Europe’s First On-Site 3D-Printed House Is Unveiled
Emily Pollock posted on April 25, 2018 | | 76 views
Front façade of the 3D housing 05, Europe’s first 3D-printed house created onsite. Curved wall modules and a rooftop garden soften the harsh, ridged concrete of the house’s exterior walls. (Image courtesy of 3D housing 05.)
Europe’s first on-site 3D-printed house was recently on display at the Salone del Mobile design festival in Milan this month. The “3D housing 05” was printed in under 48 hours, and the structure can be taken apart and moved to an alternate location after the festival ends.
Designed by architect Massimiliano Locatelli, the house is a collaboration between the engineering firm Arup and the architecture studio CLS Architetti, and is named after the five central themes of the project—creativity, sustainability, flexibility, affordability and speed.
The house was 3D printed on-site by CyBe Construction’s CyBe RC 3Dp, which the company bills as the first mobile 3D concrete printer. Mounted on a moveable base for better flexibility than a traditional 3D printer, the RC 3Dp pours a special concrete mix through a nozzle mounted on its flexible arm, building walls layer by layer. The 3D housing 05 is made up of 35 separate wall modules, each of which were printed in 60-90 minutes. After the printing was completed, workers installed the structure’s windows, doors and furniture.
The finished product clocks in at an…