Metagardens, 5 Axis CNC Routing

• Creation Date:Wednesday 1st July, 2009

Summary

‘Monstruosa’ (Spanish for monster) is a sleek and functional garden scheduled to be launched at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The entire garden was cut from enormous pieces of polystyrene at Metropolitan Works using the Centre’s 5 Axis CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) Router.

Metropolitan Works’ 5 Axis Router is a similar specification to the ones used within the automotive industry to prototype new models for cars. The machine’s specialist 5 Axis head gives the cutter the additional functionality to twist and tilt; allowing it to carve contours and complex shapes from one solid block of material. Once cut, the polystyrene blocks were glued together and plastic-coated with a polyurea elastomer to give a resilient water-proof finish, before being spray painted metallic silver.

‘Monstruosa’ is the second garden by Metagardens to be produced using this process; Fernando Gonzalez the founder of the company came up with the concept of a polystyrene garden after he was inspired by the illusive nature of film sets.

“You can create any shape you want using a CNC machine so the possibilities are endless. The finished garden doesn’t look like it’s made from polystyrene; it gives the illusion of being something very heavy like the props used in film sets. “
Fernando Gonzalez

At a finished size of 35 metres squared, ‘Monstruosa’ is the largest project that Metropolitan Works have produced on their CNC Router to date. The machine’s huge working area of 2.5×6 metres meant that the garden could be milled in just 16 sections; minimising the time spent on setup and finishing. Gonzalez was impressed by the quality of Metropolitan Work’s service and expertise:

“From the very beginning the technicians at Metropolitan Works were very passionate about the project; they helped me to refine the design and make my garden into a reality. “