Member Article

Print Your Own House

Technology has advanced at such a rapid speed over the past few years, with the development of smartphones and tablets, and the innumerable amount of things we can now do on the go – it can often be a struggle to keep up. The construction industry, however, has always relied on more traditional, labour-based methods, taking more than just a click of a button to create something from scratch. Building houses takes time and an extensive amount of effort, with costs incurred from employing people to carry out the building work on top of the materials needed.

However, news from earlier this year showed that the construction industry could potentially go through major changes in the future. Private Chinese Company, WinSun, hit the headlines back in April when they used a giant 3D printer to build ten full sized, detached, single storey houses all in one day. All ten houses were built from recycled materials, each measuring approximately 2,100 square foot, and costing less than $5,000 each to construct. Not only does this method cut the costs and time scales of construction, it also provides a safer way to deliver new housing – “this process also means that construction workers are less likely to be exposed to hazardous materials or work environments. Plus, it’s eco-friendly.” Four 3D printers were used to construct the ten houses – each measuring 10m x 6.6m – and using “a mix of cement and construction waste to construct the walls layer by layer, a process much like how a baker might ice a cake.”

Buildings can be designed to a customer’s specifications, and WinSun Chief Executive, Ma Yihe, hopes that their printers can be used in the future to build skyscrapers. “At the moment, however, Chinese construction regulations do not allow multi-storey 3D-printed houses.”

The popularity of 3D printing is increasing across the world, with companies mainly focusing on smaller items such as jewellery and furniture for the moment. Just recently Andrey Rudenko, a contractor from Minnesota, constructed a children’s playhouse castle in his garden. Similarly to WinSun, Rudenko designed his own 3D printer and has hopes of venturing into full size house construction. “Rudenko believes his own plans would protect workers from coming in contact with an ‘extensively dust-filled environment.’ He said, ‘This is why I’m currently conducting a large scale of experiments to extend the possibilities of this new technology – printing different elements, structures, and studying and developing new techniques.’”

It will obviously take time for this new technology to kick start in the construction industry, as more trials need to be run with the equipment needed. However, it’s an exciting prospect for the future, one that may help to boost the number of houses built across the world.

Click here to watch a clip of the 3D Printer in action

Sources

Melissa Goldin (Mashable), BBC News, Breitbart, CNet, and 3D Printer Plans. Image taken from Construction Enquirer.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ERE Property .