A Seattle software engineer is crowdfunding a full-scale, 3D-printed replica of Dracula’s castle – GeekWire

Romanias Bran Castle, the inspiration for Vampire Hills. (Wikipedia Photo)

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau

Those words, from one of historys most celebrated dreamers, ring uncannily true in the case of a Seattle software engineer by the name of Mike Draghici.

His lofty goal? Delivering the worlds first full-scale, 3D-printed castle and now hes looking for help building its foundations.

Draghici just launched Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns to raise the necessary funds to build a 3D-printed replica of Bran Castle (often called Draculas Castle) on his 40-acre property in Washington states wine country.

Draghici was born in Romania and raised in the U.S. He wanted to incorporate the Dracula legend into the project, as a nod to his heritage.

We named [the estate] Vampire Hills, me being from Romania and Transylvania I wanted to bring over the vampire thing, he said.

Draghici is working with Andrey Rudenko, a Minnesota-based engineer who built a3D concrete printer capable of constructing entirearchitectural projects.

Rudenkos backyard castle caught Draghicis attention. He wanted to know if the machine could, conceivably, build a larger castle. To his satisfaction, Rudenko confirmed the project was possible.

From there, Draghici reached out to his family in Romania and they were able to track down the plans to Bran Castle. With the plans in hand, Draghici and Rudenko began mapping out the project.

We have full 3D rendering models of the castle, he said. We, basically, just have to start putting together the funding and talking to the county and the local community.

If the project comes to fruition, Draghicis long-term vision for the property is an upscale estate winery that hosts weddings, events, and special guests. The property is already home to two rental cabins, which would remain as part of the facility. He even has labels for the wine in mind Blood Moon for reds, Thirst for whites.

Of course, Draghici recognizes it may be years before breaking ground on the project and there are still variables in flux.

This isnt going to be an overnight thing definitely, Im open to help, he said. Ive never built a castle before so I cant go up there with a shovel and start digging away. Its going to take a lot of people.

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A Seattle software engineer is crowdfunding a full-scale, 3D-printed replica of Dracula's castle - GeekWire

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