Construction of “Europe’s largest 3D-printed building” takes just 140 hours
“Europe’s largest 3D-printed building” according to its developer is currently under construction in the southern German city of Heidelberg where only two workers were required to oversee the project.
The work normally carried out by dozens of construction workers is done by a gigantic robot which piles layers and layers of concrete on top of each other, based on the architect’s scale.
“We are printing this 55 meters (180 ft.) long, 11 meters (36 ft.) wide and 9 meters (29 ft.) high building in just 140 working hours,” said developer Hans-Joerg Kraus.
“At a later stage it’s imaginable that there is just one person at the construction site to make sure nothing goes wrong,” said Kraus, standing at the site in Heidelberg which will house a computer server centre once completed.
Asked whether this was the future for the construction business, Kraus expressed confidence that “3D printing has a bright future. At the same time we should not believe that in future, everything will be built with 3D printing.”
He and his team are currently evaluating options for other construction projects using 3D technology and some, such as the Heidelberg server centre, are “predestined.”
“We have chosen a very special architecture here which resembles a curtain. There are also 18-degree overhangs which are impossible to build with conventional means.”
“But it’s clear that not everything being built in the next 20 years will come from a 3D printer,” said Kraus.
In 2015, Dutch architects used a giant 3D printer to construct a prototype house in a bid to pave the way to a sustainable, environmentally-friendly future for construction.
The house structure by DUS Architects of Amsterdam used a plastic heavily based on plant oil.
Also in 2015, Chinese firm WinSun displayed at the Suzhou Industrial Park a five-storey apartment building and an 1100 square meter villa it said it had 3D printed using recycled materials. But then at the time was in its infancy.
Reuters
