MaterialDistrict

High speed housing

We keep on returning to 3D printing. News reaches us daily about advances in technology, applications or material use. Pioneers include Enrico Dini and Xavier de Kestelier, working for Foster + Partners. Now, a Chinese company has demonstrated a combination of all these factors.

The result is a series of houses that make use of 3D printing technology and fibre-reinforced cement for a quick printing process. The structures are printed by WinSun, a Shanghai-based engineering corporation, and their details are impressive.

At 200 m2 each, the houses are simple but roomy. The printer that makes the houses is huge, measuring around 6,6 m high, 10 m wide and an incredible 150 m long. By using serial production, these identical houses are manufactured for just 30,000 RMB (about 3,500 EUR).

As with other prints, the houses are constructed from multiple layers of material, in this case fibre reinforced cement.

The cement that the printer uses is a composition of high-grade cement mixed with glass fibre particles. WinSun has stated that it has spent many years developing its printer. Looking at a section of the houses’ walls, the advantages of the printing system is clear. A lattice-work of printed material forms stiff and strong triangles.

There is enough space between each strut for insulation materials, plumbing and openings, as necessary. This makes the finished design similar to the canal house that DUS Architects is currently printing, though that house is made of plastic.

WinSun has bigger ideas than these houses. Eventually, the corporation wants to build a family of factories across China that will collect waste and transform it into new material that’s suitable for 3D printing. According to the firm, this will save up to half the construction costs.

We’ve previously written about 3D printing. In fact, we think the subject is so important that we’ve produced a downloadable book, which is yours right here.

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