News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
MiCoB, a pioneer in sustainable and rapid 3D concrete printing (3DCP) technology, has successfully delivered more than 500 impact- and blast-resistant 3D printed bunkers to the Indian Army.
According to Oregon State University (OSU), researchers have developed a quick-setting, environmentally friendly alternative to concrete they hope can one day be used to rapidly 3D print homes and infrastructure. The new clay-based material developed by Devin Roach, Nicolas Gonsalves, and collaborators at Oregon State cures as it’s being extruded from the printer, thanks to its acrylamide-based binding agent, which undergoes a chemical reaction known as frontal polymerization. The material can even be printed across unsupported gaps, such as the top edge of an opening for a door or window.
An ambitious new building project has broken ground in Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario: a multi-story student residence constructed using 3D printing. The build, commissioned by the University of Windsor, will be the first of its kind in Canada and will eventually house seven student units (with 25 beds) and serve as a “living laboratory” for engineering students and researchers.
Alquist, a 3D construction printing (3DCP) company, has partnered with Walmart and other commercial retailers to deliver more than a dozen construction projects across the United States, marking the largest-scale deployment of 3D printed commercial building technology in US history.
The town of Holstebro in Denmark just got a new landmark: Europe’s largest 3D printed housing project. The ambitious build, called Skovsporet (“The Forest Trail”), will ultimately consist of 36 student apartments, whose walls are made using COBOD’s BOD3 construction 3D printer. The project has just completed its 3D printing phase and is now preparing to move into the interior construction phase.
According to Athens Independent, the Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program (SAOP) has partnered with construction firm Vitruvian to build 3D printed homes in Chauncey, Ohio, aiming to expand affordable housing options in the Appalachian region.
A team led by construction robotics startup X-Hab 3D has completed the structural walls of a 3D-printed concrete home in Nome, Alaska — a first for additive construction in the region’s extreme coastal climate. Located on the edge of the Bering Sea, the site posed significant logistical and environmental hurdles, offering a real-world test of automation in remote housing applications.
According to Carnegie Mellon University, new research from the College of Engineering combines drones, additive manufacturing, and large language models to rethink the future of aerial construction. The new developments are expected to enable the building of shelters, the reinforcement of infrastructure, and the construction of bridges in inaccessible areas.
While marine and forest restoration efforts can often get more attention, desert restoration is also a vital part of environmental efforts. In China, for instance, there has been a growing interest in restoring desert ecosystems with the goal of reducing the risk of sandstorms and combating desertification through the planting of trees, shrubs and grasses to create a “desert-locking forest.” The work involved in planting and maintaining these forests in the arid desert is, as one might imagine, extremely arduous. In a bid to improve the conditions for the volunteer rangers on desert duty, sustainability-focused design studio designRESERVE has built a modular shelter system, called Desert Ark, in the Tengger Desert in Inner Mongolia.
Dutch architectural design company Studio RAP is becoming a prolific creator of iconic 3D printed spaces and building features. Based out of Rotterdam, the studio combines computational design and digital fabrication (i.e. robotic3D printing) in order to transform built space—often with a nod to the traditional. Its recent projects include an algorithmically designed, 3D printed storefront in central Amsterdam, and a series of 3D printed ceramic tiles, inspired by traditional Delft ceramics, that can be used in the construction of aesthetic cladding walls. The company’s newest endeavour, a project called Blue Voyage, might just be its most impressive yet.