3D printed a home a day are not a new idea, but 3D printed home a day are now commercially possible. In the 1950’s post WWII economic boom, affordable housing was in high demand. The Levitt Brothers responded by developing methods to construct homes in a day. These homes formed the birth of cookie cutter homes and suburban development.
As human population increases, the demand for affordable housing can only continue to inspire new methods of affordable construction. 3D printing and the emerging field of contour crafting is producing the tools needed to 3D print homes in a day.
While 3D printing homes is not new, the prospect of commercial home printers will be a economic boom for aspiring home developers.
Apis Cor has broken into the home printing market with their mobile 3D printing system that can print a home on site.
The system is completely mobile, and prints with a mixture of fiber cement or geopolymer. For labor it can run with crew of just 2 people according to the company. It can print its own foundation as well as the main structure, which can drastically cut home building times.
Apis Cor made waves with the home they just 3D printed in a day, with Mashable posting a viral video about the project. The home cost $275 a square meter, with a size of 38 square meters. The total cost was $10,134 USD. Apis Cor printed this in the cold of winter in Russia, which shows how the technology can be used for emergency situations in all weather conditions.
A mobile 3D printing system can be deployed in disaster areas to produce emergency housing with locally recycled materials. Home printing can also be used to improve housing conditions in impoverished areas, where housing quality is poor at best.
For entrepreneurs, small local companies can deploy a printer to build custom houses or outbuildings. This new type of home construction company will employ local builders in their communities, and support the local economy with less waste in the local landfill.
While Apis Cor is not the first company to 3D print a home, they are one of the first companies to offer a commercial grade system to 3D print homes. I have contacted them for a quote, and will have that posted as soon as they respond.
UPDATE: After contacting Apis Cor, they sent me an email for business contact information. At this time they are not selling heir 3D printer, but looking for business partners. They are still testing their home printers before they release them to the market.
That is just amazing to me. Printing a home.
pretty cool future for sure
Looks great can’t wait to try this
haha you should post a pic here when you did 🙂
Any pricing information available on the machine? The website is very sketchy.
I will have to check if i can find anything. 🙂 Yeah websites of these big machines usually is.
In Future – printing any materials?
In theory you could. Right now cement or fiberglass – enforced cement is viable, but I can see plastic composites or fiberglass material in the future for more affordable and local sourced material.
This is much like one aspect of Jacque Fresco’s grand design known as the Venus Project that was devised decades ao.
Peace!
I was mesmerized watching the videos. This seems like the birth of something that is going to be big. Maybe not soon but as the population grows the need for affordable homes will skyrocket! Especially in disasters (such as the hurricane in Puerto Rico where so many homes were destroyed in 2017). Having a fast response to the homeless and misplaced is what needs to happen and this 3D home printer sounds/looks like it will be key to the future!! I hope this solves a lot of problems in the world.
I do to! I hope to get some of these home printers into the USA to start building and developing the skills and formulas needed for locally produced cements.