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Netherlands Will Welcome Its First Community of 3D-Printed Homes (smithsonianmag.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Netherlands' first functional 3D-printed home will be ready to welcome occupants as early as next year. According to The Guardian's Daniel Boffey, the one-story, two-bedroom house is the first and smallest of five 3D-printed concrete homes set for construction in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The five-year initiative, known as Project Milestone, aims to combat the country's shortage of skilled bricklayers and revitalize the architectural industry. Project Milestone emerged as a collaboration between the Eindhoven University of Technology, a global leader in 3D printing, and Dutch construction company Van Wijnen. Real estate manager Vesteda, materials company Saint Gobain-Weber Beamix and engineering firm Witteveen+Bos also contributed to the project.

61 comments

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. An end of an era... by The+Fat+Bastard · · Score: 2, Funny

    So no more cookie cutter homes?

    1. Re:An end of an era... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're still pre-fab. The subdivisions will look more like The Flintstones than Levittown if the photo in TFA is anything to go by

    2. Re:An end of an era... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cookies are delicious though. How many can you eat? Do you work out so you can eat them all?

    3. Re:An end of an era... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So no more cookie cutter homes?

      Or, you know, cookie cutter homes made by a robot.

    4. Re:An end of an era... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Hansel and Gretel will be happy to hear that.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  3. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shortage of bricklayers? How about training sim bricklayers. And not pay them refugee wages.

    3D printed home have got to be the most expensive way possible.

    Europeans are damn stupid and getting dumbed by the minute. Whatâ(TM)s next? Gender based snow plowing?

  4. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    I've no idea if we really have a shortage of bricklayers here in the Netherlands. Most homes I see going up are prefab concrete with a faux brick cladding glued on. Most brick work is for new luxury houses or repair work on older ones.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by olsmeister · · Score: 0

    Who's maintaining the dikes!??! :)

  6. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by careysub · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you read TFA (I know, /.) you find out very quickly. The printer is a robotic cement/concrete squirting arm that builds up the structure, replacing manual labor required to do traditional form setting and removal.

    The very short piece leaves lots and lots of questions - installation of utilities, how is rebar being placed (if it is), is this regular cement/concrete or some special formulation, etc.

    Some of these questions are answered at the Project Milestone website.

    One of those advantages is that the concrete printer has the ability to lay concrete only where it is needed constructively. Traditionally poured concrete is solid, and contains much more concrete than is needed constructively. More is being used, which is bad for CO2 emissions, because with producing cement a lot of this greenhouse gas is released.

    With 3D concrete printing, very fine concrete structures are possible. In the traditional pouring of concrete, the formwork determines the shape of concrete. With concrete prints, builders will soon be able to make concrete details as small as a pea, and round, hollow or convex shapes. This makes concrete buildings and constructions with completely new forms possible.

    Another new option is the printing of different types, qualities and colors of concrete, all in one integrated product. This means that a complete wall can be printed with all necessary functionalities. Such a wall has to be reinforced with fibers of wire that insulate, and on the outside must be kept dirt-repellent, and on the inside a layer that ensures pleasant acoustics. Further, it contains the required recesses and internal drainage pipes of waterproof concrete. This makes the construction process much faster.

    It also has some pictures of the cement being printed.

    Still leaves me with questions about the engineering involved though.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  7. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are too busy talking about UBI to fill jobs.

  8. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure why you think it would be more expensive. Sure any new technology is going to be expensive but as it matures, it'll be cheaper than paying half a dozen professionals over the cost of a month or two. Besides, anyone thinking this isn't going to happen anyway needs a reality check. Bricklayers, masons, low cost illegals hammering nails, their days are numbered as we can replace them with robots.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. headline incorrect! by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    "Netherlands Will Welcome Its First Community of Homes Pooped Out of a Robot "!

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    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  11. Shortage of skilled bricklayers?! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    I thought bricklaying was a done deal, a fully solved problem. Seriously, robots build it faster!

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Shortage of skilled bricklayers?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's a video of a brick laying robot, is this what you were referring to?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRu5QqIxqW8

  12. in a rational world by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    A clever architect could parameterize their design to crank out 100s of unique houses from the same prototype.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  13. Just the thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... for hipsters with a sociology degree.

    Why the lack of bricklayers, you didn't ask? Why, manual labour isn't hip and happening. Derping about "social justice" is. Best done from a tenured position, but failing that, there's always the dole, and the "cheap" council housing.

  14. we need to build stuff like that by FudRucker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    in the USA especially in tornado alley, because wood frame houses almost always gets torn to pieces, it would be nice to have my whole house completely tornado-proof, just get some steel shutters i can quickly close during tornado watches & warnings, i think a monolithic concrete house made with a 3D printer would be able to build a house capable of withstanding a tornado

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't need 3d printed concrete for that. Just design a good house and build it using concrete the old fashioned way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formwork

    2. Re:we need to build stuff like that by FudRucker · · Score: 1

      but but i want a fancy looking 3D printed house that is rounded corners and looks like Fred Flintstone's House like it was made out of a pile of large boulders
      https://i.pinimg.com/originals...

      --
      Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    3. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Cytotoxic · · Score: 2

      They actually have really cool forms that are built from bricks of insulating foam and plastic connecters. They are left in place and provide the insulation for the home. A shell built with this technology can be cheaper, stronger, and faster than a regular home, with great thermal properties. Still, it isn't the most popular technology out there.

      Here's a Wikipedia article about the tech that reveals that it has been around a long time, even though I only recall seeing it popularized in the 90's.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    4. Re:we need to build stuff like that by DeBaas · · Score: 1

      That might actually be, at least at first, the biggest plus of this technique. If you look at what they're building right now they look like a Barbapapa house. Seems a Fred Flintstone version could be done as well.

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    5. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wood frame house stand up fine I believe. It's the current cardboard-and-sticks houses you for some unknown reason build in tornado country that don't.

    6. Re:we need to build stuff like that by elgatozorbas · · Score: 1

      i think a monolithic concrete house made with a 3D printer would be able to build a house capable of withstanding a tornado

      Edison -or, more precisely, his Portland cement company was building such houses over 100 years ago. It was no success.

    7. Re:we need to build stuff like that by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      depends on the wind loading the structure could bear, and effects of "missiles" (air borne debris not weapons)...one 3D home builder I see claims fine under wind loading of 120 MPH...which would be more than enough where I live but bad for hurricane or tornado prone area

    8. Re:we need to build stuff like that by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Oh man, I knew the shapes of those houses looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. Thank you!

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    9. Re:we need to build stuff like that by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Cardboard-and-sticks houses... you mean hobo houses made from discarded fridge boxes?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    10. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Ogive17 · · Score: 1

      Or have a significant portion of our dwellings underground.

      Not only would the damage from a tornado be much less, heating/cooling would require much less energy.

      --
      "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
    11. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Doke · · Score: 1

      The problem with underground dwellings is ground water. In many parts of the world, anything underground will eventually flood. I live in Delaware, USA, and my house is on a hill. However, my sump pump runs every time it rains. My basement has flooded (by a few inches) three times in the last 18 years.

    12. Re:we need to build stuff like that by Ogive17 · · Score: 1

      The water table is very high where I live, less than 10'. Even when it doesn't rain, a few neighbor houses have their sump pumps kick on a few times a day.

      I think we have the technologies to make water proof underground dwellings and the means to move the water to a different location.

      --
      "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
    13. Re:we need to build stuff like that by BranMan · · Score: 1

      I think he's referring to the now a days common practice of using 2x4 framing, then using particle board or MDF for sheathing. Sheathing used to be 3/4 inch plywood (and often 2x6 for framing). That went down to 1/2 inch plywood (still good). But now the sheathing is particle board, which is crappy material, starts to disintegrate if it ever gets wet, and does not add to the structural integrity (plywood does).

      An old well-framed house with 3/4 inch plywood was darn near indestructible (relatively). The new crap I see builders put up everywhere? No.

      Note, I am not in construction, so take this with a grain of salt.

  15. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://3dprintedhouse.nl/en/project-info/what-are-we-printing/

  16. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    3D printed home have got to be the most expensive way possible.

    It is a concrete dispensing hose hooked to an actuator, controlled by a Raspberry Pi.

    Why do you think it is expensive?

  17. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm just tired of 3D printing hype and nonsense.

    Things changes names for marketing reasons, that is why we use cloud services instead of outsourcing now.

    3D-printing is in so we call it that instead of "building sector next to be automated".
    It doesn't make it less newsworthy.
    While this specific implementation is pretty lame and won't go anywhere it is a pretty good indication that there is research going on in the field.
    The transportation sector will be reduced to a load on/off sector by automatic drivers. The builders will reduced to a couple of people setting up and assisting the house building robot.
    All jobs wont go away, but they fewer people will be needed in each sector.

    Don't get stuck on the clickbaity headlines, there is still information behind it even if it requires some interpretation beyond what is written.

  18. Re: How are they "3D printed"? by jedidiah · · Score: 0

    Sounds like concrete foam given a "sexy" new name. Utter mindless hype.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  19. Not underpaid by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Shortage of bricklayers? How about training sim bricklayers. And not pay them refugee wages.

    Where are you hiring bricklayers? They certainly aren't being paid "refugee wages". You can make a fine living in the skilled trades and there is a shortage in labor. The problem isn't that it doesn't pay well. The problem is that it's hard work and not glamorous. Nobody dreams of being a bricklayer when they are a child and our education system certainly doesn't promote it as a respectable profession.

    3D printed home have got to be the most expensive way possible.

    Pretty much. Unless this is some sort of marketing stunt or proof of concept for something I don't really see the point. Looking at what they made, these "houses" are remarkably ugly and appear highly impractical. I know "3D printing" along with "AI" are the hot buzzwords these days but let's not pretend this is anything we need to really worry about just yet.

  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    You might as well say my house was grown because the wood came from trees that grew in the forest... The rest of the materials and construction were manufactured and hand-assembled.

    Concrete construction is indefinably not 'green'. But some folks are OK to overlook this because 3D printing of homes is cool, and somehow deemed as an improvement (for some untold reason).

    https://inhabitat.com/11-green...

  22. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    indefinably? How did I do that? .....definitely

  23. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  24. Way to sell it, Eindhoven by Medievalist · · Score: 1

    The design of the houses is based on erratic blocks in a green landscape.

    Sorry, I'm probably not buying any house the architect describes as being intentionally erratic. I prefer a dependably predictable house.

  25. Too expensive by sjbe · · Score: 1

    in the USA especially in tornado alley, because wood frame houses almost always gets torn to pieces, it would be nice to have my whole house completely tornado-proof,

    You can already do that. It's just going to cost a bloody fortune. 3D printing will not solve that problem. Buildings robust enough to withstand a tornado are inherently going to be more expensive than those which aren't, typically by a lot. It's almost certainly cheaper to rebuild than it is to build a what amounts to a bunker.

    , i think a monolithic concrete house made with a 3D printer would be able to build a house capable of withstanding a tornado

    Depends on the design. Just being concrete isn't enough. It has to be reinforced concrete of an adequate thickness with appropriate sealing and ventilation. Remember that tornados do things like throw cars through the air. It's going to be rather expensive to build a building strong enough to withstand impact from a car that has been flung through the air.

    In the immortal words of Ron White, It's not THAT the wind's a blowin'. It's WHAT the wind's a blowin.

    1. Re:Too expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is amusing to me that people have this superstition that a concrete home is automatically less likely to not crack open when a car or tree is dropped on it.

      There are steel "stong-tie" connectors to improve the strength and holding power of wood frame connectors, for a modest cost, if winds are such a concern.

    2. Re:Too expensive by Agripa · · Score: 1

      As you say, the big problem with wooden construction is the joints. By "concrete" what they really mean is "reinforced masonry" which is steel tension members embedded in stone. If the same effort adding tension members to masonry was made to wooden construction, then it would gain a similar improvement in strength.

  26. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You might as well say my house was grown because the wood came from trees that grew in the forest...

    You are aware of the fact that the wood in your home WAS grown, right?
    So of course you might as well say that, it's completely true.

    The rest of the materials and construction were manufactured and hand-assembled.

    So?

    You are the only person who applied the arbitrary restriction of "every last part must be 3d printed" before anyone is allowed to claim the 3d printed parts alone are 3d printed. Not sure why.

    It would cost quite a bit more to 3d print some of the other materials needed, like nails.
    Cheaper to use the mass produced ones still.

    Then there is the fact we currently can only 3d print most materials, but not all.
    Glass for example I haven't heard of being at a production quality or scale.
    Electrical parts too are best to go with mass produced materials. 3d printed wiring isn't too high gauge yet and certainly not to safely carry the amperage mains power is at.
    Not to mention safety certifications.

    That doesn't change the fact that the load bearing construction materials are all still being 3d printed.

  27. Concrete. So eco. No pollution at all! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck the Dutch.

  28. But will they welcome jobs? by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    No new industry
    No place to work
    Think I'll visit America

  29. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1
    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  30. First? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How? Years ago there was a video of some Chinese company doing exactly that in china.
    Found it:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzmCnzA7hnE

  31. MODDOWN! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Somebody please mod this fucking crap down!

    creimer's child bride retired military buddy suggested to him to "hide in plain sight" so creimer picked up "The Fat Bastard" as his new sock puppet user name!

  32. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Zorpheus · · Score: 1

    One of those advantages is that the concrete printer has the ability to lay concrete only where it is needed constructively. Traditionally poured concrete is solid, and contains much more concrete than is needed constructively. More is being used, which is bad for CO2 emissions, because with producing cement a lot of this greenhouse gas is released.

    I doubt it could beat foamed concrete blocks.

  33. dual extruder, concrete and insulation foam by Doke · · Score: 1

    It would be interesting if they had dual extruders, one printing concrete, and one printing insulation foam. Then you could get solid-insulated concrete-shell structures. You would still need to leave "chases" for pipes and electrical wiring, but the vast majority of the structure could be done without human labor.

  34. Underground isn't great by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Or have a significant portion of our dwellings underground.

    Not really an option in a lot of places and a LOT more expensive to build than above ground dwellings. Plus you have to deal with removing groundwater in most places so you'd better have some pretty reliable power for the pumps and well designed drainage.

    Not only would the damage from a tornado be much less, heating/cooling would require much less energy.

    Then you drown when the rain and floods that routinely accompanies the tornado floods your underground bunker. Or you get trapped inside from debris that lands on top of your hobbit hole. No this isn't hypothetical either. Plus you have to live underground with limited natural light which isn't as much fun as you might imagine. Yes there are some advantages to being underground but there are a lot more disadvantages for most of us.

  35. Waterproof = airproof by sjbe · · Score: 1

    I think we have the technologies to make water proof underground dwellings and the means to move the water to a different location.

    If it is fully water proof then it also is air proof which presents certain problems. Water doesn't just come from below. Yes we can make dwellings that can route the water appropriate from underneath (for $$$) but you can't make it sealed from above unless you start making things really complicated and expensive. And then when it rains (or worse floods) you had better be able to remove the water faster than it comes in. And rains and floods are a real problem when tornadoes and hurricanes are a blowin'.

  36. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by dave420 · · Score: 1

    Or maybe people recognise this approach uses less concrete, and so is indeed an improvement.

  37. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I almost forgot! Here's the link. Don't forget to buy a Goat C shirt!

  38. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I almost forgot! Here's the link. Don't forget to buy a Goat C shirt!

  39. Re:How are they "3D printed"? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    Or maybe people recognise this approach uses less concrete, and so is indeed an improvement.

    Use less than what?