Architecture

Affordable starter home is 3D-printed in just 18 hours

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The 3D-printed house is located in the Porto area of the Iberian Peninsula and measures 80 sq m (roughly 860 sq ft)
COBOD
The 3D-printed house is located in the Porto area of the Iberian Peninsula and measures 80 sq m (roughly 860 sq ft)
COBOD
The 3D-printed house took just 18 hours to print using a COBOD BOD2 printer, though human builders then came in to finish it off
COBOD
The 3D-printed home's walls were created by a robot extruding a cement-like mixture in layers, lending the walls a distinctive ribbed appearance
COBOD
The 3D-printed house is envisioned as a starter home for young people
COBOD
The 3D-printed house includes two bedrooms
COBOD
The 3D-printed house is arranged around a central kitchen and dining area
COBOD
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One of the most exciting possibilities of 3D-printed architecture is that it could revolutionize affordable housing. Portugal's Havelar shows this may soon be within reach with its inaugural 3D-printed home, which took just 18 hours to print.

Located in the Greater Porto area of Portugal's second-largest city, the unnamed 80 sq m (roughly 860 sq ft) two-bedroom residence was built using COBOD's BOD2 printer, which was also used on Europe's largest 3D-printed building. According to COBOD, Havelar's houses can be produced for €1,500 per sq m, which it contrasts favorably with the Porto average of €3,104 (around US$3,330) per square meter. This cheaper price tag is largely due to the speed of construction offered by the 3D printer, which follows a blueprint and extrudes a cement-like mixture out of a nozzle in layers, building up the basic structure of the home.

Though, as mentioned, the printing process itself took 18 hours, human builders then came in and finished it by installing the windows, door, paneling, roof, and anything else needed. Including the human labor, the entire project took under two months to complete.

The home takes the form of a simple single-story residence defined by the telltale ribbed walls that show that it has been constructed with a 3D printer. Its interior is arranged around a central kitchen and dining room, with the living room, two bedrooms and bathroom adjoining. It's obviously relatively basic compared to other 3D-printed houses we've seen, like the more high-end Wolf Ranch models, though it's also around $400,000 cheaper, so is focused toward a totally different market.

The 3D-printed house is envisioned as a starter home for young people
COBOD

This is the first 3D-printed home Havelar has produced, so it's early days yet, but looking to the future, the firm hopes to scale up production and reach carbon neutrality by 2030 by adopting alternative construction materials like earth and straw.

"We want to team up with partners who see themselves in building sustainable and accessible communities," said Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Co-Founder of Havelar. "With €150,000 [$161,000], it's possible for a young couple to have the home they've always dreamed of, in an area with good access and services."

Sources: COBOD, Havelar

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15 comments
Shaun666
We keep hearing the words hours when printing a house, and then we see the word months for a finished object. This is at best an illusion, and the worst a delusion, but the end result is the same, this is a non effective technology
DavidB
&Shaun666, the house takes far less time and costs less than half as much to construct. How in the world can you consider that “non effective[sic] technology”?
just-a-random-guy
It does not cost half as much to construct, the numbers per sqm are misleading, this 3D-printed house is in the middle of nowhere and it's 1 level and to compare the price to Porto average is a bit strange, please google Porto and check out the houses there, it makes no sense, interesting would be a comparison of a regular built 1 level house.
windykites
How long does it take to erect a prefab timber-frame house of the same size?
Do people really like the appearance of the walls? A bit like the 'fashion' for ripped jeans.
Brian M
Wonder how this compares to a factory constructed house kit say using Structural insulated panels (SIPs) in both cost and time?

Suspect the factory built SIP ones are going to come out cheaper and quicker, once you take in the cost of using the 3D printing machine on site.
Uncle Anonymous
I like the idea of these 3D printed dwellings, and I wish these had been around when we built our home back in two thousand and one. After looking at this and the information on the manufacturer's website, I only have one question, How is the electrical wiring in the exterior walls done?
Alaska Bill
A "house" is far more than walls. Printing walls with concrete is advantageous in some ways, but not a game-changer like a quasi-spherical thin-shell concrete monococque would be: https://vimeo.com/880814295
What primary reinforcement, thus seismic durability, have printed concrete walls ? Probably very little, thus perhaps inferior to stick-built small buildings, i.e. "houses".
What thermal insulating value have printed concrete walls ? Cannot achieve by filling the wall cores: bridging overwhelms.
Expanded Viewpoint
Instead of squirting cement out of a nozzle, why not set up a mold and just pour the cement into it? The mold could be made out of plywood with thin sheet metal glued to it to give a smooth surface and taken apart after the cement sets up. Or paneling could be glued to the cement to cover up the impression of the plywood. For the wiring and plumbing, that can all be set up when the inner wall part of the mold is erected. You could even have the wiring in the EMT and outlet boxes before the pour is done. No expensive 3D printing machinery would need to be built and moved to the site, just a bunch of wood mold pieces that are set in place.
TechGazer
Is the "cement-like substance" actual cement (high carbon cost)? Carbon cost is something to consider, especially for mass production. A wood-frame house, especially with low-carbon-cost insulation (mycelium or cellulose) would be better from that perspective. There was another story recently about microfactories producing wood-frame houses cheaply. Automated assembly of wood panels is just another form of "printing".

What about end-of-life for the structures? A house assembled from wood panels could be designed for easy disassembly and re-use or recycling. Concrete structures seem less reusable or recyclable.
jerryd
The printer only prints the walls which is only 10-15% of a home and I can build those walls by hand with 2 people in less time.
I built my modest studio home stick built, in just 2 days for everything with just 1 other person. And I was 65% handicapped at the time.
Something else they never mention is how filthy it'll be as dirt builds up on the walls and hard to clean as rough, especially inside as can't use a power washer like outside.
And who wants to wash their homes every 2-6 months?