3DP4E Unveils NYC’s First (?) 3D Printed Alien Subway & Rat Disco

3DP4E is no stranger to helping children fall in love with 3D printing. The name, which stands for 3D Printing 4 Everyone, reveals their commitment to spreading access to the technology by helping people to develop the mastery necessary to turn the equipment from an expensive paper weight into an essential tool. Through an initiative they call the Kids Creation Station, they continue to engage in projects designed specifically for capturing the imagination of young children by working to turn their drawings into 3D prints.

For their latest Kids Creation Station project they have joined forces with New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) to create a subway system for an imaginary alien population, complete with underground rat disco. This time, the ‘kids’ were young adults graduating from the Illustration program at F.I.T.

A spokesperson for the college explained the scope of the project that made up their thesis exhibit, entitled Alien’s Underground: F.I.T. Subway Reimagined:

“For this year’s thesis, the students were challenged with a way to make the 28th street 1 train station more visually and spatially reflective of F.I.T’s flourishing creativity. Working within the theme of aliens passengers and a dancing rat disco underneath the subway, the students created two-dimensional mystical and eccentric beings to populate the subway.”

The illustrations that the students created got an added bit of zing when 3DP4E’s creation station worked to turn them into 3D printed models. For the exhibit, there are a total of 35 statues printed in full color sandstone with a wax coating. The team at 3DP4E used a 3D Systems ProJet 660 to turn out the delightful critters. If you find yourself inexorably drawn to any one of them, it might be its alien super powers–but nevertheless, they are also available for purchase online at the 3DArtistGallery website.

And they are adorable. Or at least most of them are. The aliens range from a rough and ready beauty named Kari Toudou, designed by Bridget Pavalow, to the stuff of nightmares in the form of a particularly ghoulish fast food Wendy, complete with red braids and a disturbing, obese Ronald McDonald, both the products of Christine Bell.

The rats are charming as well, even if you aren’t the kind of person who normally associates that characteristic with this particular class of rodents. Rebecca Kozel’s disco rat sports a gold medallion and a super smooth rat jacket, open to reveal the obligatory chest hair, never mind that he isn’t wearing pants. Among the dangling disco balls, you’ll also find Leanne Maltese’s rat sniffing the air – maybe it’s the odor of cheese wafting down from the subway above.

You may have always secretly suspected that portions of the New York subway system are inhabited by aliens and overrun with festive rats, but now the idea of it might just seem somewhat pleasant. If you are in the neighborhood, at F.I.T.’s Pomerantz Center lobby on 7th avenue West 28th street you can stop by and see the exhibit until August 31st.

Let us know if you check this out in the 3D Printed Alien and Rat Disco forum thread over at 3DPB.com.