The Tecla house is a prototype

3D-printed 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 ...

eco residential building 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 ...

. The first model was designed by the Italian architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) and engineered and built by Italian 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. Th ...

by April 2021, becoming the world's first house 3D-printed entirely from a mixture made from mainly local earth and water. Its name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsInvisible Cities ''Invisible Cities'' ( it, Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Description The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of ...

whose construction never ceases.

History

The project was reportedly first conceived by WASP Founder Massimo Moretti and, via research of the Cucinella-founded training center School of Sustainability (SOS), MCA's founder Mario Cucinella. For construction, WASP's 3D printing technology ''Crane WASP'' was used. This 3D printer was used for the similar building "GAIA" – the first 3D printed earth building – completed in 2018, about 7 years after WASP's inception in 2012. Printing started in September 2019. It was developed as a solution that addresses urgent problems, like the climate crisis, via application of both ancient materials and techniques, and novel technologies.

Technology and construction

For the building WASP's 3D printing technology ''Crane WASP'' was used. It is the first 3D printer that can print from raw earth and is modular and multilevel. It consists of software and (in 2021) a stationary fixture with two synchronized printer arms that can simultaneously print an area of 50 m³ each. The material consists of local soil mixed with water, fibers from rice husks and a binder. The infilling material for

thermal insulation Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer (i.e., the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature) between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with s ...

consists of

rice husk Rice hulls (or rice husks) are the hard protecting coverings of grains of rice. In addition to protecting rice during the growing season, rice hulls can be put to use as building material, fertilizer, insulation material, or fuel. Rice hulls are pa ...

and rice straw from rice cultivation waste. The composition of the mixture and filling of the walls can be optimized depending on local climate. An early phase of the construction is the digging and mixing phase in which a digger digs up local soil which is then analyzed and mixed with water and additives. The house is made up of two modules up to 4.2 m in height, has an area of about 60 m³ and can be built with 200 hours of printing. It uses 7000 G-code machine codes, 350 12 mm layers and 150 km of

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 c ...

from the printer arms, for an average consumption of less than 6 kW (total printing output of ~1200 kWh). As with any 3D printed product, the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

can be modified for improvements and flexible adaptation to different purposes and environments. The buildings are dome-shaped, have a large glass door and are topped with ceiling-windows. As of 2021, the only prototype has no windows and

paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...

on its walls. It was built with collaboration from a number of Italian companies and

Massa Lombarda Massa Lombarda ( rgn, La Mása) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ravenna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about east of Bologna and about west of Ravenna. Twin towns Massa Lombarda is twinned with: * Poreč Po ...

as an institutional partner.

Uses and problems

Timelapse of 3D-printer construction of the clay house

The use of local natural materials reduces waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Data and projections indicate an increasing relevance of buildings that are both low-cost and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

, 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. Buildings like the Tecla prototype could be very cheap, well- insulated, stable and weatherproof, climate-adaptable, customizable, get produced rapidly, require only very little easily learnable manual labor, mitigate carbon emissions from concrete, require less energy, reduce

homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

, help enable intentional communities such as autonomous eco-communities, and enable the provision of housing for victims of natural disasters as well as – via knowledge- and technology-transfer to local people – for emigrants to Europe near their homes, rather than controversially in distant countries. The prototype is undergoing structural and thermal performance testing. The machines needed for construction take as much space as the container for shipping and are not mass-produced and inexpensive enough for common individual citizens to afford. Disadvantages of printing with clay-mixtures include height-limitations or horizontal space requirements, 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. While they are unlikely to be relevant for solutions to overpopulation crises such as in China, their early implementations may tend to enable societal innovation through autark communities and displacement- and migration-relief via use by citizens of African and Middle Eastern countries.

References

External links

* * {{cite journal , last1=Heywood , first1=Kate , title=Felted Clay , date=2021 , url=https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/9042193 Environmental technology Building technology Affordable housing 2021 introductions 2021 in technology 3D printing Italian inventions Automation in construction Clay Buildings and structures in Emilia-Romagna Houses in Italy

History

Technology and construction

Uses and problems

See also

References

External links