Before the summer vacation Pronk was still highly positive about his new project, which was due to be implemented in Harbin six months later. He was supposed to print an igloo instead of building one by spraying iced water against an inflatable mould, which until now has been the standard technique. He spoke of having developed a jelly that not only binds the mixture of materials it contains, but also works like a lubricant. This would prevent the piping nozzle of the 3D printer becoming blocked. A patent application has been filed.

But according to Pronk, getting the necessary equipment to Harbin this year would be too arduous. It has therefore been decided to build a gridshell on the campus of the Harbin Institute of Technology. This is an open structure and one which, according to Pronk, has an esthetic rather than a functional value, “but will do a good job of showing the possibilities offered by 3D ice printing.”

To make the structure a mould is first inflated, over which ropes will be pulled tight. This forms the basis for the grid ultimately made of ice. With piping bags normally intended for cream, the special ice jelly developed in Eindhoven is, as it were, ‘printed’ onto this network of ropes. To enable the ice printers to reach everywhere without damaging the structure, a special scaffold must first be erected. Once the ice jelly has frozen onto the ropes, the mould is removed and the open structure remains.