EXPERIMENTS
Parametric Pine
Exploring parametric design with bio-material for additive manufacturing
How it started
During the first semester of 2025-2026, BESIGN - The Sustainable Design School had a partnership project with the Be-Lab. Here, the students were given the task to experiment with bio-material recipe creation, FDM printer hacking and potential products creation.
How it developed
The given role was to experiment with sustainable fabrication processes with a focus on FDM printing, exploring its compatibility with bio-materials and parametric design originally created by other students. The material experimented with was that of a pine needle paste, which has been the focus of the Lab material research for a 2 years.
More precisely, the goal was to generate a custom G-Code architecture using Rhino's Grasshopper, which could then be adjusted and modified based on the desired geometry.
Glossary
Additive manufacturing
The industrial production name for what we know as "3D printing"
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Fused deposition modeling (FDM)
A type of additive manufacturing based off material extrusion
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Parametric Design
A design method in which features are shaped based on algorithmic processes
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Geometric Code (G-Code)
A type of programming language used in 3D printing for instructing machine tool movement
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Rhino Grasshopper
A visual programming language that runs within the Rhinoceros 3D modeling software
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Slicing
Translating static geometry into machine-readable commands that 3D printers can execute
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Meet the intern
"This experience with the Be-Lab confirmed by interest for additive manufacturing and allowed me to discover and learn new things such as programming with Rhino and understanding material properties"
"Hello! I am Elizabeth Nazarova, from Geneva Switzerland. Recently, I have completed my Master’s mémoire on the use of Generative Design for Additive Manufacturing for sustainability and performance optimization.
This experience left me motivated to pursue a career mixing design, engineering and sustainability, making the Be-Lab particularly attractive as an internship opportunity."
Elizabeth Nazarova
Meet the coach
"My role was to oversee the student intern to explore the creation of sustainable bio-materials compatible with manufacturing technologies, such as extrusion-based additive manufacturing and injection moulding.
The Intern was first given the task to benchmark existing materials and explore their mechanical properties, allowing to provide the Be-Lab team with performance and evaluation metrics. Then, the intern was asked to create a structural and recognisable component – think the Lego brick– so she researched various possibilities such as joint fixtures (panel, beam, rod), building bricks, panelling, tiles, etc."
Saurabh Bedarkar
Processes and Challenges
Injection moulding
The first process explored was injection moulding. The intern ideated on mould designs, CAD modeled and printed the moulds with a filament based 3D printer.
The challenges faced with this process were linked to the material not being viscous enough to fill the mould or the component’s not capable of solidifying due to lack of airflow.
Manual extrusion
Next, inspired by pastry bags, the Intern thought of a manual extrusion mould in which an interchangeable cross-section front plate would bring the aspect of parametric design.
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Here, the challenge was linked to the material collapsing upon its own weight and overflowing in the mould.
Additive manufacturing
Along with compression molding which the BESIGN students explored, 3D printing was the only process which brought results.This last step look the longest to achieve as it required extra steps such as using advanced softare (Grasshopper) for parametric geomertry designs, as well as the creation of custom printer nozzle trajectories (GCode) allowing for intricate shapes.
Though trial and error, the intern and the coach managed to print a successful cup with a swerved design. The challenges in this process where again linked to material collapsing on its own weight and lack of viscosity.