There is no place like home, much more so when it is a five-day print run.
The Sun announced Saturday that a Dutch couple has moved into Europe’s first entirely 3D-printed home, which could herald a revolution in home construction.
Elize Lutz and Harrie Dekkers’ latest two-bedroom house appears to have been plucked straight from “The Flintstones.” It measures slightly more than 1,000 square feet and resembles a large boulder with glass.
However, despite its low-tech appearance, it is the latest advancement in real estate design and was printed at a nearby factory. These homes can be constructed in five days and rent for just under $1,000 a month in the Netherlands.
“It’s an odd shape, and when I first saw it, it reminded me of something you knew as a child,” Lutz explained.
The house is composed of 24 concrete elements that were printed using a system that squirts layer upon layer of concrete prior to adding the finishing touches, which include a roof.
The layers impart a ribbed texture to the interior and exterior walls. The method utilizes concrete that has a quality similar to toothpaste. The hollow printed walls are packed with an insulating film.
Dekkers said the home has excellent acoustics — even when he plays music on his phone — and the silence inside the home’s insulated walls is remarkably calm during quiet time.
“It gives a really nice feeling, because you don’t hear something from the outside while you’re inside,” he said.
“If you look at the time required to print this building, it was only 120 hours,” Bas Huysmans, CEO of Weber Benelux, explained.
“So if we had printed all the elements in one go, it would have taken us less than five days because the printer does not need to feed, sleep, or rest,” Huysmans said.
The home is the result of a partnership called Project Milestone between the city hall, Eindhoven’s Technical University, and construction companies.
Theo Salet, a professor at Eindhoven’s Technical University, is researching ways to make concrete building more sustainable by 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing.
He told the Sun that while he does not expect these 3D homes to become ubiquitous, the process could be applied to the construction of conventional homes.
“If you ask me, can we build one million houses like the ones seen here? No, it is not. However, if we use this technology in conjunction with wooden structures in other buildings, then my response is yes,” he said.
