10 3D printed houses in 1 day, cost: $4,800

3603 Views 9 Replies 10 Participants Last post by 009, May 24, 2014

desertpunk

Discussion Starter · Apr 15, 2014

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-chinese-company-3d-printed-10-houses-in-a-day-2014-4

There's a lot you can do with a 3D printer. Now add "building a house in a day" to the list.

Make that 10 houses. The WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. has printed 10 homes in 24 hours out of recycled materials.

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, told 3ders. "Such a new type of 3D-printed structure is environment-friendly and cost-effective."

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Dahlis

· #3 · Apr 21, 2014

There is one major problem here... Its plastic.

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Eric Offereins

· #4 · Apr 21, 2014

Scba said:
It's a big shed

But it is a begin.
It's much cheaper than usual construction. I'm sure this will be developed further and we'll see better designs in the future.

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Just like the electric/alternative-fuel car industry's potential has been dampened by the oil & car industry's lobby, I suspect that the construction material industry will do it's best to kill this while still in development. You may not have heard of Lafarge or Holcim but they're just as big in this business and have the same behaviours like the giants in other businesses.

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Mieszko_Gdynia

· #6 · Apr 23, 2014

Dahlis said:
There is one major problem here... Its plastic.

No, it's concrete. While 3D printing of small items is done by pouring molten plastic, here concrete was poured.

I'm curious if this method is applicable to reinforced concrete (pouring on a frame made of iron bars). If yes, it could be even more useful.

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ssiguy2

· #7 · Apr 24, 2014

While not an inspiring design, the concept is amazing and the cost savings will be unbelievable.

It certainly is not accommodation that North Americans would aspire to, the implication for the developing world are profound. At these prices the poor could be housed in decent clean way in housing that is far far safer in earthquakes or major storms than the shacks they have to live in now.

Haiti is a perfect example. The horrible earthquake that devastated an already very poor nation was actually not near as strong as many and in the Western world the damage would have been significant but not even a fraction of the devastation that rocked poor Haiti. The death tool would still have been relatively small as our buildings are built to higher standards and our populace isn't living in metal shacks with a metal roof waiting to fall down on us.

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BE0GRAD

· #8 · Apr 24, 2014

Nonsense.

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Skabbymuff

· #9 · May 21, 2014

Just like the electric/alternative-fuel car industry's potential has been dampened by the oil & car industry's lobby, I suspect that the construction material industry will do it's best to kill this while still in development. You may not have heard of Lafarge or Holcim but they're just as big in this business and have the same behaviours like the giants in other businesses.

i fully agree this is a distinct possibility. however i wouldnt be surprised if these companies are looking into providing the materials for the printers in order to not be left behind.

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