News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
A rural house in north China’s Hebei Province has been catapulted into fame recently for being the first 3D printed house in this rural area of China, built “scan by scan” with giant construction 3D printers.
IAAC, the Institute for Advanced Architecture, continues its research towards 3D printing architecture with local earthen materials by completing a housing prototype in the natural park of Collseolla, in the outskirts of Barcelona, this winter. The result is a small constructed prototype with 100% natural and locally sourced material recipes that will be inaugurated with a live event on February 28th [register here].
Pipelife is the first company to apply automated 3D printing and software to produce customized manhole and inspection chamber flow profiles for drainage systems. After a great deal of development work since the first printer was introduced 1.5 years ago, Pipelife is preparing to roll out 3D printing to the whole Group. This will significantly improve efficiency and precision in the production of polypropylene (PP) flow profiles, ensuring clients increased availability and product quality.
Citing official ICON sources, TechCrunch has exclusively revealed that the US-based construction 3D printing company, has raised an additional $185 million in a round led by Tiger Global Management. The financing said to be an extension of ICON’s $207 million Series B that was announced last August, brings the company to nearly $2 billion in valuation in a rapidly growing 3DCP (3D construction printing) segment.
The city of Huntsville, AL, is a burgeoning technology town that is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center as well as facilities for the Department of Defense. It is a community that is continuing to flourish. Downtown Huntsville is on the move with the redevelopment of Big Spring Park, which is home to new hotels, entertainment venues, and bars and restaurants. Part of that revitalization included renovations to the Monroe Street parking garage, across the street from the multi-purpose Von Braun Center. The parking garage provides event parking in the evenings and on weekends, and office workers use it during the weekdays. To achieve their goal of an attractive and dynamic façade for the garage that would make a bold statement, architects ultimately turned to Branch Technology and its game-changing approach to 3D printed facades for commercial construction.
In its effort to always be one step ahead of mounting competition, the current construction 3D printing industry leader COBOD has released the first-ever construction 3D printer configurator app, available on iOS and Android as well as a web app on the company’s website. The configuration looks to make construction 3D printing more accessible and more fun, in the era of 3D Construction 2.0. It’s a blast.
Concrete 3D printing of building shells has grown considerably in the last few years, with more and more building shells being 3D printed, even buildings with up to 3 floors and windmill towers. However, the high cost of 3D printing mortars has prevented more widespread and large-scale application on multi-unit projects, including large-scale affordable housing projects. This is about to change as CEMEX, in cooperation 3D construction printer supplier COBOD, developed the new D.fab solution for rapid development of cost-effective concrete 3D printing materials.
COBOD has spearheaded the development of construction 3D printing and has sold more than 35 3D construction printers to date (since 2019) across six continents. These have been used for multiple “world firsts”, including the first 1-, 2- and 3-story 3D printed buildings in Europe, the first 3D printed house and school in Africa, and the first wind turbine tower base made in cooperation with GE Renewable Energy. In the US, COBOD’s printers have been used to make houses in 3 different US states so far.
Activities are set to intensify in 2022, as we get closer to the date (2024) that ESA and NASA have planned for humanity’s return to the Moon. The ESA Discovery program has been supporting groups from industry and academia to develop technologies for off-Earth manufacturing. Last November, a public online symposium presented their latest results and highlighted which technologies are most promising for maturing further towards integration into future space missions.
Bart Kellerhuis the creative director of Zecc Architecten is responsible for the temporary accommodation of the Dutch House of Representatives, more commonly known as ‘Tweede Kamer’. Zecc created a custom version of Aectual technology‘s Weave panels to design a unique circular canopy for the building.