The residents and the creative team are already working on new designs and other locations in Thessaloniki.
You can find the full article on “Print your city” in the March 2019 issue of G+L.
All photos: Stefanos Tsakiris












