Dutch company Concr3de has proposed rebuilding parts of Notre-Dame Cathedral from the ashes of the fire using 3D printing, and has already printed a replacement gargoyle.
Concr3de, which was founded by architects Eric Geboers and Matteo Baldassari in 2016, used 3D scans to reproduce Le Stryge, a demon statue that sits on the roof of the gothic cathedral in Paris that was severely damaged in a fire last week.
A mixture of limestone and ash ? similar to the materials found after the fire ? was used as the material to replicate the iconic gargoyle, which was added to the cathedral's roof during the 19th century restoration by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
Elements of Notre-Dame could be remade using the damaged stone and ashes from the fire "We saw the spire collapse and thought we could propose a way to combine the old materials with new technology to help speed up the reconstruction and make a cathedral that is not simply a copy of the original but rather a cathedral that would show its layered history proudly," Geboers told Dezeen.
Geboers believes using the materials left behind after the fire would address some philosophical problems posed by rebuilding Notre-Dame to the original design while using new materials.
"Isn't a copy just a fake" Simply copying, pretending there never was a fire, would be a historical forgery," he said.
The Lutetian Limestone that was originally used to build Notre-Dame, along with much of Paris, was taken from min...