However a Chinese company recently proved the skeptics wrong.
The WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. has printed 10 homes in 24 hours out of recycled materials. The houses, each covering an area of 200 square meters, are printed entirely in concrete.
This isn't the first attempt at 3D printing large structures in a short amount of time. Researchers in California are making a printer that can build a house in 24 hours.
In Amsterdam earlier this month, construction of a 3D printed house began. The house is made out of plastic bricks that fit together like Lego. It's also being printed onsite. The Chinese houses, on the other hand, weren't built onsite. They were printed in pieces and then put together in Shanghai's Qingpu district.
The pieces are made using recycled construction materials and industrial waste to form a concrete aggregate, Gizmodo reports. The 3D printer used to build the houses is 500 feet long, 33 feet wide and 20 feet high. Each home costs around $4,800.
"We purchased parts for the printer overseas, and assembled the machine in a factory in Suzhou," the company's CEO, Ma Yihe, said. "Such a new type of 3D printed structure is environment-friendly and cost-effective."
The WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. has printed 10 homes in 24 hours out of recycled materials. The houses, each covering an area of 200 square meters, are printed entirely in concrete.
This isn't the first attempt at 3D printing large structures in a short amount of time. Researchers in California are making a printer that can build a house in 24 hours.
In Amsterdam earlier this month, construction of a 3D printed house began. The house is made out of plastic bricks that fit together like Lego. It's also being printed onsite. The Chinese houses, on the other hand, weren't built onsite. They were printed in pieces and then put together in Shanghai's Qingpu district.
The pieces are made using recycled construction materials and industrial waste to form a concrete aggregate, Gizmodo reports. The 3D printer used to build the houses is 500 feet long, 33 feet wide and 20 feet high. Each home costs around $4,800.
"We purchased parts for the printer overseas, and assembled the machine in a factory in Suzhou," the company's CEO, Ma Yihe, said. "Such a new type of 3D printed structure is environment-friendly and cost-effective."
The final product. Needs some paint but essentially ready to move in to.
WinSun plans to build 100 recycling factories in the country, one in every 300 km, to collect and transform the waste into materials for 3D printing through special handling, processing and separation technology. WinSun hopes their 3D printer and technology could offer "affordable and dignified housing" for the impoverished.
Do you think 3D printed houses are the way of the future. Please leave your comment below.
finally, a great use of the technology! more innovative use of 3d printing than the usual route...what do you think of the 3doodler? (http://the3doodler.com/)
SvaraRaderaThe increased speed in production, and the mobility of the 3D printer means that we will probably be seeing a lot of 3D printed houses pop up in poorer, less developed countries pretty soon. Taking care of industrial waste, as well as printing 10 houses a day would skyrocket the development in the third world. The only problems they need to solve to make this house actually livable is to provide is with a stable, renewable source of electricity. That would provide energy for water pumps, desalination facilities, lights, and cooking; standards for any western home, but rarities in developing countries.
RaderaI have seen the 3doodler (yet another interesting KickStarter project) however I would imagine that you need a lot of practice before you turn out anything close to the Eiffel Tower they show off in their promo. Its an exciting product, and I would love to have one. Hopefully they can scale their model so that it doesn't just turn out to be a novelty item, but I think add-ons, more elaborate stencils, as well as different inter-changeable nozzles may be the way to go. I for see this product having its biggest impacts in the model/demo product industries where you no longer have to send blueprints to a shop to manufacture a demo-product. You can simply 3D write one at home!
What a brilliant idea. It won't win any awards for architectural design, but it's a technical achievement.
SvaraRaderaHaha, exactly, it isnt really pretty to look at... But then again, this is the first instance. In a few years I am sure they have come up with models for all kinds of houses, including some for the general public which naturally would look better than this ;).
Radera