Construction 3D Printing (c3Dp) or 3D construction Printing (3DCP) refers to various technologies that use
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
as a core method to fabricate buildings or construction components. Alternative terms for this process include "additive construction." "3D Concrete" refers to concrete extrusion technologies whereas Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM), or freeform construction (FC) refer to other sub-groups.
At construction scale, the main 3D-printing methods are
extrusion
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...
(
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
/
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...
,
wax
Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...
,
foam
Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.
A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the ...
,
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
s), powder bonding (polymer bond, reactive bond,
sintering
Clinker nodules produced by sintering
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...
), and additive welding.
A number of different approaches have been demonstrated to date, which include on-site and off-site fabrication of buildings and construction components, using
industrial robots
An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes.
Typical applications of robots include welding, painting, assembly, disassembly, pick a ...
autonomous vehicles
Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control o ...
. Demonstrations of construction 3D printing technologies have included fabrication of housing, construction components (cladding and structural panels and columns), bridges and civil infrastructure,
artificial reef
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Many ...
s, follies, and sculptures.
History
Seeding technologies 1950–1995
Robotic bricklaying was conceptualized and explored in the 1950s and related technology development around automated construction began in the 1960s, with pumped concrete and isocyanate foams. Development of automated fabrication of entire buildings using slip forming techniques and robotic assembly of components, akin to 3D printing, were pioneered in Japan to address the dangers of building high rise buildings by Shimizu and Hitachi in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these early approaches to on-site automation foundered because of the construction 'bubble', their inability to respond to novel architectures and the problems of feeding and preparing materials to the site in built up areas.
Early developments 1995–2000
Early construction 3D printing development and research have been under way since 1995. Two methods were invented, one by Joseph Pegna which was focused on a
sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...
/cement forming technique which utilized steam to selectively bond the material in layers or solid parts, though this technique was never demonstrated.
The second technique,
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or Ga ...
by Behrohk Khoshnevis, initially began as a novel ceramic extrusion and shaping method, as an alternative to the emerging polymer and metal 3D printing techniques, and was patented in 1995. Khoshnevis realized that this technique could exceed these techniques where "current methods are limited to fabrication of part dimensions that are generally less than one meter in each dimension". Around 2000, Khoshnevis's team at USC Vertibi began to focus on construction scale 3D printing of cementitious and ceramic pastes, encompassing and exploring automated integration of modular reinforcement, built-in plumbing and electrical services, within one continuous build process. This technology has only been tested at lab scale to date and controversially and allegedly formed the basis for recent efforts in China.
First generation 2000–2010
In 2003, Rupert Soar secured funding and formed the freeform construction group at Loughborough University, UK, to explore the potential for up-scaling existing 3D printing techniques for construction applications. In 2005, the group secured funding to build a large-scale construction 3D printing machine using 'off the shelf' components (concrete pumping, spray concrete, gantry system) to explore how complex such components could be and realistically meet the demands for construction.
In 2005, Enrico Dini, Italy, patented the
D-Shape
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Mon ...
technology, employing a massively scaled powder jetting/bonding technique over an area approximately 6m x 6m x 3m. This technique although originally developed with epoxy resin bonding system was later adapted to use inorganic bonding agents. This technology has been used commercially for a range of projects in construction and other sectors including for rtificial reefs
In 2008 3D Concrete Printing began at Loughborough University, UK, headed by Richard Buswell and colleagues to extend the groups prior research and look to commercial applications moving from a gantry based technology to an industrial robot.
Second generation 2010–present
Buswell's group succeeded in licensing that robotic technology to Skanska in 2014. On January 18, 2015, the company drew press coverage with its unveiling of two buildings that integrated 3D-printed components: a mansion-style villa and a five-story tower. In May 2016, a new office building opened in Dubai, a 250-square-meter space (2,700-square-foot), touted by Dubai's Museum of the Future as the world's first 3D-printed office building.
In 2017, a project to build a 3D-printed skyscraper in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
was announced. Cazza construction would help to build the structure. At present there are no specific details, such as the buildings height or exact location.
FreeFAB Wax, invented by James B Gardiner and Steven Janssen at Laing O'Rourke, has been in development since March 2013. The technique uses construction scale 3D-printing to produce high volumes of engineered wax (up to 400L/hr) to fabricate a 'fast and dirty' 3D-printed mould for
precast concrete
Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast bea ...
, glass fibre-reinforced concrete (GRC), and other sprayable/cast-able materials. The casting surface is then five-axis milled, removing approximately 5mm of wax, to create a high-quality mold (with approximately 20-micron surface roughness). After curing, the mold is then either crushed or melted, with the wax filtered and reused, significantly reducing waste, as compared with conventional mold technologies. The benefits of the technology are its fast mold fabrication, increased production efficiencies, reduced labor, and virtual elimination of waste through material reuse for bespoke molds. The system was originally demonstrated in 2014, using an industrial robot. The system was later adapted to integrate with a five-axis, high-speed gantry to achieve the rapid surface-milling tolerances, required for the system.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research Development Center, led by the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL), in
Champaign
Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...
, IL USA, began research in deployable construction 3D-printer technology starting in September 2015. The pilot project, Automated Construction for Expeditionary Structures (ACES), focused on concrete 3D printing and covered a broad range of research areas, including printing systems, printable concrete materials, structural design and testing, and construction methods. The ACES project resulted in three demonstrations: An Entry Control Point, the first Reinforced Additively Constructed Concrete Barracks, and the printing of civil and military infrastructure (Jersey barriers, T-walls, culverts, bunkers, and fighting position) at the US Army Maneuver Support, Sustainment, and protection Experiments (MSSPIX).
In 2017 ERDC CERL began working with the US Marine Corps, resulting in the first demonstration of concrete 3D printing by military personnel, a structurally enhanced reinforced 3D printed concrete Barracks Hut, the first 3D printed bridge in the Americas, and the first demonstration of printing with a three-inch nozzle. Through this work, ERDC and the Marines were able to test structural performance of reinforced 3D printed concrete wall assemblies and bridge beams, print system resilience and maintenance cycles, extended printing operations, the publicized 24 hour building claim, and develop viable reinforcement and construction methods using conventionally accepted practices.
MX3D Metal founded by Loris Jaarman and team has developed two 6 axis robotic 3D printing systems, the first uses a thermoplastic which is extruded, notably this system allows the fabrication of freeform non-planar beads. The second is a system that relies on additive welding (essentially spot welding on previous spot welds) the additive welding technology has been developed by various groups in the past. MX3D worked on the fabrication and installation of the metal bridge in Amsterdam for six years. The completed pedestrian and bicycle bridge was opened in July 2021. The bridge has a span of and a final mass of of stainless steel.
BetAbram is a simple gantry based concrete extrusion 3D printer developed in Slovenia. This system is available commercially, offering 3 models (P3, P2 and P1) to consumers since 2013. The largest P1 can print objects up to 16m x 9m x 2.5m.
Total Custom concrete 3D printer developed by Rudenko is a concrete deposition technology mounted in a gantry configuration, the system has a similar output to Winsun and other concrete 3D printing technologies, however it uses a lightweight truss type gantry. The technology has been used to fabricate a backyard scale version of a castle and a hotel room in the Philippines.
Serial production of construction printers was launched by SPECAVIA company, based in Yaroslavl (Russia). In May 2015, the company introduced the first model of a construction 3d printer and announced the start of sales.
XtreeE has developed a multi-component printing system, mounted on top of a 6-axis robotic arm. The project has started in July 2015, and includes collaboration and investments from the construction industry, such as Saint Gobain, Vinci, and
LafargeHolcim
Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 202 ...
.
3DPrinthuset, a Danish 3DPrinting startup, has also branched into construction with its sister company COBOD International, which made its own gantry-based printer in October 2017.
S-Squared 3D Printers Inc is a
3D printer
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
manufacturing and retail company based in Long Island, New York. The company was co-founded by Robert Smith and Mario Szczepanski in 2014 and has 13 employees and makes 3D printers for
hobbyists
A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing oth ...
, libraries and STEM programs. In 2017, the company launched a new division, S-Squared 4D Commercial, to construct homes and commercial buildings with their 3D printing rig called ''Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS)''. The system can build homes, commercial buildings, roads and bridges. ARCS can complete projects from 500 square feet to more than one million square feet.
In 2021, Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D printing specialists
WASP
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...
demonstrated the first 3D printing of a house made out of a clay-mixture, ''Tecla'' .
In 2022, engineers reported the development of swarms of autonomous 3D-printing drones for additive manufacturing and repair.
In November 2022, researchers at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center completed a home composed of modular sections printed from wood byproducts.
Design
Architect James Bruce Gardiner designed two projects, Freefab Tower in 2004 and the Villa Roccia in 2009–2010. FreeFAB Tower was based on the original concept to combine a hybrid form of construction 3D printing with modular construction. Influences can be seen in various designs used by Winsun, including articles on the Winsun's original press release and office of the future. The FreeFAB Tower project also depicts the first speculative use of multi-axis robotic arms in construction 3D printing, the use of such machines within construction has grown steadily in recent years with projects by MX3D and Branch Technology.
The Villa Roccia 2009–2010 took this work a step further with the a design for a Villa at Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, Italy in collaboration with D-Shape. The design for the Villa focused on the development of a site specific architectural language influenced by the rock formations on the site and along the coast of Sardinia, while also taking into account the use of a panellised prefabricated 3D printing process. The project went through prototyping and didn't proceed to full construction.
Francios Roche (R&Sie) developed the exhibition project and monograph 'I heard about' in 2005 which explored the use of a highly speculative self propelling snake like autonomous 3D printing apparatus and generative design system to create high rise residential towers.
Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars's performative architecture 3D-printed building was planned to be built by a partnership of Dutch companies. The house was planned to be built in the end of 2014, but this deadline wasn't met. The companies have said that they are still committed to the project.
Structures
3D concrete printing technology is used in the construction of thin-walled wall structures that do not require thermal insulation conditions.
3D printed buildings
The
3D Print Canal House The 3D Print Canal House is a three-year, publicly accessible "Research & Design by Doing" project in which an international team of partners from various sectors works together on 3D printing a canal house in Amsterdam.
By building the house, all ...
was a construction project.
The first residential building in Europe and the CIS, constructed using the 3D printing construction technology, was the home in
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluenc ...
(Russia) with the area of 298.5 sq. meters. The walls of the building were printed by the company SPECAVIA in December 2015. 600 elements of the walls were printed in the shop and assembled at the construction site. After completing the roof structure and interior decoration, the company presented a fully finished 3D building in October 2017.
Dutch and Chinese demonstration projects are slowly constructing 3D-printed buildings in China, Dubai and the Netherlands. Using the effort to educate the public to the possibilities of the new plant-based building technology and to spur greater innovation in 3D printing of residential buildings. A small concrete house was 3D-printed in 2017.
The Building on Demand (BOD), the first 3D printed house in Europe, is a project led by COBOD International for a small 3D printed office hotel in Copenhagen, Nordhavn area. As of 2018, the building stands fully completed and furbished.
3D printed bridges
In Spain, the first pedestrian bridge printed in 3D in the world (3DBRIDGE) was inaugurated 14 December 2016 in the urban park of Castilla-La Mancha in Alcobendas, Madrid. The 3DBUILD technology used was developed by ACCIONA, who was in charge of the structural design, material development and manufacturing of 3D printed elements. The bridge has a total length of 12 meters and a width of 1.75 meters and is printed in micro-reinforced concrete. Architectural design was done by Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC).
The 3D printer used to build the footbridge was manufactured by
D-Shape
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Mon ...
. The 3D printed bridge reflects the complexities of nature's forms and was developed through parametric design and computational design, which allows to optimize the distribution of materials and allows to maximize the structural performance, being able to dispose the material only where it is needed, with total freedom of forms. The 3D printed footbridge of Alcobendas represented a milestone for the construction sector at international level, as large scale 3D printing technology has been applied in this project for the first time in the field of civil engineering in a public space.
3D printed architectural forms
In August 2018 in
Palekh
Palekh (russian: Па́лех) is an urban locality (a settlement) and the administrative center of Palekhsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population:
Painting
Palekh has a very long history in Russian iconography, the art of painting R ...
(old town in Russia) was the world's first application of additive technology for сreating the fountain.
The fountain "Snop" (Sheaf) was originally created in the middle of the 20th century by famous sculptor Nikolai Dydykin. Nowadays, during the restoration of the fountain, it was changed from a rectangular to a round shape. The backlight system has also been updated. The renovated fountain now is 26 meters in diameter and 2.2 meters deep. The parapet of the 3D fountain with internal communication channels was printed by the AMT construction printer produced by AMT-SPETSAVIA group.
Extraterrestrial printed structures
The printing of buildings has been proposed as a particularly useful technology for constructing off-Earth habitats, such as habitats on the Moon or
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
-based Foster + Partners to examine the potential of printing lunar bases using regular 3D printing technology. The architectural firm proposed a building-construction 3D-printer technology in January 2013 that would use lunar regolith raw materials to produce lunar building structures while using enclosed inflatable habitats for housing the human occupants inside the hardshell printed lunar structures. Overall, these habitats would require only ten percent of the structure mass to be
transported
''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film.
Plot
In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she w ...
from Earth, while using local lunar materials for the other 90 percent of the structure mass.
The dome-shaped structures would be a weight-bearing
catenary
In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field.
The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superfici ...
form, with structural support provided by a closed-cell structure, reminiscent of bird bones. In this conception, "printed" lunar soil will provide both " radiation and
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...
insulation" for the Lunar occupants.
The building technology mixes lunar material with
magnesium oxide
Magnesium oxide ( Mg O), or magnesia, is a white hygroscopic solid mineral that occurs naturally as periclase and is a source of magnesium (see also oxide). It has an empirical formula of MgO and consists of a lattice of Mg2+ ions and O2− ions ...
which will turn the " moonstuff into a pulp that can be sprayed to form the block" when a binding salt is applied that "converts
his
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
material into a stone-like solid." A type of sulfur
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
is also envisioned.
Tests of 3D printing of an architectural structure with simulated lunar material have been completed, using a large
vacuum chamber
A vacuum chamber is a rigid enclosure from which air and other gases are removed by a vacuum pump. This results in a low-pressure environment within the chamber, commonly referred to as a vacuum. A vacuum environment allows researchers to con ...
in a terrestrial lab. The technique involves injecting the binding liquid under the surface of the
regolith
Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestr ...
with a 3D printer nozzle, which in tests trapped -scale droplets under the surface via capillary forces. The printer used was the
D-Shape
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Mon ...
.
A variety of lunar infrastructure elements have been conceived for 3D structural printing, including landing pads, blast protection walls, roads,
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
funded a small study at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
to further develop
the ''
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or Ga ...
'' 3D printing technique. Potential applications of this technology include constructing lunar structures of a material that could consist of up to 90-percent lunar material with only ten percent of the material requiring
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
from Earth.
NASA is also looking at a different technique that would involve the
sintering
Clinker nodules produced by sintering
Sintering or frittage is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by pressure or heat without melting it to the point of liquefaction.
Sintering happens as part of a manufacturing ...
of lunar dust using low-power (1500 watt) microwave energy. The lunar material would be bound by heating to , somewhat below the melting point, in order to fuse the
nanoparticle
A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 10 ...
dust into a solid block that is
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
-like, and would not require the transport of a binder material from Earth as required by the Foster+Partners, Contour Crafting, and D-shape approaches to extraterrestrial building printing. One specific proposed plan for building a lunar base using this technique would be called SinterHab, and would utilize the JPL six-legged ATHLETE robot to autonomously or telerobotically build lunar structures.
As of December of 2022, NASA awarded the Texas based company ICON with a $57.2 million contract to build 3D printed habitats, landing pads, and roads on the lunar surface and to support its
ARTEMIS
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...
program. The contract runs through 2028. The company participated in the NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge in collaboration with the
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on en ...
and was awarded a prize for its printed structural system prototype.
Clay printing
In April 2021, the first prototype 3D printed house made out of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, ''Tecla'', was completed. The low-carbon housing was printed by two large synchronized arms from a mixture of locally sourced soil and water as well as fibers from
rice husks
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera ''Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domesticated, ...
intentional communities
An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...
such as
autonomous
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
, autarkeco-communities, and enable the provision of housing for victims of natural disasters as well as – via knowledge- and technology-transfer to local people – for migrants to Europe near their homes, including as an increasingly relevant political option. It was built in Italy by the architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D printing specialists WASP. The building's name is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words
Data and projections indicate an increasing relevance of buildings that are both low-cost and sustainable, notably that, according to a 2020 UN report, building and construction are responsible for ~38% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, that, partly due to global warming, migration crises are expected to intensify in the future and that the UN estimates that by 2030, ~3 billion people or ~40% of the world's population will require access to accessible, affordable housing. Disadvantages of printing with clay-mixtures include height-limitations or horizontal space requirements, initial costs and size of the non-mass-produced printer, latencies due to having to let the mixture dry with current processes, and other problems related to the novelty of the product such as their connection to plumbing systems.
Concrete printing
Large-scale,
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...
-based 3D printing disposes the need for conventional molding by precisely placing, or solidifying, specific volumes of material in sequential layers by a computer controlled positioning process. This 3D printing approach consist of three general stages: data preparation, concrete preparation and component printing.
For path and data generation, a variety of methods are implemented for the generation of robotic building paths. A general approach is to slice a 3D shape into flat thin layers with a constant thickness which can be stacked up onto each other. In this method, each layer consists of a
contour line
A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional grap ...
and a filling pattern which can be implemented as
honeycomb structures
Honeycomb structures are natural or man-made structures that have the geometry of a honeycomb to allow the minimization of the amount of used material to reach minimal weight and minimal material cost. The geometry of honeycomb structures can ...
or
space-filling curve
In mathematical analysis, a space-filling curve is a curve whose range contains the entire 2-dimensional unit square (or more generally an ''n''-dimensional unit hypercube). Because Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) was the first to discover one, spa ...
s. Another method is the tangential continuity method which produces 3-dimensional building paths with locally varying thicknesses. This method results in creating constant contact surfaces between two layers, therefore, the geometrical gaps between two layers which often limits the 3D printing process will be avoided.
The material preparation stage includes mixing and placing the concrete into the container. Once the fresh concrete has been placed into the container, it can be conveyed through the pump–pipe– nozzle system to print out self-compacting concrete filaments, which can build layer-by-layer structural components. In the additive processes, pumpability and the stability of the extrusion is important for the applications of
mortars
Mortar may refer to:
* Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon
* Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together
* Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind
* Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...
. These properties will all vary depending on the concrete mix design, the delivery system, and the deposition device. General specifications of wet concrete 3D printing are categorized into four main characteristics:
* Pumpability: The ease and reliability with which material is moved through the delivery system
* Printability: The ease and reliability of depositing material through a deposition device
* Buildability: The resistance of a deposited wet material to deformation under load
* Open time: The period where the above properties are consistent within acceptable tolerances.
To execute the printing process, a control system is required. These systems can be generally split into two categories: gantry systems and
robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by join ...
systems. The gantry system drives a manipulator mounted onto an overhead to locate the print nozzle in XYZ cartesian coordinates while robotic arms offer additional degrees of freedom to the nozzle, allowing more accurate printing workflows such as printing with tangential continuity method. Regardless of the system used for printing (gantry crane or robotic arm), the coordination between the nozzle travel speed and the material flow rate is crucial to the outcome of the printed filament. In some cases, multiple 3D printing robotic arms can be programmed to run simultaneously resulting in decreased construction time. Finally, automated post-processing procedures can also be applied in scenarios which require the removal of support structures or any surface finishing.
The researchers at Purdue University have pioneered a 3D printing process known as Direct-ink-Writing for fabrication of architectured cement-based materials for the first time. They demonstrated using 3D-printing, bio-inspired designs of cement-based materials is feasible and novel performance characteristics such as flaw-tolerance and compliance can be achieved.
Construction speed
Claims have been made by
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Behrokh Khoshnevis is the President and CEO of Contour Crafting Corporation and the Louise L. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he has affiliations with the Aerospace & Mechanical En ...
since 2006 for 3D printing a house in a day, with further claims to notionally complete the building in approximately 20 hours of "printer" time. By January 2013, working versions of 3D-printing building technology were printing of building material per hour, with a follow-on generation of printers proposed to be capable of per hour, sufficient to complete a building in a week.
The Chinese company WinSun has built several houses using large 3D printers using a mixture of quick drying cement and recycled raw materials. Ten demonstration houses were said by Winsun to have been built in 24 hours, each costing US$5000 (structure not including, footings, services, doors/windows and fitout). However, construction 3D printing pioneer Dr.
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Behrokh Khoshnevis is the President and CEO of Contour Crafting Corporation and the Louise L. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he has affiliations with the Aerospace & Mechanical En ...
claims this was faked and that WinSun stole his
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
.
Research and public knowledge
There are several research projects dealing with 3D Construction printing, such as the 3D concrete printing (3DCP) project at the
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc an ...
, or the various projects at the
Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia ( ca, Institut d'Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya, IAAC; ) also known as IAAC, is an educational and research centre dedicated to the development of an architecture capable of meeting the wor ...
(Pylos, Mataerial, and Minibuilders). The list of research projects is expanding even more in the last couple of years, thanks to a growing interest in the field.
State-of-the-art research
The majority of the projects have been focused on researching the physical aspects behind the technology, such as the printing technology, material technology, and the various issues related to them. COBOD International (formerly known as 3DPrinthuset, now its sister company) has recently led a research oriented towards exploring the current state of the technology worldwide, by visiting more than 35 different 3D Construction printing related projects. For each project, a research report has been issued, and the gathered data has been used to unify all the various technologies into a first attempt at a common standardized categorization and terminology.
First 3D construction printing conference
Along with the research, 3DPrinthuset (now known as COBOD International) has organized two international conferences on 3D Construction printing (February and November 2017 respectively), aimed at bringing together the strongest names in this emerging industry to discuss the potentials and challenges that lie ahead. The conferences were the first of this kind, and have brought together names such as
D-Shape
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Mon ...
,
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or Ga ...
, Cybe Construction, Eindhoven's 3DCP research, Winsun, and many more. Along the 3D Construction printing specialists, there has also been a strong presence from the traditional construction industry key players for the first time, with names such as Sika AG, Vinci,
Royal BAM Group
Royal BAM Group nv ( nl, Koninklijke BAM Groep nv) is a Dutch construction-services business with headquarters in Bunnik, Netherlands. It is the largest construction company based on revenue in the Netherlands.
History
The company was founded by ...
, NCC, MYK LATICRETE, among others. A general idea emerged that the 3D Construction printing field needs a more unified platform where ideas, applications, issues and challenges can be shared and discussed.
Media interest
Although the first steps have been made nearly three decades ago, 3D construction printing has struggled to reach out for years. The first technologies to achieve some media attention were
Contour Crafting
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (in the Viterbi School of Engineering) that uses a computer-controlled crane or Ga ...
and
D-Shape
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Mon ...
, with a few sporadic articles in 2008–2012 and a 2012 TV report. D-Shape has also been featured in an independent documentary dedicated to its creator Enrico Dini, called "The man who prints houses".
One important break-through has been seen with the announcement of the first 3D printed building, using a prefabricated 3D printed components made by Winsun, which claimed to be able to print 10 houses in a day with its technology. Although the claims were still to be confirmed, the story has created a wide traction and a growing interest in the field. In a matter of months, many new companies began to emerge. This led to many new endeavors that reached the media, such as, in 2017, the first pedestrian 3d printed bridge and the first cyclist 3d printed bridge, plus an early structural element made with 3d printing in 2016, among many others.
Recently, COBOD International, formerly known as 3DPrinthuset (its sister company) has gained wide media attention with their first permanent 3D printed building, the first of its kind in Europe. The project set an important precedent for being the first 3D printed building with a building permit and documentation in place, and a full approval from the city authorities, a crucial milestone for a wider acceptance in the construction field. The story gained extensive coverage, both on national and international media, appearing on TV in Denmark, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, among many others.
See also
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Building construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
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3D printing processes
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, therefore the numerous available 3D printing process tend ...