Netherlands Will Welcome Its First Community of 3D-Printed Homes (smithsonianmag.com) 61
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.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
headline incorrect! (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
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?
Re: (Score:1)
Sounds like concrete foam given a "sexy" new name. Utter mindless hype.
Not underpaid (Score:2)
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 re
Re:How are they "3D printed"? (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 [3dprintedhouse.nl].
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B018M... [amazon.ca]
Re: (Score:2)
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... [inhabitat.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Or maybe people recognise this approach uses less concrete, and so is indeed an improvement.
Re: (Score:2)
Or maybe people recognise this approach uses less concrete, and so is indeed an improvement.
Use less than what?
An end of an era... (Score:3, Funny)
in a rational world (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hansel and Gretel will be happy to hear that.
Shortage of skilled bricklayers?! (Score:2)
I thought bricklaying was a done deal, a fully solved problem. Seriously, robots build it faster! [inhabitat.com]
we need to build stuff like that (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals... [pinimg.com]
Re: (Score:2)
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 [playingbythebook.net]. Seems a Fred Flintstone version could be done as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh man, I knew the shapes of those houses looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. Thank you!
Re: (Score:3)
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:// [wikipedia.org]
Too expensive (Score:2)
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 torn
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Cardboard-and-sticks houses... you mean hobo houses made from discarded fridge boxes?
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
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 [wikipedia.org] was building such houses over 100 years ago. It was no success.
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
Not only would the damage from a tornado be much less, heating/cooling would require much less energy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I think we have the technologies to make water proof underground dwellings and the means to move the water to a different location.
Waterproof = airproof (Score:2)
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'
Underground isn't great (Score:2)
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 [mashable.com] either. Plus you have to live undergr
Way to sell it, Eindhoven (Score:2)
Sorry, I'm probably not buying any house the architect describes as being intentionally erratic. I prefer a dependably predictable house.
But will they welcome jobs? (Score:1)
No place to work
Think I'll visit America
dual extruder, concrete and insulation foam (Score:2)