All Abroad

Written by: Shydale James
College of Architecture and Design students spent a month in Italy learning how to cut stone.

The Digital Stone Project is a summer workshop offered by Italian stone-cutting company Garfagnana Innovazione. Students from NJIT, NYIT, Yale University, Bennington College and William Paterson University were selected by their respective faculty and brought to Garfagnana, Italy to work with the latest innovations in digital stone fabrication technologies.

The students developed models using programs such as Rhinoceros, 3-D Studio Max, Zbrush and Cinema 4-D to be milled out by five axis robotic mills at facilities provided by Garfagnana Innovazione.

The workshop allows for the development and completion of innovative, 3-D, digitally developed sculptures. The one-month residency also served as an academic incubator, during which students and faculty discussed their work and emerging technologies.