Work starts on the world's first 3d-printed house
Dus Architects began work on the project approximately one month ago. The end product will boast 13 rooms and look like a traditional gabled canalside home - but will be printed completely from scratch.
The revolutionary technique has seized the design and architecture would by storm, with everything from 3D-printing pens to printed handguns arriving on the scene, as imagination and ambition collide with a whole heap of plastic.
While there have been many proposals for 3D-printed buildings, Dus Architects are bringing the dream to reality, planning to finish their building within three years.
At the moment, they have already produced a 3 metre-high model of the eventual house, which was printed as a single piece weighing in at 180kg. It one of many blocks that will be stacked on top of each other to form the building: oozing black plastic replacing bricks, computer scripts replacing paper blueprints.
Visiting the site, the Guardian describes the site as "a high-tech liquorice production line", with black goo solidfying into the pre-programmed shapes.
It may sound unhealthy, but the architects are quick to praise the environmental benefits of printing property: “The building industry is one of the most polluting and inefficient industries out there,” says group spokesperson Hedwig Heinsman. “With 3D-printing, there is zero waste, reduced transportation costs, and everything can be melted down and recycled. This could revolutionise how we make our cities.”
The whole process revolves around the KamerMaker - "Room Builder" - a giant 3D printer by Dutch firm Ultimaker, which takes layers of melted plastic and turns them into parts of buildings measuring up to 2x2x3.5 metres high.
“We're still perfecting the technology,” adds Heinsman. “We will continue to test over the next three years, as the technology evolves. With a second nozzle, you could print multiple materials simultaneously, with structure and insulation side by side.”
At the moment, the plastic blocks are back-filled with lightweight concrete to reinforce the building's stability, but other possibilities are in the pipeline (quite literally), from translucent plastics to even a liquid equivalent of MDF which can be printed and then sawn.
“It's an experiment,” continues Heinsman. “We called it the room maker, but it's also a conversation maker.”
Indeed, the 3D Print Canal House is an exhibition as well as an architecture project - a rare example of the public being encouraged to visit a building site mid-construction. The site is open from Tuesday until Friday in the daytime with an entrance fee of €2.50. Visitors have included everyone from building contractors and students to even President Barack Obama.