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.

Comments

Re:How are they "3D printed"?

[careysub]

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.