Ten years ago, 3D printing made the leap from the industrial world to home use. The concept had been around since 1984, when 3D Systems Corporation developed the process of stereolithography in which layers of fluid or granular material were built up to create a three-dimensional object, after which the material was fixed solid. But in 2005, 3D printing became available to the (rich) hobbyist.
Today, the process has taken another leap forward and an affordable 3D printer based in the home can now print food, spare parts, spoons and jewellery using the same technique. What changes with each object is the material used to create it.
So what can you make if you use concrete as the material and a really, really big machine? The answer is a 3D printed house.
The world’s first 3D printed multi-story mansion was created in China, the same machine printing out simpler homes in around 24 hours at the cost of about US$5,000 each. With transportable offices and modular homes in NSW already common, 3D printing is about to take us one further from the traditional labour-on-site model of residential and commercial construction.
3D printing on site or in the factory
The Chinese Winsun 3D printer that built the world’s first mansion is 6.6m tall, 10m wide and 150m long. It didn’t print the entire multi-story mansion at once, it printed it in stages in a factory, and these were assembled on site. The idea that buildings are manufactured in one place and relocated to another is not new. In NSW, relocatable homes are already common, and provide a much faster building process than traditional houses.
3D printing could also revolutionise the industry by allowing the purchaser to have a say in the design of the blueprint that’s fed into the printer to produce the building. Architecture, as well as construction, looks set for a shake-up.
It could also be possible to cut down on transport costs by locating the printer on the building site. This would be perfect for less complicated dwellings – one-storey holiday homes, granny flats or sheds, for example.
Architectural freedom and non-standard shapes
At the moment, time and money limit the shape of the houses most of us live in because it’s easier for labourers to build four straight walls than seven or eight with contours, curves and off-vertical angles. The 3D printer changes all that. Dr Hank Haeusler of the University of NSW recently suggested 3D printing would alter the spaces we live in as consumers demand individuality. Whatever design is fed into it – architect and engineer approved of course – the printer will comply. Imagine living in a house shaped like Australia or under a roof like the Opera House.
You could take a photo of a house you like, get a blueprint drawn up and have it printed within a week. When friends ask where you live, you can tell them: “It’s the one that looks like the White House!”
As the cost of labour on traditional builds increases, 3D printing will reach a tipping point – that moment where the advantages of printing a house outweigh building traditionally. At that point, when 3D printing takes over, Australia’s construction industry will enter a new and exciting phase.
