archiREEF on Saving Coral Reefs With 3D Printing

One of the greatest ecological problems facing our planet is the devastation that is facing coral reefs worldwide. These eco-systems are crucial to biodiversity of our oceans, yet they are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Already, up to half of the world’s corals reefs have been destroyed and signs show that this is not stopping. Indeed, as global warming continues, scientists estimate that coral reefs could be destroyed entirely worldwide. However, there is some hope. Projects have risen to try to restore coral reefs, notably archiREEF, a project from Hong Kong that seeks to use 3D printed terracotta tiles to restore marine life and corals in Hong Kong. We sat down with Vriko Yu to understand more about the project, how it works and how everyone can contribute to overall eco-system restoration.

3DN: Can you introduce yourself and your connection to 3D printing?

My name is Virko Yu, I am the co-founder and CEO of archiREEF. We have been working on 3D printed reef tiles for ecosystem restoration, particularly for coral restoration, for over two years. However, I personally have been working on coral restoration for over eight years. We are doing this restoration in Hong Kong which is not the best place for coral to grow. For decades our corals have been suffering from anthropogenic threats and natural stressors and they are still degrading. I have been working on finding out what has been killing them historically and what we can do right now. Indeed, I have been trying to restore the coral communities in Hong Kong for the past four years now and we have had very little success. We were in such a desperate state that we had to think outside the box because there was nothing on the market that served our purpose. So we decided to create our own solution and that is when we turned to 3D printing.

Vriko Yu, the co-founder and CEO of archiREEF (photo credits: Kin Ho)

3DN: Tell us a bit about archiREEF and your project, why is it important?

As I mentioned, I am a scientist by training and coral restoration is quite a new topic in the science field, it’s only about 20 years old. And most of the time, this restoration is mainly the job of scientists or reef managers. So it has been quite an isolated field where only “relevant” stakeholders were involved. But when we first got the global media attention about the product, we were getting a lot of messages from all over the world asking if they could help and if they could do it in their own reefs. And I realized if we’re talking about coral restoration, it’s not just scientists, it’s everybody. But it’s not accessible to the general public and that’s where archiREEF comes in. We want it to be as easy as planting trees, making it accessible and easy for everybody.