News and Insights of 3D Printing and Manufacturing
Obayashi Corporation, one of Japan’s leading construction companies, has further underlined its reputation as a pioneer in the construction and architecture space, with the installation of the three-meter high metal 3D printed “the brænch” at its Technology Research Institute in Kiyose, Tokyo.
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) has inaugurated a 3D printed concrete security cabin, marking a significant milestone in sustainable construction and advanced manufacturing technologies in India.
Construction 3D printing technologies are being used to build myriad structures, from student housing blocks, to pedestrian bridges, to military bunkers. Soon, we will see 3D printing used to build a new parish church in Czechia. The project, to be the first of its kind, was recently given the blessing of the Archdiocese of Prague, who recognized the potential of the technology to build a place of worship with an innovative design and acoustics, while also bringing down building costs.
Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese construction, architecture, and engineering firm established in 1804, has developed a spray-based 3D concrete printing system designed for the construction of large, curved reinforced components. The system integrates a nine-degree-of-freedom gantry robot with a material spray simulator that enables verification of sprayed-material behavior in advance. This enables highly accurate, automated fabrication of reinforced structural components and large components with complex geometries, applications that were difficult to realize using conventional material extrusion printing. The material spray simulator incorporated into the system was jointly developed with the Computational Engineering and Robotics Lab (CERLAB), led by Professor Kenji Shimada of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
A team of researchers from the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania has unveiled a new flooring installation that demonstrates how 3D printing and cutting-edge design can be combined to create structures that significantly reduce concrete consumption and, consequently, the carbon footprint of construction. The project, called “3D-Printed Dual-Banded High-Performance Concrete Floor”, is led by Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh, Associate Professor of Architecture and director of the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory (PSL).
SCG has completed a 3D printed pedestrian bridge spanning Bangkok’s historic Ong Ang Canal, marking one of Thailand’s first uses of large-scale digital fabrication for public infrastructure. The project, finished in 2025 under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s canal revitalization program, combines architectural innovation with local cultural references and sustainability-focused materials research.
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.
The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Archireef, a nature tech company focused on restoring marine ecosystems, to collaborate on cutting-edge research and projects aimed at restoring coral reef habitats and protecting marine biodiversity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Located right in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, the West Texan city of Marfa is something of an oasis. The city, known for its fertile contemporary arts scene, will also soon be home to a community of 3D printed villas thanks to a collaboration between Houston-based 3D construction company HiveASMBLD (formerly Hive3D), local developer Marfa Optimists LLC and architecture firm DeMaria Design, which specializes in innovative design and sustainability.
According to Gulf News, Kenyo Tech Middle East 3D Printing Factory, a UAE-localized entity, has broken ground on its first 3D printing factory within the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park. The factory will be the UAE’s first and largest dedicated to 3D concrete printing.
Based in Vienna, Austria, designer Philipp Aduatz has for years been exploring the use of digital manufacturing technologies to create functional and sculptural design objects. In 2023, for instance, we covered an impressive installation by him: the first 3D printed film studio, which was commissioned by Casinos Austria. His latest project continues the exploration of form and function by combining extrusion-based 3D printing and recycled concrete materials to bring to life a collection of versatile furniture pieces.
Saudi Arabia’s Alfaisal University has acquired a 3D construction printer from Australian company LUYTEN 3D. The new technology will equip students and researchers in the University’s Department of Architectural Engineering with hands-on experience, enabling them to explore the future of construction and drive innovative, sustainable building solutions.
While we very often hear about how 3D printing is used to construct walls for housing, floors are still a more niche subsegment of construction 3D printing. As partners Autodesk and Additive Tectonics recently demonstrated, however, there is big potential in leveraging additive manufacturing for the production of flooring, as the technology can unlock greater efficiency and sustainability.
Buena Vista, Colorado is a mountain town known for its incredible views (obviously) as well as its ideal location for hiking. The scenic community is, however, also increasingly at risk of wildfires. In fact, nearly half of Colorado’s population reportedly lives in regions that could be impacted by wildfires, a growing risk due to global warming. Ideally, this risk would be addressed through grand-scale policy changes, but in the absence of that, smaller scale initiatives are critical. One such initiative is being led by construction tech company VeroTouch, which worked with Buena Vista contracting firm South Main to 3D print a pair of fire-resistant homes.
HiveASMBLD, a Houston-based automated 3D printed construction company, has partnered with Cole Klein Builders and The City of Houston to create Zuri Gardens, one of the world’s first large-scale affordable housing developments produced using 3D printing technology.
ICON, a 3D printing construction technology company, has released for sale three one-bedroom homes in Austin’s mixed-use, mixed-income Mueller community as part of the Mueller Affordable Homes Program for income-qualified individuals. These resilient, energy-efficient 650 square foot homes will be built alongside nearly a dozen two and three-bedroom 3D printed homes, all designed by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.
Shanghai’s XISUI Design has created a 3D printed concrete playground in China’s Shandong Province. The 13,000-square-meter Boulder Park blends natural boulders with looming, contoured 3D printed structures that function as a rock cave adventure area.
Italian company WASP has become known for its 3D printing hardware, particularly its clay and cement printing platforms that have unlocked numerous creative projects, like a sensory garden and coral reef modules. Some may not know, however, that the company has since its early days been driven by a utopian dream of building Shamballa, a place where 3D printing could be used to build community and provide the fundamentals to human life: housing, food, healthcare, energy, employment and culture.
Urban wildlife is quite amazing at adapting to city environments, both through behavioral changes and physiological ones. A study on Chicago rodents, for example, found that meadow voles had evolved to have smaller inner ear bones, possibly to mitigate the effects of noise pollution in urban areas. Despite this, humans must also recognize the challenges that our urban spaces create for animals and help by making accommodations and safe environments. On this front, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has created a 3D printed wall façade that functions as a nesting shelter for local wildlife.
According to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), a groundbreaking concrete innovation could change the way we build—and how we fight climate change. Researchers there have combined 3D printing with fossilized microscopic algae to create a new type of concrete that captures significantly more carbon dioxide while using less cement.
Sperra, a producer of structural systems for aquatic environments, has entered a partnership with Philippe and Ashlan Cousteau’s Bluetech venture, Voyacy Regen, to support a pioneering coral reef resiliency project in Aqaba, Jordan. This initiative, led by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Aqaba Development Corporation, integrates Sperra’s cutting-edge 3D concrete printing to restore marine ecosystems in the Red Sea.
A groundbreaking 3D printing system developed by Chinese scientists at Tiandu Laboratory has explored using only on-site-sourced lunar soil to build habitats, paving the way for the large-scale, on-site construction of lunar research stations. The Deep Space Exploration Laboratory in Hefei, Anhui Province, has successfully prototyped a lunar regolith 3D printer that eliminates the need for Earth-sourced construction materials, according to Yang Honglun, a senior engineer at the lab.
National Grid, a British multinational electricity and gas utility company, is working with Hyperion Robotics, a 3D concrete printing company, and the University of Sheffield on a UK-first trial to manufacture, install, and test 3D printed substation foundations, which have the potential to reduce construction-driven carbon emissions and reduce costs to consumers of network construction. This is part of National Grid’s commitment to leverage innovation to future-proof the network.
Researchers at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUCA), in collaboration with international partners, have launched a groundbreaking initiative to develop sustainable construction materials from the rubble of war-torn buildings. The project, titled ‘Development of New Approaches and Construction Materials for the Restoration of Ukraine’s Damaged Infrastructure with Consideration for Environmental Sustainability’, aims to create advanced concrete mixtures for both 3D printing and traditional construction techniques.
When we talk about concrete 3D printing generally, the larger the build volume the better. It makes sense: the technology is typically used for large-scale applications, like printing walls or architectural features, such as the recent 5,000-square foot expansion of a Walmart supercenter. But there are also areas where size is less important and where cost and accessibility are far higher priorities. Such is the case in many R&D labs, particularly when it comes to material development. To meet these needs, Indian 3D printing company Deltasys E-Forming has launched a new tabletop concrete 3D printer.
Dutch robotic concrete 3D printing specialist company Vertico fabricated a scale model of the DIAMANTI bridge, a cutting-edge architectural and structural prototype showcased at the 2025 Venice Biennale as part of the Time, Space, Existence exhibition organized by the European Cultural Centre.
Less than a year ago, mega retailer Walmart revealed it had commissioned one of the largest free-standing 3D printed commercial buildings in the United States. This build, completed in Tennessee, consisted of an 8,000-square-foot expansion to an existing site, which now functions as a online pickup center. Today, evidently satisfied with its first major foray into construction 3D printing, Walmart is preparing to open a second 3D printed expansion, this time in Huntsville, Alabama.
According to DVIDS, the Expeditionary 3D Concrete Printer is being developed by the 175th Civil Engineer Squadron at Martin State Air National Guard Base, Maryland, to rapidly build fortified infrastructure that supports warfighters and sustains operations in contested environments.
Contec, a construction company based in Western Australia, recently acquired a concrete 3D printer from CyBe Construction, a Dutch developer of 3D printing technology. Contec has already printed all the walls of its first two-story house, located in Tapping, and aims to rapidly scale up operations.
For years we’ve been following the work of Ronald Rael, a designer and architect who frequently works with large-scale 3D printing technologies (he is also a founder member of Emerging Objects). His latest project, part of the 2025 Desert X exhibition in Coachella Valley, is a distillation of many of the themes he is interested in, including indigenous building practices, sustainability, organic materials, and contemporary technologies. The project, called Adobe Oasis, consists of an installation of mud passageways made using robotic 3D printing and inspired by the palms of Coachella Valley’s oases.
JR West, JR West Innovations, and the Japanese 3D construction printing company Serendix have unveiled plans to build the world’s first 3D printed train station. This revolutionary project, set to debut at Hatsushima Station in Wakayama Prefecture, marks a major milestone in railway construction as Japan looks to address challenges from its aging workforce.
Vertico has introduced the Solo Robot, an advanced standalone 3D concrete printing system designed to enhance construction efficiency and flexibility. This latest solution from the Dutch company caters to various applications, from large-scale prefabrication to experimental architectural designs.
Azure Printed Homes, a sustainable 3D printed small dwellings company, has been named the winner of this year’s SWSX Urban Experience Award.
ICON, one of the leading construction 3D printing companies, has partnered with the architecture firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture and the developer Catellus to 3D print a dozen two-story residential homes in the Mueller community in Austin, Texas. Additionally, a selection of one-bedroom homes will also be coming soon within the Mueller Affordable Homes Program.
The German company Putzmeister Group is expanding its expertise in concrete pumping to increase its investment in bringing large-scale, industrial-grade 3D printing solutions to the construction industry. With the launch of its new brand, INSTATIQ, the company is taking a major step toward making 3D concrete printing accessible to the mass market.
Luyten, an Australian construction 3D printing firm, is breaking ground on a new project in its home city of Melbourne. When complete, the 350-square-meter build will be Australia’s first multi-storey 3D printed home and will be lived in by none other than Luyten’s CEO and Global President Ahmed Mahil in an effort to demonstrate the viability of 3D printed homes.
The International Code Council (ICC) has announced the development of ICC 1150, the first-ever standard for 3D Automated Construction Technology (3DACT) for 3D Concrete Walls. This standard aims to provide comprehensive structural criteria for interior and exterior 3D printed concrete walls, supporting load-bearing, non-load-bearing, and shear wall applications in single-story and multi-story structures.
Azure Printed Homes, a 3D printed housing company, has launched a $4.2 million crowdfunding campaign to enable the scaling of its production capacity to rebuild Los Angeles after the recent wildfires.
About a year ago, the U.S. Army announced a pilot program to 3D print a series of barracks at Fort Bliss, Texas with the aim of improving living conditions for soldiers and enhancing overall readiness. Now, the 3D printed barracks, which span 5,700 square feet, are complete, making them the largest 3D printed structures in the Western Hemisphere.
According to MIT, researchers have developed a method to use lightly treated mud, including soil from a building site, as the ‘formwork’ molds into which concrete is poured. The technique deploys 3D printing and can replace the more costly method of building elaborate wood formworks for concrete construction.
A 3D printed social housing project that broke ground in late 2023 has been completed. The development, based in Lünen, Germany, was funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and consists of six affordable units measuring between 61m² (670 square feet) to 81m² (890 square feet). According to German news sources, the first tenants, Joachim and Constanze Lippmann, moved in in January.
Since the early days of construction 3D printing, there has been a vision to use the technology as a more cost-effective alternative to conventional construction methods to facilitate the creation of affordable housing. Now, we are seeing that vision start to be realized, with a number of 3D printing-based social housing projects breaking ground around the world.
RIC Technology, a 3D construction printing technology developer, has unveiled its largest and most advanced 3D printer – RIC-PRIMUS – at this year’s World of Concrete (WOC) event. This new system can print three-story structures up to 32 feet tall – surpassing the capabilities of the earlier RIC-M1 PRO.
Last September, we told you that the Czech construction company ICE was building the world’s first 3D printed cable car station. As ambitious and possibly far-fetched as that may have seemed, that project, the highest 3D-printed building, is now complete. The cable car station, designed by ATELIER3M, combines innovative design with sustainability, this project integrates prefabrication and on-site production to create a dynamic, functional structure that harmonizes with its natural surroundings.
The idea that some (or all) of the houses that burnt down in the dramatic LA fires will be rebuilt in concrete, possibly using 3D printing technology, may be strengthened by the revelation that Pikus is 3D printing all the concrete seating for a stadium, working with the specialists at HOK. While the stadium benches are being printed away from the final location, this large-scale concrete 3D printing level shows that the technology is now mature enough to undertake massive projects.
According to The University of New Mexico (UNM), researchers in the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering have officially patented a bendable concrete material design for 3D construction printing.
A team of civil engineers and architects from ETH Zurich is developing a sustainable dehumidification solution that could reduce the energy consumption involved in ventilating office buildings, museums and other high-traffic spaces. Instead of just relying on mechanical ventilation systems, the team has created a hygroscopic 3D printed material that can store moisture and later release it. The material in question is based on a geopolymer derived from marble quarry waste.
ICON, a construction 3D printing company based out of Austin, Texas, will reportedly be laying off over 100 staff members this March. The firm, which is known for 3D printing housing developments across Texas, stated its intention in a Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the Texas Workforce Commission this week.
There has been significant interest over the years in leveraging 3D printing technologies to manufacture structures on the moon. Key to these investigations has been lunar soil, also known as lunar regolith, the layer of unconsolidated rock that covers the moon’s entire surface that is created by the recurrent impacts of meteoroids and other space particles. Lunar regolith has the potential to be made into a 3D printable construction material, which would enable astronauts to eventually build structures on the moon from local materials (dramatically minimizing the need to transport materials from Earth). One of the projects investigating the use of lunar regolith with 3D printing is Italian initiative GLAMS.
With the acceleration of global warming and other factors like pollution and industrial fishing practices critically destroying and endangering coral reefs and coastal ecosystems around the globe, it has never been more critical to develop solutions that can help to restore these fragile yet incredibly diverse environments. Fortunately, there are people and organizations who have taken up this challenge and are finding creative ways to not only save coral reefs and other coastal environments, but also usher us into a more sustainable, ecologically minded future. One of these organizations is Coastruction, a Dutch startup that is leveraging its own 3D printing technology to build aquatic structures that are designed for a range of restoration purposes, like promoting coral regeneration and wave dissipation.
At Dubai Design Week last month, Japanese architecture firm Mitsubishi Jisho Design presented The Warp, a unique tea house installation made from recycled wood and constructed using extrusion 3D printing. The structure, which is made up of around 900 individual panels, was assembled using a traditional Japanese woodworking joinery technique, which does not require the use of any adhesives, nails or screws.
A 3D printed social housing development in Dubbo, Australia has been making significant progress. The project, which was announced this past summer, is spearheaded by the government of New South Wales and brings on local construction 3D printing company Contour3D, Crete-Tech Australia and Ash Group Holdings, an Aboriginal-owned organization specialized in sustainable housing.
Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno are working on a project that could enable the US Army to quickly produce infrastructure – such as buildings or bridges – in forward-deployment missions without relying on traditional building materials. The approach involves 3D printing concrete structures on site – eliminating the need to ship full-scale buildings or materials into challenging environments, including conflict zones.
Harcourt Technologies Ltd (HTL.tech), a construction 3D printing technology company in Ireland and the UK, has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by constructing Europe’s first social housing project compliant with the ISO/ASTM 52939:2023 additive manufacturing standard, adopted by Ireland. Using COBOD’s BOD2 3D construction printer, HTL.tech showcased how 3D construction printing can meet housing demands efficiently while adhering to rigorous safety and performance standards.
In the late 15th century, polymath Leonardo Da Vinci drafted the first designs for a self-supporting bridge. Six centuries later and the bridge is still one of the most significant architectural inventions of human history. Recently, Da Vinci’s self-supporting bridge has inspired a project at the Polytechnic University of Bari, where a team in the ArCoD department led by Professor Giuseppe Fallacara, has partnered with 3D printing company WASP and stone processing specialists to create a 3D printed self-supporting bridge. The bridge, suitably named “Da Vinci’s Bridge”, has progressed in its development with a finished prototype.
Thousands of people experience homelessness every year in Austin, Texas. Fortunately, there are efforts underway to support these people by—as simple as it sounds—building housing for them. As part of this effort, construction 3D printing company ICON is once again teaming up with Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a local nonprofit that that has dedicated itself to supporting the Austin homeless community for nearly three decades, to build 100 more 3D printed homes in the Community First! Village.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a 3D concrete printing method that captures carbon, demonstrating a new pathway to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry.
The Texas Military Department (TMD) has opened its new, 2,600+ square foot 3D printed Training and Innovation Center at Camp Mabry. The Innovation Center will be part of TMD’s Joint Force Headquarters and will enable collaboration and planning with TMD and external partners on future innovation and modernization efforts. Over the past few months, TMD Service Members, along with 3D construction printing company ICON, designed and constructed the 3D printed Innovation Center.
Black Buffalo 3D (BB3D), a 3D construction printing company, and AM Unique – by Namthaja, have partnered to develop 3DCP projects in the Middle East. BB3D will add its NEXCON concrete 3D printers to AM Unique’s fleet, while AM Unique will leverage its expertise in design and 3D printing for residential, commercial, and industrial structures as an efficient alternative to traditional building methods.
Somerset Community College (SCC) is leading the state of Kentucky’s adoption of 3D printing technology for housing construction. The goal of the initiative is to provide affordable and resilient housing solutions that could be essential for surviving and rebuilding after natural disasters. In recent years, Kentucky and the Appalachian regions have faced devastating losses from tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes – natural disasters that seem to now regularly exceed predictive weather models.
Holcim Polska completed its first 3D printed concrete drinking water tank in Barczewko, near Olsztyn, Poland. This project, achieved in collaboration with GLOBTANK, COBOD International, and the general contractor EKO-WOD Kętrzyn for the investor ZWiK Barczewo, highlights Holcim’s emerging role as a leader in innovative additive construction technologies such as the BOD 3D printers.
An ongoing investigation led by British water services company United Utilities, ChangeMaker3D, Manchester Metropolitan University’s PrintCity and Scottish Water aims to determine the benefits and impacts of using 3D printing for water infrastructure components. The initiative, called Water Industry Printfrastructure (WIP), has been underway since 2023 and is on track to wrap up in early 2025.
Aridditive, a construction 3D printing spin-off from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and CIM UPC, In Barcelona, has closed a €500,000 Pre-Seed funding round, led by BeAble Capital with participation from Suma Capital. This backing, along with the Startup Capital support from ACCIÓ, will allow the company to accelerate the development of its concrete 3D printing technology – focused on automation, digitalization, and sustainability within the construction sector.
The FLEXHab space habitat, developed to train astronauts for upcoming Artemis missions at the European Space Agency (ESA), showcases an advanced use of 3D printing technology, courtesy of “superhack” Danish company WOHN. Project partners also include Prusa Research. Various state-of-the-art technologies were used to enhance crew comfort and functionality, including multiple 3D printed interior elements crafted from upcycled wood fibers and polymers.
A joint renewable energy initiative spearheaded by Fraunhofer IEE, concrete 3D printing specialist Sperra and submersible motor pump company Pleuger Industries aims to advance the efficiency of subsea energy storage. The project, called StEnSea (Stored Energy in the Sea), has received backing from both the United States and German governments, with the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) awarding $4 million to its development and the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) pledging $3.7 million.
According to the University of Maine, ground has been broken on the Green Engineering and Materials (GEM) building, a 50,000-square-foot facility designed to house the cutting-edge Factory of the Future (FoF) – incorporating digital manufacturing technologies and fully adaptive, immersive learning spaces for students at UMaine and across the University of Maine System.
Apple’s recent launch of the MacBook Pro M4 has drawn widespread attention, not only for the tech giant’s latest advancements but also for showcasing how pervasive 3D printing is in real-world applications. The launch video, unveiled by CEO Tim Cook, shows both standard polymer and large-scale construction printed components, highlighting the increasingly pervasive role of additive manufacturing (AM) in today’s design landscape. This use of 3D printing also aligns with Apple’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of design and technology, presenting its products as integral to a flexible, mobile, and tech-driven lifestyle.
Blackwell 3D Construction Corp., a 3D construction printing technology company, has entered a partnership with Stayzation Lifestyle, a prominent player in the luxury vacation real estate market throughout India. The collaboration aims to explore the potential of 3D concrete printing for high-end villa developments – starting with Stayzation Lifestyle’s land parcel in Lonavala.
Sustainable Concrete Innovations (SCI), a home building company catering to the state of Ohio, USA, has partnered with CyBe Construction, a 3D construction printing (3DCP) technology company from The Netherlands, to provide the region with access to 3DCP – creating affordable housing and expand homeownership opportunities. After establishing operations in Ohio and investing in the CyBe RC 3D concrete printer, the company plans to extend into neighboring states like Michigan and Indiana.
According to the University of Virginia, researchers have developed a more sustainable, 3D printable cementitious composite. This new material, which combines graphene with limestone and calcined clay cement (LC2), offers enhanced strength and durability while significantly reducing carbon emissions – making it a powerful solution for addressing the environmental challenges in 3DCP.
Black Buffalo 3D is teaming up with the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) to advance training programs for members centered on construction 3D printing technology. The partnership is specifically focused on LIUNA’s Eastern Region and will give union members the opportunity to participate in hands-on training at Black Buffalo’s headquarters in New Jersey.
Azure Printed Homes, a company 3D printing homes using recycled polymers, is expanding its operations by more than 100% – directly responding to the growing need for affordable and sustainable small home and ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) solutions. Launched in 2022, Azure Printed Homes is emerging rapidly as a category leader in the creation and production of high-quality small dwellings. Azure’s small houses and ADUs have been particularly successful due to their ability to use recycled plastic polymer as their primary building material.
LUTYEN, an Australian robotics and 3D printing technology company, has completed the sale and transportation of its premier, large-scale construction 3D printer- the Platypus X4 Special Edition – to 3VIMA, a construction start-up based in New South Wales. The company recently sold this same system to construction companies in the UK and the UAE. The system can print entire structures up to 8m wide and 4m high and is easily transported to the construction site, where it remains highly mobile.
Contour Crafting Corporation is the company that invented extrusion-based construction/concrete 3D printing. Although it is not very proficient in marketing its activity, the company founded by Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis continuously set the benchmark for innovation and efficiency in the field. After over three decades of expertise, CC Corp is now introducing the D-Crafter machine, which represents a significant leap forward in large-format 3D printing systems.
14Trees, a construction tech company jointly founded by Holcim and British International Investment (BII), has enlisted another high-profile backer to support its sustainable construction mission: Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. 14Trees recently underwent a Series A-1 investment round, which saw more investment from Holcim and new investments from Amazon. The funding will enable the construction 3D printing firm to bring low-carbon data centers and large-scale 3D printed buildings to Europe and the United States.
Dutch company Vertico continues to grow in large-scale concrete printing, revolutionizing the construction industry with its technology and on-demand 3D printing services. With over 40 installations in more than 20 countries, Vertico has now firmly established a global presence, providing innovative solutions that help clients bring ambitious projects to life.
COBOD, via its CEO Henrik Lund-Nielsen, has officially presented the next-generation BOD3 Construction 3D Printer, the company’s most advanced 3D printing system to date, developed meticulously over the past few years.
In the construction sector, 3D printing has been touted as a promising solution to building low-cost and more sustainable housing. Based on this premise, 3D printing construction specialist ICON launched Initiative 99 back in 2023, a contest that invited all manner of designers and architects to come up with 3D printed home designs that could be built for $99,000 or less. JK3D, the design studio founded by artist and 3D printing expert Julia Koerner, was awarded Honorable Mention in the contest for its Cactus Homes concept.
The government of Uttar Pradesh, India, has announced plans to build the state’s first 3D printed art gallery in the temple town of Ayodhya. This initiative is part of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s vision to transform Ayodhya into a hub of cultural grandeur and planned development.
Enel Green Power, in partnership with the Federico II University in Naples, has successfully pioneered the use of 3D printing technology to construct permanent concrete structures in a seismic zone, a first for Italy. The project, carried out at the Montalto di Castro power plant in the Lazio region, represents a significant innovation in the construction and energy sectors. These structures are part of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Alessandro Volta power plant, designed to store excess electricity generated by the plant. The structures include a small industrial building and the foundations for key electrical equipment, marking a new era in sustainable construction.
Versarien, an advanced materials engineering group, has signed an agreement with Balfour Beatty, a leading international infrastructure group, to develop a range of low-carbon, graphene-infused, 3D printable mortars suitable for civil construction. The goals for the project are to develop innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective 3D printable mortars suitable for civil construction, while establishing a robust UK-based supply chain and demonstrating their efficacy in real-world applications.
The University of Florida (UF) has acquired one of the most advanced 3D construction printers in the US – COBOD International’s BOD3. This two-story printer, which weighs 27,000 pounds, is the first of COBOD’s third-generation models sold in the US. The printer was shipped to UF in pieces and assembled on campus, where it will be housed in the Weil Hall Structures and Materials Lab within the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
Mega retailer Walmart has commissioned what is being recognized as one of the largest free-standing 3D printed commercial building in the United States. The large-scale construction 3D printing project, which spans nearly 8,000 square feet and is nearly 20 feet tall, was carried out in partnership with Colorado-based Alquist 3D, which specializes in robotic concrete 3D printing.
UCC Holding, a leading construction and infrastructure company in Qatar, has signed a contract with COBOD, Denmark’s top manufacturer of concrete 3D printers, to supply the world’s largest third-generation 3D printers which will be used to build schools in Qatar. The signing ceremony took place in Doha with Mr. Ramez Al Khayyat, President of UCC Holding, and Mr. Henrik Lund-Nielsen, CEO and Founder of COBOD, along with other dignitaries and key stakeholders.
Hotelier Liz Lambert and ICON, a leading construction 3D printing company, have begun building the first 3D printed hotel and residences in Marfa, Texas. Designed by the BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, the relocation, and expansion of El Cosmico to a 60+ acre property will showcase entirely new architectural approaches made possible by large-scale 3D printing including domes, arches, vaults, and parabolic forms. The development will feature El Cosmico guest accommodations, new hospitality programming (including a pool, bathhouse, and restaurant), and private residences.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (moCa) is showcasing a new exhibit, A PLACE meant, which uses elements of large-scale construction 3D printing courtesy of New Jersey company Black Buffalo in an effort to showcase new and efficient methods of tackling displacement and affordable housing challenges in Cleveland. The exhibit is a joint effort from I_You Design Lab, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit collective made up of artists, makers, and designers, and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM).
Czech industrial automation firm ICE, which has developed its own 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) technology, is reportedly in the process of constructing an upper station for a cable car in the mountainous municipality of Kopřivná. The station, whose design is based on a concept by architecture studio ATELIER3M, will become the largest publicly accessible 3D printed building in Europe.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have pioneered a revolutionary robotic additive manufacturing technique – which they called impact printing – aimed at transforming the construction industry by using circular, low-carbon materials. This new method represents a significant leap forward in sustainable construction.
According to Princeton University, researchers have taken inspiration from nature to improve crack resistance in concrete components using 3D printing. In an article, titled ‘Tough Double-Bouligand Architected Concreteitious Material using Robotic Additive Manufacturing’, published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers, led by Reza Moini, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton, describe how their designs increased resistance to cracking by as much as 63% compared to conventional cast concrete.
The Concrete Products and Aggregate (CPAC), a subsidiary of SCG, and Samsung E&A, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a cooperation focussed on construction 3D printing and special cementitious materials commercialization opportunities. This collaboration combines the strengths of Samsung E&A from South Korea, which specializes in comprehensive international construction, with CPAC’s excellence in cement and concrete products and technology. CPAC, under SCG, has been in the construction materials industry for over a century.
In recent years, the use of large format polymer 3D printing technology in architecture has rapidly evolved, pushing the boundaries of design and sustainability. Dutch company Aectual perfectly embodies this transition and it’s latest project, the recently renovated BOSS store at İstinye Park in Istanbul, is a striking example of this trend, featuring an innovative 3D printed facade that not only serves as a bold aesthetic statement but also underscores a commitment to sustainable design.
Serendix, a Japanese 3D printer housing company (construction 3D printing service provider), has acquired three new printers, significantly expanding its printing capabilities and aiming to double its production volume.
Mighty Buildings, a 3D printing construction technology provider, is set to use Honeywell Solstice Liquid Blowing Agent (LBA) as a key component in the material it uses to build 3D printed homes. Honeywell’s low-global warming potential (GWP) technology will replace traditional foam insulation – helping Mighty Buildings reduce emissions and produce strong, energy-efficient building panels. Honeywell offers aerospace, building automation, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions, and this collaboration is the alignment of its portfolio to three powerful megatrends, including the energy transition.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whose mandate is to tackle poverty and reduce inequalities around the globe through sustainable development, is leveraging 3D printing in its next initiative. Specifically, the UNDP has acquired a construction 3D printer from Italian company WASP, which it will deploy in Colombia to construct buildings using locally sourced materials.
Construction 3D printing has long been heralded as a solution for building affordable housing and as the technology has advanced over the years, we are now starting to see that become a reality. The latest news on this front is coming out of Australia, where the government of New South Wales has announced its intention to use 3D printing to address a shortage in housing and build the first 3D printed social housing property in the Australian state.
Omantel, the first telecommunications company in Oman, has partnered with Innotech, an Omani 3D printing startup, to boost fish populations by 3D printing artificial reefs using concrete. The use of 3D printing technology offers several benefits with great importance in marine ecosystems. The companies will print eight 3D concrete units – which will act as a substrate for marine organisms to settle and grow – within Muscat.
According to Science Daily, a research team led by engineers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science is pioneering the exploration of how cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), a plant-based material, can enhance 3D printed concrete technology. The team’s findings will be published in the September 2024 issue of Cement and Concrete Composites.
Italy’s Fondazione ITS “Cantieri dell’Arte”, an educational institution specializing in architectural restoration, has acquired a large-scale Crane construction 3D printer from WASP. The school is the first in Italy to install a construction 3D printing system in-house and will use the technology in its training and research courses.
Construction 3D printing company ICON is building eight new homes in Wimberley Springs, a development just south of Austin, Texas. The single-family homes, which are currently being constructed using ICON’s robotic construction 3D printing process, are now on the market for purchase in the range of $800,000.
The Olympic games are all about breaking records and world firsts. This year, however, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, a world first is taking place even before the athletics begin. Construction company Saint-Gobain, an official partner of Paris 2024, has constructed the first ever 3D printed skatepark. The park, which spans 400m², is opening on July 18th on the Esplanade de Paris La Défense and was conceived as a way to extend the inclusive spirit of the games to the public.
ChangeMaker 3D, a 3D printing service provider based in Gloucester, England, in collaboration with CyBe Construction, has developed a solution to the shortage of public bathrooms at train stations across the UK – modular, 3D printed Toilet Pods. Transport for Wales first identified the need in 2022 – seeing an opportunity for innovation in train station amenities.
Spanning 8,000 hectares, the Parc de Collserola in Barcelona is a beautiful place to be immersed in nature, get some exercise and experience the cutting edge of 3D printed construction. That’s right, the Catalonian park is home to a 3D Printed Earth Forest Campus, which features a series of architectural structures 3D printed from earth and demonstrates alternative and more sustainable construction methods. The campus is the work of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), which has leveraged WASP’s large-format 3D printing technology to create the 3D printed buildings.
The Dubai Municipality has recently installed 40 3D printed public seats in Uptown Mirdiff and Al Khazzan Parks. The move is in line with the Municiplaity’s approach to delivering its services in Dubai by leveraging advanced technologies and employing innovative solutions. It also aligns with the city’s efforts to promote sustainability, while reducing carbon footprint and natural resource consumption – further boosting Dubai’s pioneering position and its competitiveness in this realm.
Harcourt Technologies (HTL), a construction company leveraging 3D concrete printing, is building Ireland’s first 3D printed homes. Using a gantry-mounted 3D concrete printer from COBOD, HTL is constructing three social housing units at Grange Close, in Dundalk.
BM Partners, a 3D construction printing company in Kazakhstan, has completed Central Asia’s first 3D printed house. The building, located in Almaty, the largest city of Kazakhstan, is categorized within a high-risk zone for severe seismic activity according to the Richter scale.
The Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), a state-owned institution that works alongside partners in industry, academia and the public sector, has a number of innovative projects under its belt, including an initiative to explore the use of recycled water for irrigation, and an exploration of certifying AI models. The organization is also very active in the area of additive manufacturing research, often exploring the use of the technology to meet sustainability goals. This is very much the case in RISE’s ongoing E3D project, which is exploring the integration of 3D printed concrete into building façades to improve efficiency and sustainability in the Swedish construction industry.
QOROX, a construction 3D printing company with several successful projects to their credit, has recently completed the construction of the world’s largest 3D printed skateable sculpture, titled ‘The Wave’, at Destination Skatepark in Tauranga, New Zealand.
Havelar, a newly established Portuguese company in Porto, founded by experienced building materials suppliers, architects, and financial organizations, has just completed the execution of Portugal’s first 3D printed house. Located in the Greater Porto area, the two-bedroom, 80m² house was printed using the BOD2 printer from COBOD, in just 18 hours. The house was designed in collaboration with renowned architects Aires Mateus, Glória Cabral, and Francis Kéré.
According to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), architecture Professor Shadi Nazarian and an interdisciplinary team of researchers are exploring the viability of 3D printing homes in rural Alaska, using a mix of cork and concrete, to provide affordable, sustainable, and resilient housing.
Holcim, a concrete 3D printing company, has completed Switzerland’s first onsite 3D printed building – a showroom for Kobelt AG, a company renowned for its construction and renovation services since 1964. Kobelt AG, facing space limitations in their current offices, sought an innovative solution and turned to Holcim’s cutting-edge 3D construction printing technology – marking a significant shift for the company, which is traditionally known for wood constructions
Black Buffalo 3D, a construction 3D printing company based out of New Jersey, is gearing up to 3D print a minimalist home design in Fort Worth, Texas on May 29 and 30th. Notably, the company is turning the build into a live event, inviting people from the additive and construction industries to witness its NEXCON 3D printing solution construct a code-compliant home.
In an attempt to address environmental challenges facing our oceans, Eke Panuku, a leading New Zealand-based sustainable development organization, has partnered with QOROX, a pioneering 3D concrete printing company, to create artificial barnacles aimed at improving marine biodiversity. The project leverages the unique capabilities of 3D printing to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of marine habitat structures.
Layer by layer, the new STRABAG BMTI (STRABAG Baumaschinentechnik International) warehouse in Stuttgart’s Weilimdorf district is growing upwards. Together with Putzmeister and its KARLOS mobile concrete printer, ZÜBLIN has developed an innovative construction method that is unique in the world. As part of their long-standing collaboration, the two companies are pooling their innovative strength to take 3D concrete printing to a new level. Their research aims to offer customers an even more flexible and sustainable printing process in the future.
Contour3D, a 3D construction company based in Sydney, NSW, has unveiled Australia’s first 3D printed one-bedroom home with a Full Occupation Certificate.
Innocrete3D, a young 3D construction printing (3DCP) company based in the UK, is set to provide the country with more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective construction solutions by not only providing affordable building themselves but also serving as a trusted reseller of CyBe Construction, a market leader in construction 3D printing technology. By entering into a reseller agreement with CyBe Construction, Innocrete3D has become the first official reseller in Europe.
In countries and areas like the US, Canada, China, Russia, the Middle East or Africa, the enormous availability of land often clashes with insufficient housing. New technologies such as 3D printing can help build houses better, cheaper, more sustainably and faster. For this reason, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced an over $600 million package that will research and develop new ideas and technology like prefabricated housing factories, mass timber production, penalization, 3D printing, and pre-approved home design catalogs.
According to the University of Maine (UMaine), researchers have secured a $75,000 grant to explore recycling wind blades as feedstock for 3D printing. The award is a Phase 1 winner from the Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office’s Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize. Led by the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC), the WIND REWIND team’s project ‘Blades for Large-Format Additive Manufacturing’ marks a significant milestone in their mission to advance recycling solutions for a circular wind energy economy.
The world’s first on-site 3D printed large water tanks have been constructed in Kuwait, by Abyan, using a COBOD 3D construction printer – achieving a 25% savings on the amount of concrete and reinforcement used compared to casted tanks. Benefitting from the speed and design freedom of 3D construction printing, the tanks can be made faster, and more economically and sustainable than when using traditional formwork. The tanks – 4.5m in height and with a diameter of 7m – were 3D printed with low-cost concrete in just 5 days and only contained macro fibers for the reinforcement of the tank walls and no traditional reinforcement meshes.
Constructions-3D and Sika set a new world record with the construction of the tallest building ever made using 3D concrete printing technology. This project, realized in partnership with and using Sikacrete-733 materials from Sika, marks another milestone in the history of construction and 3D printing technology.
For many years 3D printed buildings were just one-floor houses. Then COBOD started working on two- and three-story habitable structures. Now, just after French firm Constructions-3D set a world record for the tallest 3D printed building with its construction 3D printing robotic arm, US firm ICON is getting in on the height game and introducing PHOENIX, its new multi-story robotic construction system.
In an innovative step towards sustainable living and modern architectural design, the Zephyr House project – by Kalbod Design Studio, part of the Kalbod Construction Group – has made significant strides in integrating advanced technology such as 3D printing with traditional architectural elements, according to Amazing Architecture. This initiative, which is expected to materialize at some point in the future, aims to address the need for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly housing solutions in today’s rapidly changing world.
ICON, a of advanced construction technologies and large-scale 3D printing, has released a new suite of products and technologies designed to further automate construction, including a radical new robotic printer that enables multi-story construction, a new low-carbon building material, a digital catalog for residential architecture with more than 60 ready-to-build home designs, and an AI Architect for home design and construction.
D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder by volume in the United States, has made a strategic investment in Apis Cor, a manufacturer of construction 3D printing robotic technologies. The two companies plan to work together on a multi-unit construction project in South Florida after the finalization of the new 3D printed wall system, which Apis Cor estimates will result in a significant increase in productivity.
According to multiple reports on Arab language media, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has officially completed and unveiled the World’s first partly 3D printed mosque, a gigantic and majestic structure in Jeddah. The project was conducted using four construction 3D printers from the Chinese company Guanly, and coordinated by their regional representative BuildTech Innovations.
PrintStone 3D, a Dubai-based company specializing in 3D printing technology for construction, has received accreditation from the Dubai Municipality for the first 3D building system. This accreditation comes after the successful completion of the 3D printed Gate House in a residential community of one of the leading real estate developers in Dubai. The approved technical conditions for PrintStone’s 3DCP technology are valid for one year from the date of issuance.
Presented in 2021, the Tor Alva – White Tower («Weisser Turm») is an over 24-meter tall building that is 3D printed using concrete extrusion. Designed for Fundaziun Origen, the tower offers space for art installations and for music and theater performances. Visitors ascend a spiral staircase through a series of colonnades to reach the stage of the high, vaulted hall on the top floor.
A new study from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, and the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, shows how a hydrogel material made of nanocellulose and algae can be used as an alternative, greener architectural material. The abundant material can be 3D printed into a wide array of architectural components – using much less energy than conventional construction methods.
In an initial proof of concept, voxeljet and ParaStruct GmbH have successfully tested the 3D printing of recyclable residual materials from the construction industry. For this purpose, voxeljet’s binder jetting 3D printing technology was used. The material tested was the Ecomould material set from Parastruct GmbH. This material set consists of biogenic production residues from the construction industry and a mineral binder, which was developed by the Austrian start-up.
3DXB Group, a leading UAE construction 3D printing company, has reportedly achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest 3D printed villa, located in the Al Awir 1 area of Dubai. The company created the four-meter-high, 303-square-meter residential villa in one seamless printing session.
Australian 3D construction printing technology company, Luyten 3D, has entered a partnership with the University of New South Wales to design and build one of the world’s most advanced 3D printed owner-occupier homes in Australia. The property will be built in Melbourne over the next few months and it will be used to showcase the benefits of building homes and other structures using 3D printing technology.
Alquist 3D has entered a newly penned 3D printed construction technology partnership with Aims Community College of Greeley, in Colorado. The Board of Trustees of Aims Community College voted unanimously to approve construction of the Aims Workforce Innovation Center (AWIC) on the College’s main campus, at which Alquist 3D will be the master tenant. It will serve as a research and development facility for the company and will also enable the college to train students interested in entering the field of 3D construction printing through an innovative codeveloped curriculum.
AKF, the large Danish real estate developer, in partnership with Danish 3DCP Group, and Saga Space Architects, has 3D printed a low CO2 concrete community building in the greater Copenhagen area measuring 72m² (775 SF). The building was created using a COBOD BOD2 printer and will house a gym, guest room, and common laundry facility for residents.
Mighty Buildings, a 3D printing construction technology company known for its prefabricated, environmentally friendly, and climate-resilient homes, along with partners led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), has been awarded a $5 million GFO-22-305 grant from the California Energy Commission. The funding supports the partners’ work to develop, test, and demonstrate zero-carbon or near-zero-carbon, cost-effective, modular, and manufactured homes in Bay Point, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, that can be readily deployed, particularly in under-resourced communities.
Holcim, a 3D concrete printing company, has recently completed the ‘Phoenix’ bridge – building on the success of Striatus, an award-winning 3D concrete printed bridge presented at the 2021 Venice Biennale of Architecture. The company’s collaboration with renowned partners such as Block Research Group at ETH Zurich, Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group, and incremental3D has been pivotal in exploring scalable sustainable infrastructure solutions through Phoenix.
Hive3D Builders, a Texas-based construction company, has 3D concrete printed the ‘Las Casitas’ rental units in the old town of Round Top, in Texas. The newest addition brings an interesting dynamism to the town – with the new-age buildings contrasting with the rest of the traditional architecture, including historic buildings, and antique and vintage stores, of the town.
The two leading standard issuing bodies, ISO and ASTM, already collaborate on the F42 set of standards for additive manufacturing. Now they are releasing the new ISO/ASTM 52939:2023 standard that specifies quality assurance requirements for additive construction (AC) concerning building and construction projects in which additive manufacturing techniques are used for construction.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected ICON, a leader in advanced construction technologies and large-scale 3D printing, to take part in the agency’s 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) capability study. ICON is among a group of 14 performers that DARPA selected through a competitive solicitation process.
According to Penn State University, a research proposal by Benay Gürsoy, assistant professor of architecture, was awarded nearly $50,000 as the 2023-24 recipient of the Stuckeman School’s Collaborative Design Research Fund, which supports collaboration in design innovation. Gürsoy seeks to overcome the challenges of 3D printing concrete structures on indefinite surfaces in an effort to reduce the environmental effects of housing construction.
Germany’s first publicly funded, 3D printed, multi-family house is being constructed in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Lünen. For the first time, the construction method is being combined with the conditions of public housing subsidies.
Construction 3D printing firm Black Buffalo 3D is partnering with Innova Homes Limited, a Trinidad and Tobago-based property development company to bring its technology to the region. Through their agreement, Black Buffalo 3D’s machines will be used to print homes and the companies will create a construction 3D printing training program for students and workers. On top of that, Innova will become a distributor and servicing agent for Black Buffalo 3D in Trinidad, Tobago, Guyana, and offer support to the Caribbean and South America.
In the words of MX3D founder Gijs Van Der Velden, “Wow, end of an era!” The MX3D bridge in Amsterdam was removed this week after a two year permit from the City of Amsterdam ended. In 2021 the City gave MX3D a 2-year permit for the MX3D Bridge project, to study 3D printed infrastructure at one of the busiest crossings in the center.
According to the Qatari News Agency (QNA), the pavilion of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) TASMU (SMART Qatar) has entered the Guinness World Records Book as the longest independent concrete structure built using 3D printing technology.
The R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home Not-For-Profit and Mighty Buildings, a 3D printing construction technology company, are set to jointly design and develop a new visitor center and museum at the site of the legendary architect’s iconic “Bucky Dome” home. Located in Carbondale, IL, this holds its place on the National Register of Historic Places, and has captivated visitors for decades. The joint project is intended to connect Fuller’s impressive legacy to innovations that represent the future of sustainable building, thanks to Mighty Buildings’ new materials and offsite 3D printing construction methodologies.
Progreso, a leader in Central and South America’s cement industry, has inaugurated Guatemala’s first-ever 3D printed building, through its corporate accelerator, Progreso X. The milestone was achieved in collaboration with Danish 3DCP Group, utilizing COBOD International’s BOD2 construction 3D printer.
Construction hardware specialist Putzmeister presented many innovations relating to the construction site of tomorrow at the bauma fair in Munich. The German company is looking at construction 3D printing technology to address low productivity and the shortage of skilled workers, particularly by introducing the mobile and highly automated KARLOS 3D printer.
According to Emirates News Agency (WAM), the Dubai Municipality has introduced the world’s inaugural certification and conformity marking system for 3D printing within the construction sector. This initiative aims to enhance the quality of concrete mixes in Dubai-based factories and streamline related processes.
Miami-based climate-tech startup, Kind Designs, is leveraging 3D concrete printing technology from CyBe as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable construction method to produce ‘Living Seawalls’. These underwater structures protect our shores, improve the ocean’s biodiversity, and monitor water quality.
The renovated N243 highway between Alkmaar and Koggenland was officially opened. Over the past years, extensive work has been done to redesign the Schermerhornerweg, Middenweg, and Noordervaart (N243). With these adjustments, the road has been made safer, given a ‘greener’ appearance, and is now ready for many more years of use. For this project, Saint-Gobain Weber 3D printed three different bicycle bridges in their industrial 3D production line in Eindhoven.
According to India’s ETGovernment.com, Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry, Director General of Border Roads, recently inspected the under-construction Himank Air Dispatch Unit, which is set to be the world’s largest 3D printed campus (and was built using COBOD technology).
Mighty Buildings, a leader in 3D printing construction technology known for its prefabricated, environmentally-friendly, and climate-resilient homes, has raised $52 million in funding – demonstrating strong investor confidence in Mighty Buildings’ innovative offsite 3D printing construction technology. The round was co-led by Wa’ed Ventures, the $500 million innovation-focused venture capital fund backed by Saudi Aramco, and by BOLD Capital Partners, a US disruption and transformation-focused venture firm.
DEEP is emerging from stealth with the project of a subsea station that will revolutionize access to and understanding of our planet’s oceans. Scalable, modular, and autonomous, the DEEP Sentinel system will be built using primarily WAAM metal 3D printing technology. It has been designed for deployments up to 200m below the surface. This radically opens up access to the world’s continental shelves and the entirety of the Epipelagic Zone (sunlight zone), home to over 90% of marine life. To study, understand, and preserve Earth’s most important biome we must first be able to access it, and DEEP exists to develop technology for exactly that purpose.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel-based Ackerstein Industries, a frontrunner in producing eco-friendly concrete solutions for infrastructure and industrial construction, is expanding its innovative efforts into 3D concrete printing.
The BioMatters team at the University of Michigan has developed a fully biodegradable, reusable, and recyclable material – upcycled sawdust – to replace the wasteful concrete formwork traditionally used across the construction industry. Millions of tons of sawdust waste are reportedly created each year from the 15 billion cut trees. This waste is often burned or dumped in landfills, left to contribute to environmental pollution.
QOROX, a construction company in New Zealand, has become an authorized reseller of 3D concrete printers from CyBe Construction, a Dutch leader in 3D concrete printing hardware, software, and materials. This partnership strengthens the growing interconnectedness in the additive manufacturing industry and aims to spread advanced 3D construction technology across New Zealand and Australia.
3D printing stands for progress in construction like hardly any other process. It not only enables the implementation of individual geometries and components made of concrete that would not be possible with conventional formwork technology but also optimizes production processes and accelerates the digitization process in the construction industry. The construction of a 3D printed tiny house in North Rhine-Westphalia by MENSE KORTE also highlights the use of more sustainable building materials for printing.
RENCA, a pioneer in sustainable geopolymer materials for construction 3D printing, has set a significant milestone in the construction industry by using their zero-cement geopolymer 3D printing mortar in the construction of the world’s first 3D printed geopolymer house. The sustainability of construction materials and methods is a major global concern, given the significant pollution contributed by these elements. With emerging technologies such as 3D printing, new possibilities for reducing environmental impact are arising. This technology not only offers unparalleled freedom in design but also lessens the waste produced and the materials required.
Emergent, a pioneer in advanced construction technology, has completed the first 3D concrete printed (3DCP) home in California. The event marks a significant milestone, with the property conforming fully to the state’s stringent building codes – the most rigorous in the United States, driven among others by regional seismic activity.
Infrastructure is emerging as a key area of development for concrete 3D printing. Cambridge researchers, working in partnership with industry and specialist companies like Versarien, have helped develop the first 3D printed piece of concrete infrastructure to be used on a National Highways project. The 3D printed structure – a type of retaining wall known as a headwall – has been installed on the A30 in Cornwall, where it is providing real-time information thanks to Cambridge-designed sensors embedded in its structure. The sensors provide up-to-date measurements including temperature, strain and pressure. This digital twin of the wall could help spot and correct faults before they occur.
According to Gulf News, the Dubai Municipality has officially announced the issuance of the first construction license for a privately-owned villa utilizing 3D printing technology. The villa, to be situated in the Al Awir 1 sector of Dubai, will be fabricated in one continuous printing process, as per the municipality.
Hive3D Builders, a construction 3D printing company, has developed a carbon-neutral alternative to traditional cement – offering the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions associated with construction. This novel printing material, which replaces the usual mortar in 3D concrete printing, can reportedly cut down CO2 emissions by a remarkable 93%. The development holds the promise of making the already eco-friendly method of additive manufacturing even more sustainable, with the potential to revolutionize the global construction industry.
14Trees, a joint venture between Holcim and British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, launched a new construction-ready 3D printer, the Iroko. The new machine, which externally looks very similar to other existing systems, looks to improve construction speed, cost, and flexibility – scaling up digital automation to build resilient and affordable housing, education infrastructure and commercial real estate worldwide.
CyBe Construction, a leading provider of 3D concrete printers, and the South African Housing & Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF) have joined forces in a collaboration aimed at tackling the pressing housing shortage in South Africa. The joint effort will leverage innovative 3D concrete printing technology to deliver faster, cheaper, and more sustainable homes. This strategic cooperation comes in response to the urgent need for affordable housing, and represents a significant step toward achieving the United Nations’ goal of providing safe and accessible housing for all by 2030.
With a new project that showcases 3D construction printing’s potential beyond low-rise residential housing, utilizing COBOD‘s BOD2 printer, PERI started working on Europe’s first 3D printed public building: a football clubhouse. The 330 sqm (3.550 sq ft) structure of the SC Capelle football clubhouse has 2 floors and will be printed in 140 hours.
RCAM Technologies, an industry-leading provider of 3D printed concrete solutions dedicated to offshore renewable energy, has signed a deal to purchase a state-of-the-art gantry robot system – the CyBe GR – from CyBe Construction, a front-runner in the field of 3D concrete printing technologies. By harnessing the groundbreaking capabilities of the CyBe GR, RCAM is set to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy by reducing costs and environmental impacts associated with manufacturing its infrastructure.
Kelvin6k, the creator of ‘the world’s most affordable construction 3D printer’, is revolutionizing the construction industry with its cutting-edge robotic and sustainable construction solutions. The company’s crowning achievement to date is the construction of India’s first onsite 3D printed building – using a “Made in India” 3D printer – a 300 square foot office that was erected in just ten days using their proprietary construction technology.
Printed Farms, known for – among others – completing Florida’s first permitted 3D printed house in Tallahassee, successfully completed the world’s largest 3D printed building, a luxury horse barn. Printed Farms used COBOD’s BOD2 construction 3D printer for the job.
Texas A&M University at Qatar, a Qatar Foundation partner university, recently organized a training program focusing on 3D printing concrete structures for engineers working for the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’. The training, which was organized by the university’s Office of Advancement, was part of the mechanical engineering program’s initiative in smart and sustainable manufacturing. It was held in partnership with Al Jaber Trading and Contracting.
Apsuja Infratech, a Hyderabad-based leading construction company, has partnered with Simpliforge Creations, a 3D printing construction company, to create the world’s first 3D printed place of worship – more than a year ahead of Dubai’s plan to 3D print a mosque – in the form of a Hindu temple. Situated within Charvitha Meadows, at Burugupally, Siddipet, Telangana, India, the 3D printed temple serves as a testament to the harmonious integration of technology and nature with sustainability.
A groundbreaking initiative to rebuild Ukraine has commenced in Lviv, Ukraine, where the humanitarian foundation Team4UA, together with the Danish 3DCP Group using COBOD’s BOD2 printer, have completed the 3D printing of a building that will be used as a school, the first such project in Europe.
Barberio Colella Architetti (Maurizio Barberio and Micaela Colella) + Angelo Figliola, and Zheng Hui Chen designed a new footbridge to be installed over the Fuxi River in Moganshan Town, China. The project named Flowin’, set to be completed in 2023, will use robotically 3D printed thermoplastic formwork and 13 cubic meters of ECOPact concrete material from Holcim.
Obayashi Corporation, one of Japan’s leading construction companies, has reported the completion of its 3D printed demonstration building, named ‘3dpod’ – a project that started in May 2022. 3dpod is a distinct type of structure that has been approved by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism under the Building Standards Act, in Japan. This reportedly marks its status as the first-ever building in the country to be constructed using 3D printers with cement-based materials.
According to Digital Building Technologies, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) have developed a 3D printer designed to transform large quantities of stone waste from quarries into customizable architectural elements. The stone waste, or rock flour, in places like Ticino, can constitute up to 40% of total production. The printer was demonstrated in a case study, where it fabricated an optimized floor system using the byproduct of a marble quarry in Ticino.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has completed South Africa’s first-ever 3D printed building, thanks to a collaborative effort between UJ’s Department of Architecture and Design and the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI). Utilizing a CyBe Robot Crawler and a cement-based material, the one-room structure was printed on UJ’s Doornfontein, Johannesburg, campus, in under eight hours.
Siam Cement Group (SCG), the largest and oldest cement and building material company in Thailand and Southeast Asia, has completed the first two-story 3D printed building in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – in the form of a medical center. The center boasts a total floor area of 345m², is located in Saraburi, Thailand, and was constructed using a COBOD BOD2 3D concrete printer.
PERI 3D Construction, a pioneer in 3D construction printing, is currently using a COBOD BOD2 3D construction printer to print the walls of Europe’s largest 3D printed building. The project was initiated by KRAUSGRUPPE, a project developer, builder, investor, real estate manager, and broker in Heidelberg, Germany. The building is being built for Heidelberg IT Management GmbH & Co. KG, a cloud and data center provider.
PERI 3D Construction is taking 3D construction printing to new dimensions in Europe: the IT server hotel, which the KRAUS GROUP is realizing in Heidelberg, will be about 54 meters long, eleven meters wide and nine meters tall. With the COBOD BOD2 3D printer, PERI will print the vertical elements of the building and using i.tech 3D mortar, a 100% recyclable material from Heidelberg Materials. The special architecture gives insights into the free design that can be easily realized with the 3D printing process. Overall, we expect a pure printing time of only about 140 hours.
As we already well know, NASA is working to build a research base on the moon to send the first astronauts to Mars, and as a result of this, the development of Lunar construction is growing rapidly. A master’s student from the Florida International University (FIU) – Brandon Aguiar – seems to be a promising player within the industry.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have reportedly developed a 3D concrete printing (3DCP) technique that promises better and more environmentally friendly structures, at a lower cost. Architect Mania Aghaei Meibodi and researchers Alireza Bayramvand and Yuxin Lin of the DART lab, at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, have developed a method for creating ultra-lightweight, waste-free concrete. The method reduces weight by 72% compared to conventional, solid concrete of the same size, and is leading to new partnerships and patents beyond the university.
The University of Bologna (Università di Bologna) has just introduced a three-day Summer School focussed on metal 3D printing in construction, which will be held at the university’s Alma Mater Studiorum, on 4-6 July 2023. The course will cost €350,00, and will be hosted by the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering (DICAM). The application deadline is 15 June 2023.
Applied Research Associates (ARA), a research and engineering firm headquartered in New Mexico, has awarded faculty in the University of Arkansas’ College of Engineering nearly $3.5 million to study the most expedient ways to 3D print horizontal mission structures for the US military, according to the university’s news outlet. The $3.5 million sub-award comes as part of a larger $12 million award ARA received from the United States Army Engineer Research and Development Center.
A recent study by COBOD International has found that there are 129 3D printed buildings spread over 105 distinct construction sites, globally – 40% (51 buildings) of which exist thanks to COBOD’s 3D construction printers. The company with the second highest number of 3D printed buildings is Icon, with 15 3D printed buildings, followed by Winsun, Cybe, and xtreeE – each being responsible for the construction of five 3D printed buildings.
At the recent AM Strategies 2023 conference, in New York, Voxel Matters caught up with Alexey Dubov, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Mighty Buildings – a Californian company that was founded and went through the Y Combinator program in 2018 (W18) that is transforming the way we make homes, using some of the latest manufacturing technologies.
The Digital Builders Association, a Non-Profit Trade Association exclusively serving the Global Digital Construction Industry, launched its first State of the Industry Summit, a two-day online event that will take place on March 30-31, 2023.
Hospitality visionary Liz Lambert and her team have joined forces with ICON, a leader of advanced construction technologies pioneering large-scale 3D printing, and BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, a world-renowned architecture firm, to reimagine and rebuild El Cosmico, currently a 21-acre unique campground hotel in Marfa, TX.
We had the chance to sit down with Henrik Lund-Nielsen, the founder of COBOD International, to chat about what has been going on at COBOD lately. Mr. Lund-Nielsen has also very kindly opened up about the upcoming plans for the company with respect to infrastructure 3D printing and other applications beyond housing. Read on to find out about COBOD’s exciting future.
Black Buffalo 3D Corporation (BB3D) has been awarded the gold Global Innovation award at The Nationals, presented by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The award is in recognition of providing the first 3D printed construction solution to comply with the International Code Council Evaluation Service’s (ICC-ES) standards for structural walls – ICC-ES AC509. The NAHB Global Innovation award recognizes the most advanced and cutting-edge original products, services, homes, communities, and champions of the building industry, worldwide. This year had the largest pool of applicants, with over 70 companies competing for the Gold Award.
Pantheon3D, a Youngstown-based additive manufacturing construction company, has taken delivery of COBOD’s BOD2 3D construction printer at The Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME).
Diamond Age, a full-stack robotics innovator with the mission of using automation to make homeownership more affordable, has recently been revealed as the creator of the technology that was used to print Century Complete’s Mountain View Estates in Casa Grande, Arizona. The 3D printed homes are the first to be created using Diamond Age’s Factory-in-the-Field technology.
The Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai (IACAD) has announced its plans to build the world’s first 3D printed Mosque. The construction of the 2,000 square meter mosque, in Bur Dubai, is expected to start in October 2023, and have the capacity for 600 worshippers by early 2025.
Century Communities, one of the top US homebuilders and an industry leader in online sales, has launched its first community of 3D printed homes, under the Century Complete brand. The new homes infuse signature floor plans with smooth interior and exterior concrete composite walls that offer durability, sustainability, and noise reduction in a stylish yet traditional architectural package.
ICON, a leader in advanced construction technologies and large-scale 3D printing, received a contract awarded under Phase III of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The nearly $60 million contract builds upon previous NASA and Department of Defense funding for ICON’s Project Olympus to research and develop space-based construction systems to support the planned exploration of the Moon and beyond. ICON’s ‘Olympus’ system is intended to be a multi-purpose construction system primarily using local Lunar and Martian resources as building materials to further the efforts of NASA, as well as commercial organizations, to establish a sustained lunar presence.
GUtech, the German University of Technology in Oman and a pioneer in construction 3D printing, completed the 3D printing of 3 new buildings in Duqm, 540 km from the capital of Oman, where GU Tech is located. The construction took just 8 days and it represents a performance nobody has matched before for this type of on-location 3D printing.
The University of Maine (UMaine) Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) has unveiled ‘BioHome3D’ – the first 3D printed house made entirely with bio-based materials. BioHome3D was developed with funding from the US Department of Energy’s Hub and Spoke program between the UMaine and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Partners included MaineHousing and the Maine Technology Institute.
Approximately 200 miles north of San Francisco, surrounded by national forests, lies Redding with its population of 100,000. Not one of California’s most famous locations, the city was affected by the numerous forest fires that hit the city. Redding is experiencing more than 100 fires per year. The Redding area got hit the worst in 2018 in the Carr fire, where 1,100 houses were lost to the fires, 270 of these directly in the town of Redding. Neighboring Paradise lost more than 11,000 homes, causing damages of 16 billion USD and 85 fatalities.
Students from Washington University in St. Louis have been working on an energy-efficient prototype ...
Chinese construction company HuaShang Tengda created this 3D printed villa in only 45 days – and the ...
Europe had it first 3-story 3D printed building made in Germany by PERI using COBOD technology in 2021, and now Asia also has one. While North America may lead the development in terms of the amount of new 3D printed buildings, Europe and The Middle East are clearly leading the way in the use of 3D construction printing technology to create larger and larger buildings. With its 9.9 meters in total height, the Dar Al Arkan villa in Saudi Arabia is the tallest on-site 3D printed building in the world.
CyBe, a global leader in 3D concrete printing with proprietary hardware, software, and printing materials, is collaborating with Lab040 in Eindhoven to create the first-ever, 3D printed, four-story apartment.
Borneo, known for its orangutans and other wildlife, is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, with more than an estimated 15,000 plant species found in its rainforests. Unexpectedly, this large Asian island now has its first 3D printed house – a testament to the technology’s potential and reach. In Sarawak, the Northern coastal part of Borneo, which is more urbanized than the rainforest-covered center, the large concrete pre-casting company Sarawak Consolidated Industries Berhad (SCIB) recently revealed the company’s first 3D printed demo house.
According to ITV News, the UK is expecting its first housing development – created using 3D construction printing (3DCP) technology – to be built in Lancashire. The eco-friendly homes, in Accrington, are expected to house homeless veterans and low-income families throughout 46 properties that can each be ‘printed’ in a matter of weeks.
According to Arabian Business, the first prototype of a real-scale, five-meter long, 3D printed pedestrian Smart Bridge was unveiled at the Autodesk University (AU) 2022 conference, which took place on September 27-29 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The bridge was designed in the UAE, in partnership with American software company, Autodesk, and Lebanese engineering company, Dar Al-Handasah.
Europe’s first 3D printed office extension has opened in Hausleiten, Austria. The project, first announced in October last year, is a result of a collaboration between the construction technology group STRABAG and the scaffolding and formwork manufacturer and 3D concrete printing pioneer, PERI. The building, printed with a BOD2, COBOD’s best-selling 3D construction printer, is a 125m² office extension to an existing building in Hausleiten.
The US and Canada have seen several single-story 3D printed buildings in recent years, but now Canadian 3D construction printing company, nidus3D, has finished the construction of the first two-story building in North America (in Ontario).
According to a project submitted to designboom, a group of designers – Or Naim, Elisheva Gillis, Gitit Linker, Danny Freedman, Noa Zermati, Adi Segal, Rebeca Partook, and Nof Nathansohn – have created ‘To Grow a Building’, an outdoor performative lab that imagined the possibility of a world in which buildings are 3D printed from organic materials. The designers presented the project at Jerusalem Design Week 2022.
ASTM International has been awarded funding from the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a roadmap for guidance and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies in the construction sector.
Building code regulators at the US state level in Montana have made history as the first to approve 3D printed walls as an equal replacement for walls made with concrete masonry units (CMUs), or a standard cored concrete block. The approval was granted to Tim Stark, a contractor based in Billings, Montana, after filing documents, specifications, and testing reports developed by Apis Cor, the Florida-based construction technology company that holds the Guinness World Record for the largest (volume) 3D printed building globally.
Education chiefs in Ireland, where the use of 3D concrete printing is currently limited, are hoping a new training course in 3D concrete printing will help contribute to addressing the need to build more affordable homes, at a quicker pace. The course is the first of its kind in the country and is being run by Louth and Meath Education Training Board (LMETB).
The latest large format additive manufactring project from Caracol AM, a highly dynamic company in the robotic LFAM segment, is a giant “Y” shaped sculpture placed in front of Yamamay’s HQ in Gallarate, near Milan, in Italy. Yamamay the Italian leader in the production and distribution of underwear, lingerie, sleepwear and beachwear products. The company is very much dedicate to innovative design and implementing more sustainable manufacturing practices: the 3-meter tall sculpture, 3D printed with 170 Kg of 100% recycled polypropylene, embodies both of these elements.
Ørsted and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Denmark) are testing how 3D printed reefs can benefit biodiversity in the Kattegat, a strait between Denmark and Sweden, which is experiencing a historically low cod stock. This is the first time 3D printed reefs are being used in Danish waters, and they will complement existing boulder reefs that Ørsted established when constructing the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm in 2012-13.
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].
Space architecture and technology firm AI SpaceFactory presented its designs for LINA, the first 3D printed lunar outpost developed in collaboration with NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) engineers and planetary scientists.
A plan from Texas A&M University researchers to 3D print new resilient buildings using hempcrete has the potential to lower the environmental impact of traditional construction methods and make housing more affordable and available, according to an article posted on the University’s College of Engineering website by Alyson Chapman.
Power2build has finished its largest 3D printed building with a COBOD BOD2 construction printer, using the D.fab concrete solution from COBOD International and CEMEX, in Angola. The company intends to transform the housing market and is a pioneer aiming to solve the challenge of affordable housing in Angola, with 3D printed buildings.
Luai Kurdi is the Founder and CEO of PRINT4D, a company based in Prague, Czech Republic, consisting of a group of engineers with a passion for technology and construction. PRINT4D utilizes the latest advancements in digital tools to revolutionize how the environment around us is imagined and constructed. According to a post on Luai Kurdi’s LinkedIn profile, he has replicated Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia Double Twist Star-Shaped-Base 14m high column, using parametric design in Grasshopper – demonstrating the real advantages of parametric design, digital fabrication, and 3D concrete printing.
The Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park), in the UAE, is set to become the region’s largest and most advanced 3D printing technology platform, with major international companies and specialized startups, such as General Electric and 3DTIV Tech, already establishing their presence there.
GE Renewable Energy has made a minority investment in COBOD International, the company providing the 3D printer used at the Bergen research facility. Officials from both companies said the investment will build on an existing relationship with COBOD International, a leading player in 3D construction printing solutions, first undertaken in 2019.
Black Buffalo 3D Corporation, a leading provider of large-scale 3D construction printers, and MAPEI Corporation, a leading construction materials provider for the building industry, have entered a strategic partnership involving research, development, and manufacturing for the 3D construction printing industry. Their first collaboration, Planitop 3D construction ink, is made to work with NEXCON 3D construction printers for better performance at a fraction of the cost of existing building materials. The combination of equipment and materials will be utilized in the recently announced 200 home community being printed by Alquist 3D in Pulaski, VA.
CyBe Construction has opened its new production facility in Oss, Netherlands, for its suppliers and back-end partners. Due to the company’s rapid growth over the past year, and the increasing demand for solutions to the global housing shortage problem, CyBe has had to scale up its production process and has moved into larger premises. At these new premises, CyBe can scale up the current production process and work on new developments.
GE Renewable Energy today held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate a new research and development facility that will conduct research on how to 3D print the concrete base of towers used in wind turbines. The research will enable GE to 3D print the bottom portion of the wind turbine towers on-site at wind farms, lowering transportation costs and creating additional employment opportunities at the wind farms where the technology will be used.
In this new episode of the 3dpbm Pulse Podcast series we met with Henrik Lund-Nielsen, founder and General Manager of COBOD International. COBOD is a globally leading company within the 3D construction printing segment. The company has been constantly – and deservedly – making headlines in both the construction and 3D printing press. Today COBOD is the only company that has been actively working to dramatically reduce the cost of materials, by introducing the D.fab Magic Mix which enables use of locally sourced real concrete. This can reduce the cost of a project by up to 90%, and it has already been proven by cases presented in the White Paper available to download below. In a market segment often characterized by exagerated claims, we spoke with Mr. Lund-Nielsen about the real state of the industry and its true potential.
Danish COBOD International is well-known for being a market leader in the development and production of 3D construction printers, while PERI Group is a leading company in formwork equipment, scaffolding, tents, and now also the distributor of COBOD 3D construction printers. PERI has successfully been distributing COBOD 3D construction printers since 2019, following that PERI, in 2019, became a minority shareholder of COBOD. The successful cooperation is documented by PERI being COBOD’s largest customer, having bought multiple printers for European and US customers. Since 2019 PERI also successfully used COBOD’s 3D construction printers on several projects, including the world’s first 3-story apartment building in Germany.
Starfleet Innotech, Inc. (SFIO) has entered into a new strategic partnership with Australia-based 3D concrete printing startup Luyten. The exclusive agreement will see Luyten’s construction technologies utilized across SFIO’s real estate projects in the Philippines, towards the conglomerate’s goal of building a more sustainable, equitable future for community living.
Southeast Asia-based Siam Cement Group (SCG), one of the largest cement companies in the world, is now a distributor of COBOD 3D construction printers in Thailand and beyond. SCG previously used other printers to experiment with concrete 3D printing and produce various prototypes but the company has now turned to COBOD as means to increase large-scale production capabilities.
Southeast Asia-based Siam Cement Group (SCG), one of the largest cement companies in the world, is now a distributor of COBOD 3D construction printers in Thailand and beyond. SCG previously used other printers to experiment with concrete 3D printing and produce various prototypes but the company has now turned to COBOD as means to increase large-scale production capabilities.
As 3dpbm had anticipated last month, COBOD has now, officially, launched the first 3D construction printer configurator – a new tool that enables contractors and developers to estimate the time it will take to 3D print a specific building and calculate the volume of concrete materials needed. For instance, the configurator shows, layer by layer, how the printer can build a 170 m2 (1.900 square feet) villa in just 26 hours.
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.
Apis Cor is the first construction 3D printing pure player to receive official Regulation A+ qualification by the SEC to begin offering shares to both accredited and non-accredited investors. Regulation A is an exemption from registration for public offerings with two offering tiers: Tier 1, for offerings of up to $20 million in a 12-month period; and Tier 2, for offerings of up to $75 million in a 12-month period.
Apis Cor is the first construction 3D printing pure player to receive official Regulation A+ qualification by the SEC to begin offering shares to both accredited and non-accredited investors. Regulation A is an exemption from registration for public offerings with two offering tiers: Tier 1, for offerings of up to $20 million in a 12-month period; and Tier 2, for offerings of up to $75 million in a 12-month period.
Over three billion people are expected to need affordable housing by 2030. This issue is most acute in Africa, with countries like Kenya already facing an estimated shortage of two million houses. With 3D printing, constructions giant Holcim wants to be part of the solution via the joint venture 14Trees.
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.
On Tuesday, December 14, 2021, the German University of Technology in Oman, GUtech, completed 3D printing the walls of what so far is the largest 3D printed building in made with real concrete. The importance of the event was marked by the presence of His Excellency Sultan Al-Habsi, Minister of Finance of Oman together with more than 200 guests including several ministers and VIPs of Oman, who attended the event in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
The integration of 3D printing processes into architecture is no longer a novelty. The advantages that additive manufacturing offers architects are also widely known. Complex geometries can be realized more easily, costs can be saved, and functionalities can be integrated directly into designs and construction plans. This integration of functions, however, can be taken even further. The Meristem Wall, a project at Lund University led by two Swedish innovative architects, David Andreen and Ana Goidea, who formed the bioDigital matter lab, uses voxeljet sand binder jetting technology to take the wall’s functionality to a new level, without compromising on aesthetics.
Vertico has signed a partnership agreement with MAI International to distribute its construction 3D printers along with a range of 3D concrete printing specific accessories Both companies have worked hard over the past years to innovate in the field of 3D concrete printing and have established highly complementary positions
The integration of 3D printing processes into architecture is no longer a novelty. The advantages that additive manufacturing offers architects are also widely known. Complex geometries can be realized more easily, costs can be saved, and functionalities can be integrated directly into designs and construction plans. This integration of functions, however, can be taken even further. The Meristem Wall, a project at Lund University led by two Swedish innovative architects, David Andreen and Ana Goidea, who formed the bioDigital matter lab, uses voxeljet sand binder jetting technology to take the wall’s functionality to a new level, without compromising on aesthetics.
Vertico has signed a partnership agreement with MAI International to distribute its construction 3D printers along with a range of 3D concrete printing specific accessories Both companies have worked hard over the past years to innovate in the field of 3D concrete printing and have established highly complementary positions
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.
What would Antoni Gaudí have created with the latest 3D printing technology? Would the unique, compl ...
The medieval irrigation system of the Lankheet Estate was 3D printed to scale by Dutch company Vertico for a fantastic educational outdoor artwork in the form of a concrete 3D printed water playground.
PERI, the company that built the first multi-story 3D printed buildings in Germany, is now working on Austria’s first 3D printed building, using a BOD2 construction 3D printer, in Hausleiten, Lower Austria. The project is conducted together with Austria-based STRABAG, one of the largest construction companies in Europe.
Dior opened a pop-up store at Jumeirah beach in Dubai. The initiative, which coincides with the Expo currently underway, included two 3D printed pavilions created in collaboration with Italian 3D printer manufacturer WASP and set up at the Four Seasons Hotel in Nammos.
Apis Cor, a company known for its unique construction 3D printing technology, has introduced Impreza, the first and only 3D printed home (project) to participate and win an award in a Space Coast Parade of Homes. Impreza received the HBCA Parade of Homes Diamond Award and was selected as a virtual entry among the top 20 projects.
Dutch technology provider CyBe Construction and Curaçao concrete expert Betonindustrie Brievengat (BIB) are joining forces for a strategic partnership. At the end of September, three operators of BIB will be trained by the team of CyBe to operate the purchased 3D printer. This is through a 10-day on-site training during which the first two buildings will be printed in the island of Curaçao, the first-ever 3D construction printing initiative in the Caribbean archipelago. These two buildings will serve as office space and café in Willemstad, the capital city of Curaçao.
Dutch technology provider CyBe Construction and Curaçao concrete expert Betonindustrie Brievengat (BIB) are joining forces for a strategic partnership. At the end of September, three operators of BIB will be trained by the team of CyBe to operate the purchased 3D printer. This is through a 10-day on-site training during which the first two buildings will be printed in the island of Curaçao, the first-ever 3D construction printing initiative in the Caribbean archipelago. These two buildings will serve as office space and café in Willemstad, the capital city of Curaçao.
Apis Cor, a company known for its unique construction 3D printing technology, has introduced Impreza, the first and only 3D printed home (project) to participate and win an award in a Space Coast Parade of Homes. Impreza received the HBCA Parade of Homes Diamond Award and was selected as a virtual entry among the top 20 projects.
ICON, developer of advanced construction technologies including robotics, software and building materials, today announced it has completed a $207 million Series B round of financing led by Norwest Venture Partners. ICON also welcomes Jeff Crowe, Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, a leading multi-stage investment firm, to its Board of Directors. From world-renowned architects to the country’s largest homebuilders, ICON’s line-up of series B investors also includes 8VC, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi, Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures and Oakhouse Partners. The investment brings ICON’s total funding since launching its revolutionary technology to $266 million.
The market for construction 3D printing continues to expand around the world and especially in Europe, where Swedish startup ConcretePrint (KonkretPrint AB) has unveiled the country’s first 3D printed home. The young company completed the inaugural structure in June 2021 at an industry plot in Tumba, Sweden. The project was undertaken with financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency.
It has been a busy month for Austin-based 3D printing construction firm ICON. Not only did it raise $207 million in Series B funding and unveil a 3,800-square-foot training barracks for the Texas Military Department, it has now brought four 3D printed homes to market in Austin, Texas, in collaboration with Kansas City developer 3Strands. Two of the four 3D printed homes have already been sold, while the remaining two are hitting the market today, August 31, 2021.
It has been a busy month for Austin-based 3D printing construction firm ICON. Not only did it raise $207 million in Series B funding and unveil a 3,800-square-foot training barracks for the Texas Military Department, it has now brought four 3D printed homes to market in Austin, Texas, in collaboration with Kansas City developer 3Strands. Two of the four 3D printed homes have already been sold, while the remaining two are hitting the market today, August 31, 2021.
ICON, developer of advanced construction technologies including robotics, software and building materials, today announced it has completed a $207 million Series B round of financing led by Norwest Venture Partners. ICON also welcomes Jeff Crowe, Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, a leading multi-stage investment firm, to its Board of Directors. From world-renowned architects to the country’s largest homebuilders, ICON’s line-up of series B investors also includes 8VC, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi, Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures and Oakhouse Partners. The investment brings ICON’s total funding since launching its revolutionary technology to $266 million.
Danish construction 3D printer company COBOD, the current segment leader in Europe, recently entered the US market via a partnership with Printed Farms in Florida. The company is now expanding its footprint in the US to address the widespread lack of affordable housing in partnership with the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity. In US market COBOD will be squaring off with current local leader ICON.
The Block Research Group at ETCH Zurich is working with Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group (ZHACODE), incremental3D and Holcim to build the Striatus 3D concrete printed masonry bridge, in time for the Venice Biennale exhibit.
Texas-based construction 3D printing company ICON has once again upgraded its Vulcan system. The next-gen 3D printer was announced in parallel to a new 3D printed home initiative—the Exploration Series—which ICON is working on in collaboration with various world-class architects. We’ve got our first glimpse of the inaugural build of the series, House Zero, which is designed by Texas firm Lake|Flato Architects.
GUtech (The German University of Technology in Oman) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Danish company COBOD to manufacture and ship the first 3D printer for construction to the Sultanate.
Danish construction 3D printer company COBOD, the current segment leader in Europe, recently entered the US market via a partnership with Printed Farms in Florida. The company is now expanding its footprint in the US to address the widespread lack of affordable housing in partnership with the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity. In US market COBOD will be squaring off with current local leader ICON.
Big Sun Holdings Group, Inc. (BSH), the parent of construction 3D printing company Black Buffalo 3D, formed a long-term strategic financing partnership with Ethos Asset Management. Ethos, a private project financing provider with global operations, has committed to providing long-term capital to support Big Sun Holdings’ role as the global accelerator for all products, services, and values in the U.S. on behalf of HN, Inc.–formerly Hyundai BS&C Co. Ltd.
The Technical University Delft (TU Delft) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have partnered with Vertico to use its cutting-edge technology to print future underground habitats on Mars. The subsurface structures are part of a project led by Associate Professor and Leader of Robotic Building Henriette Bier at the TU Delft and funded by the ESA.
With 3D printing technology, you can alter your digital model, try out variations on the fly and vis ...
Big Sun Holdings Group, Inc. (BSH), the parent of construction 3D printing company Black Buffalo 3D, formed a long-term strategic financing partnership with Ethos Asset Management. Ethos, a private project financing provider with global operations, has committed to providing long-term capital to support Big Sun Holdings’ role as the global accelerator for all products, services, and values in the U.S. on behalf of HN, Inc.–formerly Hyundai BS&C Co. Ltd.
GUtech (The German University of Technology in Oman) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Danish company COBOD to manufacture and ship the first 3D printer for construction to the Sultanate.
Texas-based construction 3D printing company ICON has once again upgraded its Vulcan system. The next-gen 3D printer was announced in parallel to a new 3D printed home initiative—the Exploration Series—which ICON is working on in collaboration with various world-class architects. We’ve got our first glimpse of the inaugural build of the series, House Zero, which is designed by Texas firm Lake|Flato Architects.
The Block Research Group at ETCH Zurich is working with Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group (ZHACODE), incremental3D and Holcim to build the Striatus 3D concrete printed masonry bridge, in time for the Venice Biennale exhibit.
The Austrian startup Printstones has been developing mobile robotic systems for 3D printing since 2017. After completing more than 100 pilot projects the young firm has now revealed a new prototype: Baubot. This new robot has a modular design approach and is open to external inputs for innovation. The stated goal of the tech company is to bring any tool into any location and utilize it there. This means that 3rd parties can develop and add their tools and applications to the mobile robot. Developers can use an SDK as an interface to the robot’s functionality.
Danish robot 3D construction printer company COBOD International A / S, which produces large 3D printers for robot printing of buildings and wind turbine towers in concrete, submitted the financial accounts for 2020, which show that COBOD fiscal 2020 results generated profits of 9.3 million DKK (about €125,000), being profitable for the second year in a row after growing almost 100% (from 4.9 million DKK, about €65,000).
Printed Farms is the first organization in the United States to get a Cobod Bod 2 Concrete 3D Printer. I got the chance to check out a job site of theirs near West Palm Beach, Florida. This project is a 30×30 agricultural building that will ultimately serve as storage for equipment that the owner has to manage their many horse stables.
A team of undergraduate students from 10 colleges and universities across the United States – members of the Artemis Generation designed a reusable landing pad that could be 3D printed from materials found on the Moon. The novel concept – called the Lunar Plume Alleviation Device, or Lunar PAD – focuses on solving the problems caused when the force of an engine’s powerful exhaust meets the dusty lunar surface.
The Italian firm World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) has completed the printing phase of its TECLA supporting structure, a 3D printed house based on natural materials that is made with multiple 3D printers operating at the same time. The habitat model was engineered by WASP and designed by MC A, Mario Cucinella Architects. It took form as a new circular model of housing entirely created with reusable and recyclable materials, sourced from local soil, carbon-neutral and adaptable to any climate and context.
COBOD, a company that specializes in 3D printing buildings, printed a concrete two-story building in India made by L&T Construction, a first for the AM industry. COBOD’s expertise as a construction specialist is evidenced by its partnership with GE Additive, where COBOD prints bases for 200-meter-tall wind turbines. The company has also printed 3.5 houses in four days. Its efforts averaged eight square meters an hour on this occasion.
The Austrian startup Printstones has been developing mobile robotic systems for 3D printing since 2017. After completing more than 100 pilot projects the young firm has now revealed a new prototype: Baubot. This new robot has a modular design approach and is open to external inputs for innovation. The stated goal of the tech company is to bring any tool into any location and utilize it there. This means that 3rd parties can develop and add their tools and applications to the mobile robot. Developers can use an SDK as an interface to the robot’s functionality.
The 3D printed gradient furniture collection is Philipp Aduatz’s latest project in the field of 3D concrete printing, in collaboration with Austrian manufacturer Incremental3D.
CERN’s newly proposed EIFFEL space elevator accelerator is eventually going to be the tallest structure on Earth. 3dpbm can exclusively reveal that the 2.5 Km tall structure will be entirely 3D printed using both concrete and metals, which engineers now see as the only possible way to make it structurally sound.
Danish robot 3D construction printer company COBOD International A / S, which produces large 3D printers for robot printing of buildings and wind turbine towers in concrete, submitted the financial accounts for 2020, which show that COBOD fiscal 2020 results generated profits of 9.3 million DKK (about €1.25 million), being profitable for the second year in a row after growing almost 100% (from 4.9 million DKK, about €650,000)*.
Kansas City developer 3Strands launched the company’s first multi-home project, which will lead to several 3D printed homes for sale in Austin, TX. It is the first commercial multi-house project using construction 3D printing in the US. 3dpbm contributor Jarett Gross got the opportunity to meet Jason Ballard, the CEO of ICON, and go with him inside their newest 3D printed houses on east 17th st in Austin, Texas.
Please note that this is a satirical article published on April 1st* for April Fools. If you’d like to learn more about real construction 3D printing advancements, see our Construction 3D Printing AM Focus eBook.
A new video published by 3dpbm’s contributor Jarett Gross explores the concept invented by an interesting Russian startup called Printed Dome. that developed a proprietary construction 3D printing approach to make—you guessed it—3D printed domes.
A new video published by 3dpbm’s contributor Jarett Gross explores the concept invented by an interesting Russian startup called Printed Dome. that developed a proprietary construction 3D printing approach to make—you guessed it—3D printed domes.
Dubai Municipality has won the UAE Ideas Award organized by the Dubai Quality Group under the slogan, ‘Nothing is Impossible,’ for the category of ‘Innovation in the field of inventions’ for constructing the World’s Largest 3D Printed Building. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had launched the Dubai 3D Printing Strategy as a unique global initiative.
Dubai Municipality has won the UAE Ideas Award organized by the Dubai Quality Group under the slogan, ‘Nothing is Impossible,’ for the category of ‘Innovation in the field of inventions’ for constructing the World’s Largest 3D Printed Building. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had launched the Dubai 3D Printing Strategy as a unique global initiative.
UAE-based Proto21, one of the most prolific 3D printing service providers in the Middle East and possibly worldwide, just 3D printed 1,008 pieces to form the 32-meter long modular facade of the new adidas flagship store in Dubai Mall.
World Housing and Twente Additive Manufacturing (TAM) collaborated with other companies in British Columbia, Canada, to construct a 3D-printed affordable community. The project will be located in Nelson, B.C., where there is a great need for housing and the support needed from the local community and government. It is also the hometown for TAM.
Dutch company CyBe is known in the AM construction world for its robotic 3D printing platform and special MORTAR material. We’ve followed the company in recent years, as it has worked on construction 3D printing projects around the world, including in New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Italy. And while the company has been forthcoming about its ABB-based technology, the details of its MORTAR construction material have been fully under wraps. That is, until now.
World Housing and Twente Additive Manufacturing (TAM) collaborated with other companies in British Columbia, Canada, to construct a 3D-printed affordable community. The project will be located in Nelson, B.C., where there is a great need for housing and the support needed from the local community and government. It is also the hometown for TAM.
Mitch Lewandowski, Branch Technology‘s Chief Commercial Officer, had been hinting at a major project for some time. It has now finally been revealed that it’s not just one project but at least two, and possibly more, and they are both massive in size: a 3D printed facade for the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union building and exterior wall panels for the Center of Engineering, Technology, Arts & Sciences at the Chattanooga State Community College.
Black Buffalo 3D Corporation, a leading provider of large scale 3D printers for construction and a member of HN Inc.—formerly Hyundai BS&C Co. Ltd.—has successfully collaborated with the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) to revise its ICC-ES AC509 criteria. This update enhances the acceptance criteria (AC) for 3D Automated Construction Technology for 3D printed concrete walls from single-story building construction to multi-story building construction.
Black Buffalo 3D Corporation, a leading provider of large scale 3D printers for construction and a member of HN Inc.—formerly Hyundai BS&C Co. Ltd.—has successfully collaborated with the International Code Council Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) to revise its ICC-ES AC509 criteria. This update enhances the acceptance criteria (AC) for 3D Automated Construction Technology for 3D printed concrete walls from single-story building construction to multi-story building construction.
Mitch Lewandowsky, Branch Technology‘s Chief Commercial Officer, had been hinting at a major project for some time. It has now finally been revealed that it’s not just one project but at least two, and possibly more, and they are both massive in size: a 3D printed facade for the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union building and exterior wall panels for the Center of Engineering, Technology, Arts & Sciences at the Chattanooga State Community College.
SQ4D has listed for sale the first 3D printed home in the United States. This residential property, printed on-site using SQ4D’s Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), is the first commercial 3D printed house slated to receive a certificate of occupancy and is listed on MLS for sale as new construction for $299,999.
SQ4D has listed for sale the first 3D printed home in the United States. This residential property, printed on-site using SQ4D’s Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), is the first commercial 3D printed house slated to receive a certificate of occupancy and is listed on MLS for sale as new construction for $299,999.
A team of undergraduate students from 10 colleges and universities across the United States – members of the Artemis Generation designed a reusable landing pad that could be 3D printed from materials found on the Moon. The novel concept – called the Lunar Plume Alleviation Device, or Lunar PAD – focuses on solving the problems caused when the force of an engine’s powerful exhaust meets the dusty lunar surface.
The Italian firm World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) has completed the printing phase of its TECLA supporting structure, a 3D printed house based on natural materials that is made with multiple 3D printers operating at the same time. The habitat model was engineered by WASP and designed by MC A, Mario Cucinella Architects. It took form as a new circular model of housing entirely created with reusable and recyclable materials, sourced from local soil, carbon-neutral and adaptable to any climate and context.
Printed Farms is the first organization in the United States to get a Cobod Bod 2 Concrete 3D Printer. I got the chance to check out a job site of theirs near West Palm Beach, Florida. This project is a 30×30 agricultural building that will ultimately serve as storage for equipment that the owner has to manage their many horse stables.
COBOD, a company that specializes in 3D printing buildings, printed a concrete two-story building in India made by L&T Construction, a first for the AM industry. COBOD’s expertise as a construction specialist is evidenced by its partnership with GE Additive, through which it is 3D printing bases for 200-meter-tall wind turbines. The company also printed 3.5 houses in four days. Its efforts averaged eight square meters an hour on this occasion.
Since its founding in 2017, Dutch company Aectual has taken the tenets of 3D printing—including customization, design freedom and sustainability—to heart, applying them to the areas of architecture and interior design. Many of our readers will be familiar with the company: in 2018, it gained notice for 3D printing a section of terrazzo-style flooring in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Just a few months ago, it also unveiled a collection of 3D printed fully-circular furniture made from plant-based materials.
MEET – Middle East Eng. Technologies – just finished the construction of the MEET 3D Villa in the UAE. The villa was printed in just 2 weeks in Sharjah, in the heart of SRTIP, with the help of the CyBe team’s expertise, providing on-site training and support.
Combining one of the world’s most sustainable, available and strong materials with the inherently sustainable, tool-less construction 3D printing technologies could be a game-changer. However 3D printing hemp is difficult at best, as 3D printing pioneer Andry Rudenko – also a developer of both hempcrete material and construction 3D printing technologies – recently explained to 3dpbm. An Australian, Perth-based company, MIRRECO, said they are developing a CAST® hemp-based construction 3D printing process that will also be able to store CO2 removed from the atmosphere.
The Tainan branch of Taiwan Everplast Machinery Co., Ltd. cooperated with C-Hub of Cheng Kung University this year to research cement-based 3D printing technology. One of the results of the study is the development of a pellet cement-like material to use in extrusion 3D printing of furniture structures.
3D printed buildings are popping up in more and more places, like the recent 3 floors apartment building in Germany but so far Africa has been only marginally on the map. 14Trees are about to change that. Established by LafargeHolcim, a world-leading provider of cement and concrete with 70,000 employees, 14Trees is focused on building affordable houses, schools and social infrastructures in Africa.
3D printed buildings are popping up in more and more places, like the recent 3 floors apartment building in Germany but so far Africa has been only marginally on the map. 14Trees are about to change that. Established by LafargeHolcim, a world-leading provider of cement and concrete with 70,000 employees, 14Trees is focused on building affordable houses, schools and social infrastructures in Africa.
The Tainan branch of Taiwan Everplast Machinery Co., Ltd. cooperated with C-Hub of Cheng Kung University this year to research cement-based 3D printing technology. One of the results of the study is the development of a pellet cement-like material to use in extrusion 3D printing of furniture structures.
Combining one of the world’s most sustainable, available and strong materials with the inherently sustainable, tool-less construction 3D printing technologies could be a game-changer. However 3D printing hemp is difficult at best, as 3D printing pioneer Andry Rudenko – also a developer of both hemp-based material and construction 3D printing technologies – recently explained to 3dpbm. An Australian, Perth-based company, MIRRECO, said they are developing a CAST® hemp-based construction 3D printing process that will also be able to store CO2 removed from the atmosphere.
A study published by researchers at Stellenbosch University in South Africa presented a first and comprehensive microstructural investigation of construction 3D concrete printing porosity using X-ray computed tomography to visualize and quantify porosity, pore sizes, shapes and distributions in extrusion-based 3D printed concrete.
The introduction of 3D printing – in any form – into the construction industry is among the most fascinating and, at the same time, challenging endeavor. On the one hand, the most advanced and technologically complex, digital manufacturing processes; on the other an industry that has notoriously been slow to introduce change. For these reasons, many see construction as the area with the highest potential for 3D printing innovation. And business. The shift is going to be gradual and any potential adopter will benefit from introducing 3D printing technologies that can significantly enhance traditional construction practices. Massivit 3D’s large-volume 3D printing technology for construction is doing just that. By providing cost-effective 3D printed tools to leverage the geometric benefits of AM, without foregoing the use of traditional materials, Massivit 3D is enabling innovative constructions and restorations. These projects – from statues to capitols and decorations of historical Italian palaces – would not have been cost-effective by either traditional construction methods or direct concrete 3D printing.
A study published by researchers at Stellenbosch University in South Africa presented a first and comprehensive microstructural investigation of construction 3D concrete printing porosity using X-ray computed tomography to visualize and quantify porosity, pore sizes, shapes and distributions in extrusion-based 3D printed concrete.
Thanks to the latest video by Jarett Gross, the untirable explorer of construction 3D printing projects (who has previously contributed to this portal), many more, including 3dpbm, found out about a very interesting 3D printed, upcycled cement-wooden structure that may have been initially ignored by those outside the architectural community: the Ashen Cabin by Cornel University and HANNAH Design Office.
Thanks to the latest video by Jarett Gross, the untirable explorer of construction 3D printing projects (who has previously contributed to this portal), we found out about a very interesting 3D printed, upcycled cement-wooden structure that may have been initially ignored by those outside the architectural community: the Ashen Cabin by Cornel University and HANNAH Design Office.
A partnership between New-Zealand’s local technology company QOROX and Dutch technology provider CyBe Construction has brought the first robot to 3D print concrete objects on a commercial scale to the Morth Island city of Hamilton.
Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki, Finland Italian engineer Angelo D’Angelo has two big obsessions: t ...
Hotel management group Habitas has raised US$20 million to expand its concept of "social" beach huts ...
At the BAUTEC conference in Berlin, Italcementi presented a new concrete mixture developed specifically for construction 3D printing applications. The new mixture is developed to be fast setting, in order to enable deposition of more complex geometries, and also more sustainable, in line with the company’s targets for more sustainable construction processes.
Chinese construction 3D printing company WinSun is deploying its technology to help contain and fight the coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province. According to a recent release, WinSun plans to 3D print and ship 200 isolation wards to the region, which will be used to house medical staff.
Last week, at the International Bautec construction exhibition in Berlin, visitors were given the unique opportunity to see a house being 3D printed each day. Danish construction 3D printing company COBOD and its partner PERI Group undertook the ambitious project to demonstrate how the BOD2 construction 3D printer is capable of printing a house in less than 24 hours.
American architecture studio Hannah has built an eco-friendly off-the-grid cabin in Upstate New York using a combination of 3D printed concrete and infested ash wood. The small structure, called Ashen Cabin, demonstrates the potential of using both types of materials to produce sustainable structures.
The Czech Republic is preparing to break ground on its first 3D printed house next month. The stylish housing structure was designed by Michal Trpak of sculptural architectural studio Scoolpt, and will be constructed in collaboration with the Stavebni sporitelna Ceske sporitelny (Buřinka) building society. The 3D printed house, whose most distinguishing feature is that it floats, demonstrates how 3D printing technologies can be used to create housing more sustainably than traditional means.
US-based Pikus Concrete is teaming up with Sika to commercialize 3D concrete printing technology in the construction industry and to capture its vast potential. Pikus’ first 3D concrete printer with Sika technology has commenced operation in Lehi, Utah. The company is working on implementing the technology in the first construction projects. This marks the first time a construction 3D printing deal involves two well-established commercial construction companies. Previous projects have generally involved at least one startup or government investment entity.
During the “Dream Road” Winsun global conference organized by Yingchuang (Winsun) on construction 3D printing technology and procurement – held in the Shanghai Qingpu Yingchuang recycling industrial park – the company presented its latest progress and upcoming projects, including colored architectures and graphene structures.
After finalizing the 3D printed reefs in the labs of the Civil Engineering School of the University of Cantabria, 3DPARE is deploying them off the Atlantic coasts of England, France and Spain. Portugal is next in line.
A new partnership forged between GE Renewable Energy, COBOD International and building materials company LafargeHolcim will seek to develop optimized 3D printed concrete bases for wind turbines to make them taller and more cost effective. The turbines, which are expected to reach record heights of 200 meters, will be co-developed through a multi-year collaboration that seeks, overall, to increase renewable energy production while lowering the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE).
In the past, we have often seen ambitious conceptual ideas for 3D printed buildings – even skyscrapers – draw much hype but never see the light. This is no longer the case. The recent concept of a floating 3D printed concrete house has already begun construction, now a new concept for 3D printed observation tower – named Supernatural Concre(a)tion may follow suit, as the project from Dubai-based studio Nyxo is actually a blueprint that covers every detail.
The city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands presents a compelling example for the blending of traditional and modern architecture, design and technologies. Because much of the city was destroyed in WWII, Rotterdam had to rebuild, and it has taken an impressively forward-thinking approach throughout the decades. This innovative spirit is exemplified in the city’s latest project: the construction of a 3D printed composite footbridge.
A two-story house was 3D printed at Kamp C, the provincial center for sustainability and innovation in construction, in Westerlo, Belgium, using the largest 3D concrete printer available. The house, part of the C3PO project, has an area of ninety square meters and was 3D printed in one piece with a fixed printer. It’s the first such project in the world.
WinSun/Yingchuang, the Chinese – and possibly the global – leader in construction 3D printing is shipping 15 3D printed wards from Suzhou to Pakistan via ocean, to help fight the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus pneumonia is common around the world and Pakistan is now experiencing a severe epidemic situation, with a total of 176,617 cases confirmed, of which 105,224 require medical assistance.
ICON, known for 3D printing homes and communities in Mexico and central Texas, has been prototyping various structures with DIU (the Defense Innovation Unit) and USMC utilizing the technology that combines 3D robotics, software and advanced material. In January 2019, Marines were trained on the software, robotics and material delivery sub-systems at ICON’s lab with the goal of a future field demonstration to build structures important for expeditionary construction.
Construction 3D printing is booming, with hundreds of new applications emerging all over the world. The variety of solutions sometimes makes it challenging to understand exactly how materials need to behave to enable large structures to be 3D printed. In a recent video published on his channel, Jarett Gross, a Youtuber specializing specifically in this area, explains in a very clear and highly documented manner the rheology of construction 3D printing involved. If you have a direct interest in construction AM, as many of our readers do, or if you are just curious, it’s definitely worth watching.
In yet another fascinating demonstration of the capabilities of construction 3D printing to rebuild marine habitats, architects and marine scientists at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have jointly developed a novel method for coral restoration making use of specially designed, 3D printed reef tiles. The elegant looking structures can be used by corals to enhance their chance of survival in the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park in Hong Kong waters.
There’s a new player in the construction 3D printing market: Mighty Buildings, an Oakland, California-based startup with a focus on automated home building solutions has just progressed beyond stealth mode. The company, which has raised an impressive $30 million from investors (including Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, SV Angel and CoreVC), was born through the Y Combinator seed money startup accelerator in 2018.
Thinking Huts, a charitable startup founded by an innovative young mind, Maggie Grout, is seeking to use 3D printing to make education more accessible in Madagascar. Specifically, the organization is developing plans for a 3D printed school in the African nation, where 60% of primary-school-aged children are not enrolled. Eventually, it plans to build more schools in developing regions where access to education is limited.
Today, the emerging construction 3D printing sector is being pioneered by a relatively small number of companies, each of which is presenting its own technology and vision for disrupting the global construction industry. Amongst them is CyBe, a Netherlands-based company that has taken an encompassing and holistic approach to construction AM.
PERI GmbH, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of formwork and scaffold systems, has marked a milestone in its pursuit of advancing construction additive manufacturing. The German company has sold its first BOD2 construction 3D printer (made by COBOD) to German concrete specialist Röser GmbH.
ICON, a construction 3D printing specialist based in Austin, Texas, has raised $35 million through a Series A funding round led by Moderne Ventures. The infusion of capital brings the promising young company’s total investments to $44 million (it raised $9 million in a seed funding round in 2018). The funding will support the company as it continues to develop its 3D printing technology, design and build innovative 3D printed homes and advance its mission to provide cost-efficient and eco-friendly housing.
Part of the magic of 3D printing is that it has, in its own manner, helped us to see our relationship to the natural world in new and interesting ways. That is, while many technologies might obstruct our relationship to nature, 3D printing – in the hands of the right designer or researcher – can bring us closer to it. Such is the case in Sanhelden’s most recent project: Grotto Façade.
Bruil, a(nother) Dutch construction firm offering construction 3D printing services, is officially looking for a post process engineer – or Post Processor – for its concrete 3D printed parts. The company specializes in high-quality mortars and precast concrete and it manufactures structural and finishing products at various locations in the Netherlands.
Founded in 2019, Aeditive is a high-tech startup located in Norderstedt, next to Hamburg, targeting the booming construction 3D printing sector. The young company providing turnkey integrated robotic 3D printing solutions – based on the Concrete Aeditor system – to digitalize the construction industry, enabling all users of concrete to benefit from digitalization — regardless of their current technological competencies.
The Netherlands has proven to be a fertile environment for construction 3D printing, with established construction companies like Bruil and BAM embracing concrete 3D printing as a building method, and technology developers like CyBe and Vertico paving the way to new applications and more adoption. Vertico, a young Dutch company specializing in robotic concrete 3D printing, is now expanding its footprint, with the opening of a new 3D printing facility in the city of Eindhoven.
LTG Lofts to go, and Black Buffalo 3D Corporation, a Big Sun Holdings Group company and member of Hyundai BS&C family of companies formed a strategic partnership to advance production, distribution and availability of 3D printed mobile housing and commercial spaces across the globe.
Following in the footsteps of construction 3D printing pioneers D-Shape and Contour Crafting, ICON, a developer of advanced construction technologies including robotics, software, and building materials, has been awarded a government Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. The deal includes funding from NASA to begin research and development on Project Olympus: a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon. ICON will also dedicate a division of the company to focus on space.
ACCIONA, a global leader in sustainable infrastructure solutions, is taking part in the United Arab Emirate’s 3D Emerging Technologies exhibition, the Middle East’s largest and most influential event for the additive manufacturing industry.
Barberio Colella Architetti and Dr. Angelo Figliola proposed a design to ameliorate temperature perception in Abu Dhabi’s urban microclimates using 3D printed sandstone. The design focuses on a city whose average temperature for 2019 was 28.9 degrees Celsius. The United Arab Emirates’ annual average in 2019 was 29.1 degrees Celsius. The city’s warmest month is August; the architects and Dr. Figliola’s design projects temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius in August. This substantial cooling effect helps make targeted areas more comfortable.
Given plans to revisit the lunar surface by the late 2020s and to take a crewed mission to Mars by the late 2030s, critical technologies must mature. In missions of extended duration, in situ resource utilization is necessary to both maximize scientific returns and minimize costs. While this presents a significantly more complex challenge in the resource-starved environment of Mars, it is similar to the increasing need to develop resource-efficient and zero-waste ecosystems on Earth. In a recent paper published on PLOS One, scientists at Singapore University of Technology and Design used recent advances in the field of bioinspired chitinous manufacturing to develop a Martian biolith to be used with additive manufacturing technology within the context of a minimal, artificial ecosystem that supports humans in a Martian environment.
Dutch construction design firm Studio RAP has been 3D printing ceramic tiles for their work on design elements of the pioneering New Delft Blue project in the historic Dutch city of Delft. After printing these tests at Studio RAP’s workshop, the tiles went straight into the kiln at Koninklijke Tichelaar where they were also beautifully glazed.
A consortium of companies that operate in the construction and in the construction 3D printing area are participating in a selection in Holland to present new concepts for automated production of 3D printed circular viaducts, as part of the HONEYCOMB project.
PERI GmbH is building the first 3D printed residential building in Germany, and precisely in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The two-story detached house with approx. 80 sqm of living space per floor is being built with a COBOD system that PERI uses to provide 3D printing construction services. This segment is booming way beyond anyone could have imaged (except us: three years ago, when only a handful of companies were active, we forecast a €40 billion dollar industry by 2027, among general skepticism)
In anticipation of the 2024 Olympic Games, Plaine Commune Grand Paris has awarded the Freyssinet / Lavigne & Cheron Architects / Quadric / XtreeE / LafargeHolcim consortium the design-build of a 40-meter pedestrian footbridge in Paris whose deck will be entirely made of 3D printed structural concrete.
Yes, we write about 3D printing but we are by no means obligated to only write about 3D printing. We can just as easily cover competing, synergistic or similar technological approaches. Especially when they are as fascinating as the LightVault created by Princeton researchers using robots to deposit glass bricks. And who’s to say that bricklaying is not an additive process anyways?
It’s no longer a secret – if you’ve been following this website – that concrete 3D printing is skyrocketing. As further proof, the technology is now expanding beyond construction, into decorative products and even pranks. Video creator and technology reviewer Jerry Rig Everything turned to Pikus Concrete, developers of a concrete 3D printing system, to play the coolest prank on his best friend, who had recently moved away. How? with a 3D printed statue of himself, of course.
ASU Professor Narayanan Neithalath and four colleagues have been awarded the $2 million 3DConcrete grant from the National Science Foundation to foster collaboration around concrete 3D printing research across more than a dozen countries. Construction 3D printing technology generated these examples shown with Sooraj Nair, a doctoral student in Neithalath’s lab group. The technique offers the potential to change the nature of construction.
Twente Additive Manufacturing is a 3D printed concrete startup with a presence in the Netherlands and Canada. They sell a range of concrete printers and also print on demand for projects that make sense logistically. TAM’s next high profile construction 3D printing project is the Fibonacci House.
LafargeHolcim is calling on the world’s brightest students to reinvent the building industry, along with its partner Witteveen+Bos, a Dutch engineering and consultancy firm and with the support of COBOD and Ecole des Ponts. Students in engineering, architecture, and material science are encouraged to join in a construction 3D printing hackathon to pioneer new solutions, leveraging concrete 3D printing technology for more effective and efficient housing construction.
On the occasion of World Science Day, LafargeHolcim signed a new partnership with Southeast University in Nanjing, China, where it is sponsoring research into concrete and mortars for on-site construction 3D printing. Leading the way in green building solutions, LafargeHolcim is using 3D printing to make construction more efficient while lowering its carbon footprint, aiming to become a full 3D printing solutions provider.
The Digital Bamboo pavilion explores the innovative combination of a naturally grown material with digital fabrication. It was developed via a collaboration between the Swiss university ETH and Korean firm HS HI-TECH, combining natural bamboo, extruded recycled thermoplastics on textiles, multijet fusion and metal powder bed fusion processes. Mostly, though, the project combined know-hows in hybrid digital constructions.
Concre3DLab, a research institute embedded within the Department of Structural Engineering (Ghent University) just released VoxelPrint, a new Grasshopper plug-in for voxel-based numerical simulation of concrete printing.
Since Danish construction company COBOD spun out of 3D Printhuset in 2018, it has made steady advances in pushing construction AM towards the mainstream. In the past year alone, its gantry AM technology has been used for a handful of large-scale projects, including building over three demo houses at the the International Bautec construction exhibition and printing a residential building in Beckum, Germany. Most recently, COBOD’s technology is being used to construct a three-floor apartment building.
Italian design firm Barberio Colella Architetti and architect Angelo Figliola proposed a project c ...
Dutch construction design firm Studio RAP has been 3D printing ceramic tiles for their work on design elements of the pioneering New Delft Blue project in the historic Dutch city of Delft. After printing these tests at Studio RAP’s workshop, the tiles went straight into the kiln at Koninklijke Tichelaar where they were also beautifully glazed.
In the global pandemic, Christian Nunez, a second-year plant science student from West Covina, launc ...
Scientists have developed a method of 3D printing green buildings using local soil, which they say h ...
ICON is known for 3D printing homes and communities in Mexico and Central Texas, and has been using ...
Today, the emerging construction 3D printing sector is being pioneered by a relatively small number of companies, each of which is presenting its own technology and vision for disrupting the global construction industry. Amongst them is CyBe, a Netherlands-based company that has taken an encompassing and holistic approach to construction AM.
The city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is an example of the fusion of traditional and modern archi ...
Prvok (Protozoon) will be built in the Czech Republic this June. All images courtesy of Stavební sp ...
The goal of the collaboration between GE Renewable Energy, COBOD, and LafargeHolcim is to build a 20 ...
https://youtu.be/0Z1ROsWjujM At the "Dream Road" Global Winsun Conference held by Winsun, and at th ...
The pavilion is designed in the Great Northern Way, with florid wood, steel and glass structures ...
The US-based Pikus Concrete has partnered with Sika to commercialize 3D concrete printing technology ...
AutoCAD, the popular CAD software launched by Autodesk, is upgrading recently and releases some new ...
A group in the Harvard Semitic Museum has 3D scanned 3 sarcophagi from Ancient Egypt, which are view ...
SQ4D has upped the ante in the American construction 3D printing game. The company, which last July unveiled a 500-square-foot home it 3D printed in under 12 hours, has just completed the construction of an even more impressive structure. The new building, 3D printed in just 48 hours (over an eight day period), spans 1,900 square feet and cost less than $6,000 in materials to build.
IT service provider Accucode is partnering up with RCAM Technologies, a specialist in large-scale concrete additive manufacturing, to develop 3D printed wind energy components made from concrete.
MX3D, an Amsterdam-based metal 3D printing company, has revealed a collaboration with Japanese architecture and engineering firm Takenaka. Together, the companies designed a Structural Steel Connector, which MX3D then 3D printed using its large-scale robotic printing technology, Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM).
A team of researchers from Purdue University, Cornell University and Case Western Reserve University is drawing inspiration from bones to make stronger, more resilient 3D printed structures for buildings, aircraft and more. The researchers have recreated a specific beam structure found within natural bone that provides strength and lifelong wear resistance using 3D technologies.
Located in the Jiangsu region, the town of Suzhou is a former mining town that has been completely rebuilt, attracting investments from some of the largest construction companies in the world. Old mines have been rapidly transformed into beautiful parks bringing the city to its former glory when it gave birth to several Chinese emperors. As the city moves into the future, one particularly innovative project stands out, conducted by construction 3D printing company Winsun: the very first 3D printed river revetment wall, over 500 meters long, is the largest 3D printed structure ever built.
Ai Build, a company that the readers of this website should know well, collaborated with a team of other creative firms in the UAE 3D printing scene, to create the Deciduous 3D printed pavilion, a digitally and additively manufactured structure that invites us to revisit our relationship with nature, through an experience reminiscent of walking through an abstracted botanical form.
Bridges have become a popular way for research groups and additive manufacturing companies to demonstrate their technologies. It makes sense. Bridges combine architecture and performance while also engaging directly with people. While not every person may recognize the ingenious nature of a topologically optimized engine component, a state-of-the art bridge can appeal to all.
Singapore-based construction 3D printing company Hamilton Holdings has teamed up with Ang Cheng Guan Construction (ACG) and Saint-Gobain to establish Hamilton Labs Additive Manufacturing & Robotics Hub and to drive 3D concrete printing and digital construction in Singapore. The Hub will see the deployment of robotics, automation technologies and advanced manufacturing methodologies.
Spain-based sustainable infrastructure company ACCIONA has opened a new global 3D printing center in Dubai, which houses the world’s largest operational 3D printer based on powder bed technology. The new center will be used to 3D print infrastructure elements to meet the growing demand for construction 3D printing in the region (in line with Dubai’s 3D Printing Strategy).
Just outside of Bologna, work is advancing on an ambitious construction 3D printing project spearheaded by Italian company WASP and Mario Cucinella Architects. Together, the companies are constructing the first prototype of a sustainable, 3D printed habitat called TECLA.
The government of Dubai today announced another milestone for the UAE city in the area of construction 3D printing. Now, not only is Dubai home to the first 3D printed office building, it also hosts the largest 3D printed two-storey structure in the world. The building, which spans 640 square meters and is 9.5 meters in height, was recently recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.
A multidisciplinary team from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering has received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop autonomous, mobile construction 3D printers. Down the line, the researchers hope that their work will untether 3D printers, so to speak, and enable them to build structures with more mobility.
Architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, founders of the Emerging Objects studio, are not known for shying away from ambitious work. Their most recent project proves that once again. The partners have 3D printed four structures made from a mud-based material which are inspired by the historical Rio Grande river.
Vertico, a Dutch firm that has developed a concrete 3D printing technology, recently demonstrated its capabilities by 3D printing a concrete footbridge in collaboration with the University of Ghent. Not only a feat for its concrete AM technology, the bridge showcases Vertico’s ability to utilize optimized design to reduce material consumption without compromising strength or stress-resistance. According to the Amersfoort-based company, the bridge’s design allowed for a material reduction of 60%!
Singapore’s Housing and Development Board (HDB) is reportedly preparing to introduce 3D printed landscape furniture and architectural elements to new estates being built in Tengah and Bidadari. The announcement, reported by The Straits Times, suggests that Singapore’s Housing Board is interested in exploring the potential of 3D printing not just for design or furniture elements but also for construction applications.
One of the moments that will likely stand out when we look back at the history of construction 3D printing is the construction of Europe’s first 3D printed building in 2017 by 3D Printhuset (now COBOD). As a call back to this original structure, which still stands in Copenhagen, and to show how far its come with its construction 3D printing technology since 2017, COBOD recently reprinted The BOD building.
Engineering firm Royal HaskoningDHV partnered with CEAD and DSM to design the first lightweight 3D printed FRP pedestrian bridge prototype using a composite material. It consists of a glass-filled thermoplastic PET (Arnite), combined with continuous glass fibers which are added in CEAD’s 3D printing process. This unique combination offers high strength with extreme versatility and sustainability.
Marines from Marine Corps Systems Command and 7th Engineer Support Battalion, along with engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, conducted the first known 3D concrete printing operation with a three-inch print nozzle at the CERL headquarters in early August in Champaign, Illinois.
XTreeE, a France-based specialist in 3D printing concrete and construction, is reportedly working on a new project for a customer in the Caribbean. The project in question—a joint effort by XTreeE, Martinique-based telecoms infrastructure company Art & Fact Innovation and engineering firm Lamoureux & Ricciotti—consists of 3D printing 12-meter-tall telecom towers that blend seamlessly into the environment.
Engineers from UCLA have received a $1.5 million research grant to develop an eco-friendly 3D printable concrete material that uses carbon dioxide as part of its binder. The large grant was funded by the National Science Foundation, which hopes the research team will find a more sustainable solution for the production of 3D printable building materials.
Winsun Yingchuang Building Techniques (Shanghai) Co. Ltd is working closely with the Chinese Shanghai Academy of Building Research (SRIBS) on standardization of construction 3D printing materials (Ink) and 3D product standards. Professor-level Senior Engineer Ms. Ye Beihong of SRIBS presented the technical results of the research conducted on the additive manufacturing (3D printing) materials (Ink) and other 3D products produced by Winsun (Yingchuang Building Techniques) in Shanghai.
An interdisciplinary team at Penn State University was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the College of Engineering’s Engineering for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ENGINE) program, along with additional $25,000 from the College of Arts and Architecture, to pursue a concrete 3D printing project.
After much planning and testing, construction 3D printing company COBOD is ready to ship its BOD2 3D printer to Elite for Construction & Development Co. in Saudi Arabia. The massive 3D construction printer, reportedly the largest in the world, has a build capacity of 12 x 27 x 9 meters, or 300 square meters per storey.
New York-based 3D printing firm S-Squared 3D Printers Inc. (SQ3D) says it has completed construction of the largest 3D printed home in the world using its Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS). The 3D printed building spans 500 ft² and reportedly took under 12 hours to complete.
GXN Innovation, an independent research company created by Danish architecture firm 3XN released its future vision for autonomous 3D printers. In this latest conceptual experiment involving additive manufacturing – part of the “Break the Grid” project – the firm was supported by the Dansk AM Hub, a government-supported Denmark’s platform that supports experimentation in additive manufacturing, and by MAP Architects. The result is swarms flying and diving 3D printing extrusion systems that can work autonomously to build and repair complex structures on land and in the sea.
Emaar Properties, a Dubai-based real estate developer, is reportedly planning to construct a 3D printed home in the UAE city. The project will mark Emaar’s first foray into 3D printed housing and its first step towards becoming a “leading adopter of advanced construction technologies.”
A collaboration between Digital Building Technologies and the Origen Festival in Riom, Switzerland, the installation Concrete Choreography consists of nine, individually designed, 2.7m tall columns. Each column is concrete 3D printed at full height in 2.5 hours with the process developed at ETH Zurich with the support of NCCR DFAB.
Inspired by its successful run in the NASA 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, AI SpaceFactory has decided to apply its construction 3D printing know-how to develop an eco-friendly home here on Earth. The sustainable housing project, called TERA, will be built in the heart of nature, just a couple of hours outside of New York City.
VINCI Construction, a France-based construction leader, is launching a new company focused on 3D printing high-performance concrete materials through its subsidiary Freyssinet. The company, called Concreative, offers a fully integrated service, providing support from early design stages to on-site installation.
CyBe Construction, a Dutch specialist in concrete 3D printing, has been selected as the technology provider for a 3D printed house project in the UAE. The house will be built as part of the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTI Park) initiative which aims to 3D print a series of buildings in the area with the goal of transforming the city of Sharjah into an architectural hub.
Throughout history, many Italian geniuses did not reap the benefits of their inventions. Just think of Galileo, excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for having understood the motion of planets. Or more recently Meucci who invented the telephone only to have Graham Bell obtain the patent and build an empire with it. Many great visionaries had to leave Italy — and continue to have to leave Italy — to find someone willing to finance their ventures, starting with Columbus, who turned to the queen of Spain in order to set sail on the voyage that would lead to the Americas. The story of Enrico Dini, the man who invented the idea of 3D printing concrete houses by binder jetting, is in many ways a modern version of these: a modern odyssey for the future of construction, one that shares some similarities with these great stories.
Following a spate of horrific vehicle-related terror incidents around the world in recent years, there has been a growing effort to find effective yet subtle ways to protect pedestrians in busy areas. In London, following the London Bridge attack in 2017, conspicuous metal and concrete barriers were installed on the city’s main bridges. Though effective, they are not the most elegant solution and have drawn their fair share of criticism. In New York City’s Times Square, designer Joe Doucet recently introduced an alternative protective barrier, that blends into the urban setting.
A couple of weeks ago, a Dutch 3D printing startup named Concr3de came onto our radar when it demonstrated how its unique stone additive manufacturing technology could reproduce a damaged piece of Notre-Dame de Paris using materials sourced from the cathedral’s burnt and damaged structure.
After 30 hours of 3D printing over four days of head-to-head competition, NASA and partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois, have awarded $700,000 to two teams vying to go down in history as the first 3D Printed Habitat Challenge winner. A prize of $500,000 was awarded to New York-based AI SpaceFactory. Second-place and $200,000 went to Pennsylvania State University of University Park.
Construction 3D printing startup COBOD International has been building a solid reputation for itself since it was founded as a spin-off of 3D Printhuset last September. Following a series of announcements, including the first EU tender for a construction 3D printer and new distributors for its BOD2 construction 3D printer, COBOD has announced the receipt of its second European tender.
Concr3de, a Dutch company specializing in 3D printing stone, is offering up its additive technology for the restoration of Paris’ Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. In fact, the company has proposed using its technology to quite literally rebuild damaged parts of the cathedral from the ashes of Notre-Dame.
The construction sector has always been very close to the heart of the Belgian BESIX Group and forms the company’s core activities. In recent years, the construction sector has been working hard on catching up with regard to digitization and innovative tools. This technological progress is mainly in the design and design of buildings and structures. By introducing 3D concrete printing via a KUKA KR QUANTEC robot, BESIX Group has now been taking the next steps towards a digital implementation of projects.
AMT-Specavia, a Russian company specializing in construction 3D printing technologies, is partnering with a team in South Korea with the aim of producing artificial coral reefs for the Yellow Sea. The 3D printing effort, which it utilizing high-strength hydrophobic concrete to create the artificial coral, aims to rehabilitate the quickly deteriorating coral reef ecosystem in the Yellow Sea.
Construction 3D printing company COBOD International has signed a distribution agreement with German PERI Group, a leading company in the German, Swiss and Austrian construction markets. Through the agreement, customers in those three regions will be able to rent COBOD 3D construction printers from PERI.
Exactly 100 years after the Bauhaus movement was founded, 3D print platform Aectual teamed up with famed studio DUS architects to create a novel Tiny Bauhaus building that introduces revolutionary mass-customization building techniques.
Just weeks ago, Danish 3D printing construction company COBOD International (a spin-out of 3D Printhuset) deployed the largest 3D construction printer on the market to Saudi Arabia. Now, the company has reported that something slightly closer to home is being built using its additive manufacturing platform. Kamp C, the Center for Sustainability and Innovation in the Belgian Flemish province, recently installed the BOD2 3D printer and will soon begin construction of a two-storey building.
Saudi Arabian construction company, Elite for Construction & Development Co., placed an order for COBOD‘s BOD2 construction 3D printer. The system will be delivered by the end of May and the 3D printer will be the first of its kind in the country. It will be the biggest in the world, able to print buildings of 12m (w), 27m (l) and 9m (h)
ICON, an Austin, Texas startup known for its low-cost construction 3D printing technology, has introduced the next generation of its 3D printer, the Vulcan II. The machine is the company’s first commercial construction 3D printer and will begin shipping next month. ICON is also taking orders for the Vulcan II for 2020.
A distributorship agreement between Ai Build and 3DVinci Creations was signed, enabling 3DVinci Creations to bring Ai Build’s unique business proposition, Factory-as-a-Service, to the United Arab Emirates and further expand the reach of large-scale 3D printing into the Middle East region.
Digital manufacturing company 3Diligent was selected by commercial cladding company Walters & Wolf to 3D print a series of exterior curtain wall nodes for the new Rainier Square Tower in Seattle. The building, which is expected to be complete in 2020, will be Seattle’s second tallest building, following the 76-story Columbia Center.
When David Bowie asked “is there life on Mars?” in 1971 you can bet he wasn’t thinking of humans. As it happens, we could very well be bringing life to Mars in the near future thanks to efforts being undertaken by NASA and 3D printing companies. One of those companies, NY-based AI SpaceFactory, is hoping it will be the one to provide homes for when humans do eventually step foot onto the Red Planet.
In the realm of construction 3D printing, bigger always seems to be better, as companies scale up their concrete 3D printing systems to build houses on the spot. Andrey Rudenko, the inventor of the 3D Concrete House 3D printer, however, is showing that there is value in scaling the technology down.
Spain is now home to one of the world’s largest metal hybrid manufacturing systems. The new machine, the Large Additive Subtractive Integrated Modular Machine (LASIMM), has been in development for some time through a collaborative, Europe-wide effort. Now, the large-format system is ready for operation at industrial equipment supplier Loxin’s facilities in Pamplona and will be used for applications in the construction industry.
COBOD International (formerly 3D Printhuset) has deployed one of its construction 3D printers, the BOD1, to Dubai. The 3D printer, which is already being put to use printing concrete structures, is the first gantry construction 3D printer in the Middle Eastern city.
Though we often write about how 3D printing is impacting automotive design, we don’t often see the technology being used to augment the display of a vehicle. As BMW recently demonstrated, however, 3D printing can be used to take an automotive unveiling to a whole new level.
Shanghai has officially unveiled its latest piece of innovative architecture: a 15-meter-long 3D printed footbridge. The pedestrian bridge, 3D printed in partnership with Polymaker, a Chinese developer of 3D printing materials, is the first of its kind in China.
After years of R&D, German industrial binder jetting 3D printer manufacturer voxeljet has perfected 3D printing for complex formworks and now sees the construction industry as a key growth area for its binder jetting technology in the future. The large format binder jetting process from voxeljet has been proven to be particularly helpful for complex 3D printed formworks, breaking away from traditional systems and their stringent geometrical limitation
Singapore-based construction 3D printing company Hamilton Labs has dedicated a portion of its work to the development and production of sanitation systems—such as household and community toilets—to improve public health in India. The company’s work, a response to the Indian government’s Swachh Bharat Mission (which translates to “Clean India Mission”), is now being taken to the next level with the launch of an entry level, gantry-based concrete 3D printer.
After years of research, development, and capital investment, S-Squared 3D Printers (SQ3D), a desktop 3D printer manufacturer from Patchogue, NY, became the latest company to venture into the fascinating realm of construction 3D printing by presenting its patent-pending Autonomous Robotic Construction System, (ARCS).
Proponents of construction 3D printing say the technology could be disruptive in the industry, offering a more flexible and cost-friendly way to quickly construct housing. These benefits, along with the ability to construct buildings in remote locations (by working with local building materials), have apparently caught the attention of the Conference Board of Canada which will explore construction 3D printing for building homes in Canada’s northern and indigenous communities.
With all the excitement of Formnext, we missed an important date this week: November 19th, otherwise known as World Toilet Day. No, World Toilet Day isn’t akin to World Pancake Day, it is a real event organized by the United Nations as a call to action to overcome the world’s sanitation crisis. To mark the observance day, SPARK Architects, a Singapore, Shanghai and London-based architecture firm introduced its Big Arse Toilet concept, an easily transportable 3D printed toilet.
COBOD International, the construction 3D printing branch of Danish company 3D Printhuset, has received a grant to put towards developing the next generation construction 3D printer. The grant is part of the N3XTCON project, which itself has over 2 million euros in support from the Innovation Fund Denmark.
German PERI Group, a leading manufacturer of formwork and scaffolding systems, has reportedly acquired a significant minority stake in newly established construction 3D printing company COBOD International. The construction AM firm was established by Danish company 3D Printhuset in September of this year in an effort to refocus its construction AM business.
ICON, a Texas-based construction tech company that made headlines earlier this year for its low-cost 3D printed home, has announced that it has raised a whopping $9 million in funding. The money, raised through a seed round led by Oakhouse Partners, will enable ICON to continue its mission of transforming construction using new technologies with the ultimakte goal of making housing more affordable, durable and sustainable.
As we’ve so many times reported in the past – and in our dedicated Construction 3D Printing section – this unique segment of additive manufacturing is booming and represents one of the most significant revenue opportunities for AM on a global scale. In order to promote the use of additive manufacturing in the construction industry as well, Formnext and the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt have agreed on a joint venture. This means that in the next few years the construction industry will become a stronger theme of the leading international trade fair for additive manufacturing and the next generation of industrial production.
Construction 3D printing technology by AMT Spetsavia, one of the most prolific companies in this segment, was used to restore – almost from scratch – a gorgeous water fountain in the ancient Russian city of Palekh, in the Ivanovo region. This marks the first time 3D printing of cement materials was used to work on such a large landmark in Russia and the first largely 3D printed water fountain in the world.
Typically cracks or fissures in concrete are a sure sign that a structure is compromised or weakened. A team of researchers from Purdue University, however, are turning that idea on its head with the development of 3D printed cement structures that are actually made stronger by the material’s inherent weaknesses, especially during moments of extreme stress, like in a wildfire or earthquake.
What’s better than one 3D printing construction robot? Scientists from NTU Singapore would likely say two construction robots. And seeing what the research team has been capable of, I can’t say I disagree.
Always at the cutting edge, MIT’s Mediated Matter lab has developed a new, experimental additive manufacturing technique that uses a swarm of small robots to build up tubular structures. The process, called FIBERBOTS, can enable the digital fabrication of large-scale architectures with high spatial resolution.
Danish construction 3D printing company 3D Printhuset, known for its BOD housing technology, will, from here on out, conduct all of its construction 3D printing activities through the newly established company COBOD International. The new company, which will be taking on the selling and manufacturing of the recently launched BOD2 construction 3D printer, was founded to meet a growing demand for 3D Printhuset’s construction technology.
German design firm Studio 7.5 recently teamed up with French concrete 3D printing company XTreeE to construct a series of 3D printed benches. The benches, notable for their woven textures, demonstrate how additive manufacturing can be employed to produce architectural concrete structures.
For the past several weeks, 3D printing has been making headlines around the world, and primarily in the United States. To the frustration of most of the industry, this significant media attention has been grabbed by the ever-notorious 3D printed gun debate, re-ignited by the U.S. government’s recent decision to legalize the proliferation of 3D printable gun files. “A 3D printed gun is downloadable death,” reads a CNN headline by actress Alyssa Milano. “Newly-legal 3D printed gun blueprints are a looming catastrophe,” reports the Telegraph.
With Mars nearer to us than it’s been in over a decade, it’s no wonder that space exploration and Mars missions have felt more palpable than ever. But it’s not only because the red planet could be seen by the naked eye this past week, it’s also because space organization NASA has been making some important inroads.
Beginning in 2014, the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Competition has been challenging teams from around the world to propose effective solutions for colonizing the red planet through robotic building systems (which are now generally understood to be different types of 3D printers). After two stages where NASA awarded a total of over $1 million to competitors, the final prize was awarded to the top 5 projects.
hpl structural, a German engineering and construction firm specializing in complex steel structures, has found a way to dramatically improve its development process with the integration of 3D printing. Whereas the company’s designers would have typically inspected a digital CAD model to determine its structural feasibility, it can now 3D print physical models of the structures for a more detailed analysis and more accurate presentation.
ACTLAB, the experimental architecture laboratory at the Politecnico di Milano University in Italy has announced the completion of its 3D printed Trabeculae Pavilion. The ethereal, lightweight shell, which spans 36 square meters, demonstrates how 3D printing and bio-inspired computational design can come together to create truly stunning architecture.
The DFAB construction project underway at ETH Zurich aims to use all the latest digital technologies to produce a real three-story house. After using the robotic additive deposition to produce walls and advance composite materials for internal complex structures, now the researchers at ETH Zurich have fabricated an 80 m2 lightweight concrete “Smart Slab” lab using large format binder jetting technology. This makes the DFAB house the world’s first full-scale architectural project to use 3D sand printing for its formwork.
Despite the fact that construction 3D printing is still just taking off here on Earth, some companies are already looking beyond the Stratosphere towards building 3D printed habitats and liveable structures in space. The ambitious and quite niche branch of AM research, spurred on by space exploration organizations such as NASA and ESA, is being pioneered by a handful of companies who believe their construction AM platforms have the potential to be adapted for the harsh environments of the Moon and Mars.
Branch Technology, the Chattanooga, Tennessee company behind the C-FAB construction 3D printing technique, recently presented what it is calling the world’s largest 3D printed structure. The structure, unveiled as part of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures last week, is located at Nashville’s OneC1TY business center.
Russian company AMT-SPECAVIA recently introduced a new line of construction 3D printers in Yekaterinburg for the INNOPROM international trade show. Among the new machines is the AMT S-500, marketed as being the largest construction printer in the world, and the AMT S-300.
Danish 3D printing firm 3D Printhuset has been granted the first EU patent for a construction 3D printer. The tender was given by Belgian organization Kamp C, which chose 3D Printhuset’s modular BOD2 construction printer.
A team of scientists from the University of Tartu and the Estonian University of Life Sciences have developed a new construction 3D printing material which has the potential to drastically decrease construction costs for private homes. The material, made from milled peat and oil shale ash, is not only low cost but could pose environmental benefits as well.
The Centre for Additive Manufacturing (AM.NUS) at the National University of Singapore today announced the launch of the AM.NUS Construction 3D Printing Programme to accelerate the adoption of 3D printing building technology in the construction industry. The programme, hosted under the School of Design and Environment (SDE) at NUS and supported by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC), will develop sustainable materials and 3D printing designs to facilitate rapid mass production of building structures.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has launched a new program focused on construction AM through its Centre for Additive Manufacturing (AM.NUS). The program, spearheaded by the School of Design and Environment at NUS and supported by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC), will aim to advance and accelerate the adoption of 3D printing in the construction industry.
As construction 3D printing projects on land continue to grow, it has also become clearer that one of the first and most beneficial applications of digital and additive construction technologies is for reconstructing the Ocean’s floor in a way that favors repopulation by corals and fish. Based on years of coral restoration research, supported by designers and engineers, studio Emerging Objects worked with Boston Ceramics and the SECORE organization to develop a new generation of 3D printed settlement substrates that aim at meeting coral larvae’s needs while equally fulfilling requirements for effective reef restoration. Right now, the first prototypes are being tested in the field.
Dubai-based AM company Immensa Technology Labs has become the first UAE company to submit a patent related to additive manufacturing. Founded in 2016, the company was also the UAE’s first privately owned company to specialize in AM technologies.
In the city of Eindhoven the realization of the first of five planned 3D printed concrete houses will start this year. The project, called Project Milestone, is a world’s first, as the houses will all be occupied. The six parties involved showed the design today.
AI Build, a UK-based company developing advanced software and hardware for large-scale, construction (mostly polymer-based) 3D printing applications, unveiled the Cloud Pergola installation at La Biennale di Venezia, as part of the Croatian Pavilion curated by Bruno Juricic.
As NASA launches (this morning) its InSight lander mission to study the Martian planetary interior and underground composition, 3D printing construction firm Apis Cor and architecture studios SEArch+ reveal they will participate in the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge contest, organized by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The main goal of the NASA competition is the promotion of additive technologies that are necessary to create an inhabited environment on Mars.
Although 3D printing promises a revolution in many industries, primarily industrial manufacturing, nowhere are the possibilities greater than in the field of product design and modular architecture. Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, of the cutting-edge San Francisco Bay Area-based design firm Emerging Objects, have developed remarkable techniques for printing architecture from a wide variety of powders.
3D Print Tech Company Aectual made a beautiful debut at the Salone Del Mobile, with an exhibit at Ventura Future with DUS architects and a collaboration with Mae Engelgeer for Wallpaper Handmade. Both show Aectual’s sustainably produced bespoke 3D printed Floors with terrazzo infill.
Arup and CLS Architetti have shared plans to showcase a 3D printed one-bedroom house at Milan’s design festival, Salone del Mobile next month. 3D Housing 05 has been designed to be disassembled and relocated. The team aims to demonstrate that 3D printing concrete technology is now advanced enough to produce flexible and sustainable buildings, quickly and affordably.
Following the publication of the final report from the Danish Partnership for 3D Construction Printing, 3D Printhuset presented the findings in Saudi Arabia at The Big 5 construction conference, in Slovakia at Smart Building 2018, the leading construction conference in the country, and at the BIM Nordic conference in Copenhagen. The Danish company intends to make more presentations in April. 3D Printhuset argues that several recent undocumented claims about buildings completed in 24 hours and skyscrapers to be printed soon are fueling the interest in obtaining more objective information.
Unlike other extra large 3D printed projects that seemed too good to be true, Joris Laarman’s 3D printed steel bridge has been completed, perfectly in line with MX3D’s project timeline. The only thing that was somewhat a letdown, was the idea that the bridge would “build itself on location” as some early animations seem to allude to. However, this is just the beginning. Laarman and the team that worked with him fine-tuned the metal deposition technology to be able to cater to the large size additive production needs of a growing range of industries.
In the rapidly evolving world of construction 3D printing, California based Emerging Objects stands out both as a pioneer and as the only company that approached 3D printing from a modular, “3D printed bricks and tiles” point of view. Its latest 3D Printed Cabin of Curiosities sums up much of the company’s research so far.
The ICON 3D printed house was unveiled in March 2108 in Austin, TX and was built using a prototype of the mobile printer that Austin-based ICON is creating for the association New Story and the developing world.
After a long chase and thanks to some of the people behind Chattanooga’s vibrant manufacturing startup scene, we had a chance to catch up with David Fuehrer, Director of Sales & New Business Development at Branch Technology. We spoke about the projects behind one of the hottest construction 3D printing startups, Branch Technology, how C-FAB technology is turning them into reality.
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Based in Slovenia, BetAbram is one of the companies that pioneered commercial house 3D printing and construction 3D printers. The company started working on printers in 2012 and since then continued to develop its cutting-edge technology. Up to date news on the company’s projects are not so easy to come by, but we were able to catch up with BetAbram’s CEO, René Kreissel, to find out about their most ongoing projects and business outlook.
In this new report, SmarTech outlines all the major technologies, hardware, materials and applications that will usher the traditional construction industry into a new, digitalized era. The report goes on to identify and quantify the specific commercial opportunities presented by the implementation of AM technologies in terms of hardware, materials, software and AM construction services associated demand and revenues. According to the report, this activity is expected to grow into a $4 billion yearly business opportunity for hardware manufacturers and a highly profitable segment for construction material producers that choose to add digital manufacturing services to their core business.
The Dutch construction 3D printing tradition – which began as a large-scale experiment with the 3D Printed Canal House in 2013 – is living on through Aectual. The Amsterdam-based technology company launched a sustainably produced 3D printed floor with terrazzo infill at the latest Dutch Design Week. Aectuals’ smart manufacturing technology makes it possible to custom 3D print any design on large surfaces, where each square meter is unique. It’s not going to make a 3D printed airport floor.
Construction 3D printing is literally taking off and one company – more than many others involved – is taking digital, additive building practices from concept to reality. Winsun’s President and CEO, Ma Yihe, has always maintained that one of the biggest challenges that need to be overcome is lack of industry awareness since the benefits of using 3D printing technologies for construction have been widely established. The company has now set out to start a 3D printed public toilets revolution nationwide as well as a 3D printed bus stop revolution starting in Fengjing Ancient Town, Jinshan, a popular cultural town in China.
Part of the Horizon 2020 framework, the €4.8 million EU’s HINDCON (Hybrid INDustrial CONstruction) project aims to adapt additive manufacturing technologies to the construction sector. One of the primary goals of the project is the development of an “all-in-one” system advancing towards industrialization and overcoming the limitations of actual approach for introducing Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing in construction activities. The project, which started in 2016, has a duration of 36 months and will see the participation of France’s construction 3D printing experts XtreeE, among others.
Construction 3D printing using cement materials has been at the center of a few experiments in recent years. Commercial applications have been centered mainly in China, Russia and wealthy Middle East nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Europe most activities are University-based, with advanced projects at Iaac in Barcelona and ETH in Zurich. One commercial project is now close to being completed in Denmark, and another one is now getting underway in the Netherlands: the 3D printed hotel building by De Vergaderfabriek.
Cement-based construction 3D printing is finding commercial applications in more and more segments. After bridges and houses, it is now time for a 3D printed bar, inside Shanghai’s newest and gigantic Starbuck’s Coffee. This is the first non-US roastery concept store and also the world’s largest Starbucks, not to mention the first (particularly) 3D printed Starbucks in the world.
Last September, Danish 3D printer reseller 3D Printhuset broke ground on the first European 3D printed house in Copenhagen. Just two months later the structure, including the foundation, is almost complete. The initial 3D printing of Europe’s first 3D printed building, the 3D Printhuset Bod, has been extensively covered by Danish as well as international media. Several Danish TV and radio channels were on site to cover the event live, and their footage was later used by the international media. 3D construction printing represents a clear disruption of the construction sector, which has remained virtually unchanged by the digital revolution happening elsewhere.
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The largest producer of building materials in the CIS (the Commonwealth of former Soviet Republics) – the EUROCEMENT group holding and Specavia (AMT-SPETSAVIA), a world-leading developer and manufacturer of professional 3D equipment for the construction industry formed a official cooperation to develop new materials optimized for construction 3D printing and further expand the use of this technology.
The Curve Appeal project showcases the conceptual design work for the world’s first freeform ...
Our friends and media partners at 3D Today, the leading 3D printing news website in Russia, are exclusively reporting on the first residential house in Europe and the CIS, that was just built in Yaroslavl (Russia) using AMT-SPECAVIA’s 3D construction printing technology. 3D construction printing consists of creating the 3D model on the computer, dividing the model into layers in cross section, layer-by-layer extrusion of the cement-based mixture in accordance with the model, solidifying of the material until the completion of the object.
3D printing innovators, 3D Potter and Emerging Objects, have joined forces to introduce a new innovation in robotic ceramic/paste extrusion additive manufacturing technology. Called the Potterbot XLS-1, the printer represents a huge leap in innovation, with build dimensions and speeds that facilitate llarge-scaleprinting as well as multiple object manufacturing.
The latest edition to PAMM’s dining program, STARR Catering Group introduces Cucuyo, a fusion of art ...
The Cazza X1 is a 3D printing robot used to build houses, villas, shelters, warehouses, prefab modules, commercial buildings and free-standing structures up to 5m in height. Cazza robots can reduce the time and cost of building by traditional methods. In the case of constructing a 2000 square foot two story house, it would take 8 days and be up to 30% more cost effective in comparison to traditional build methods.
Apis Cor, the parent company of a Skolkovo resident startup that uses 3D printing to construct buildings, has raised about $6 million in investment from the Rusnano Sistema Sicar venture fund, the Vedomosti newspaper reported Thursday. Apis Cor made headlines and received global media coverage for its efficient and scalable construction 3D printing business.
With close to a third of the bridge printed, Dutch design studios MX3D are well on track to be finished printing in early 2018 as programmed (see timeline below). By now, the company working on the bridge designed by Joris Laarman also mounted a robot directly on the bridge. Unlike so many high-profile 3D printing projects that clash with physical impossibilities, the first generatively designed, metal 3D printed bridge looks like it is going to become reality (and no, you cannot buy it).
The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois, has successfully three-dimensionally printed a 512 square-foot concrete structure. The structure, called a barracks hut or B-Hut, was printed as a result of a three year Army Program called ACES, “Automated Construction of Expeditionary Structures.” It uses an additive manufacturing process to “print” semi-permanent structures in a theater of operation. The ability to use concrete sourced from readily available materials reduces logistical requirements for the U.S. Army.
As reported by just about every Chinese 3D printing media, a bridge in the Chinese city of Nanjing was just completed with 3D printed railings, drastically reducing time and costs required for construction. According to an article on 3D Printing World, the railings were built by Nanjing Jiayi Precision Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Coralise is a project by Jessica Gregory which aims to irradiate juvenile coral mortality (99%). The substrates are a unique ceramic material made of calcium carbonate from coral skeletons. This, along with its carefully designed organic form, attracts the coral larvae.
NASA has awarded a total of $201,023 to teams of citizen inventors that have reached the latest milestone of NASA’s 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, completing the Phase 2: Level 2 Beam Member competition. The teams are working to find ways to 3D print habitation structures using recyclables and simulated Martian soil, a technology goal that could support deep space exploration and advance construction capabilities on Earth.
For this level, which is the second of three sub-competitions within Phase 2, teams had to 3 ...
At the Empa and Eawag NEST building in Dübendorf, eight ETH Zurich professors are collaborating with business partners to build the three-storey DFAB HOUSE. It is the first house in the world to be designed, planned and built using predominantly digital processes. Since one could argue that all building construction is based on additive processes – even the human driven analogic ones of today – than this is as close as it gets to the future of additively manufactured houses.
Contour Crafting Corporation from the US is poised and ready to start series production of first-generation deployable robotic 3D construction printers. The man behind the high-tech company is the pioneering inventor of this technology, Behrokh Khoshnevis. who has partnered with Doka Ventures, a subsidiary of the Austrian Umdasch Group from Amstetten.
Thai artist and designer Anon Pairot has designed an outdoor terrace consisting of 3D printed concrete furniture and decorations. Thailand’s Siam Cement Group provided its 3D printable SCG cement formula for the project.
Seven teams working on technology that could someday be used to create habitats from materials on other worlds have completed the first printing segment of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. NASA has awarded $100,000 to the two top-scoring teams from this stage, the Phase 2: Level 1 Compression Test Competition. Point-based awards were made to Foster + Partners | Branch Technology of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who earned $85,930, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, earning $14,070.
The UK’s largest 3D printed master plan model has been unveiled at Barking Riverside, one of Europe’s largest Brownfield developments – which will deliver over 10,800 new homes in East London.
The list of materials that can be produced by 3D printing has grown to include not just plastics but also metal, glass, and even food. Now, MIT researchers are expanding the list further, with the design of a system that can 3D print the basic structure of an entire building. One interesting question that comes up is whether this system will be combined wiht Neri Oxman group’s glass 3D printing technology, thus enabling a truly integrated process for 3D printing buildings
PassivDom, a USA based startup founded by Ukranian Max Gerbut, introduced its autonomous self-learning 3D printed mobile house at the recent StartupGrind Conference in Silicon Valley. It was the first presentation of this project on a global stage. The PassivDom off-grid 3D-printed gadget house is a sustainable self-learning, Zero Carbon Emission house powered solely by solar energy. The frame is produced using an industrial 3D printer robot.
On Site Robotics is a collaborative project of IAAC and TECNALIA, which demonstrates the potentials of additive manufacturing technology and robotics in the production of sustainable low-cost buildings that can be built on site with 100% natural materials. IAAC’ extensive experience in materials and robotics for construction is now moving toward real commercial applications.
Is bricklaying a form of additive manufacturing? Not really, however if we introduce a digital and robotic element to it, it may just be considered a type of 3D printing. That’s what Australian company Fast Robotics refers to when defining its impressive Hadrian X robotic bricklaying technology. Looking at the video (below) that shows how the system works, we tend to agree.
In Irkutsk for the first time in Russia successful tests of géobeton (geopolymer concrete) geocement were made in printing constructions on a mobile 3D printer. A Russian-Italian company Renca Rus, LLC has elaborated and tested various compositions of geobeton based on geopolymer binder for 3D printing on the mobile construction 3D printer from Apis Cor.
At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the king of Saudi Arabia, Salman Ben Abdul Aziz Al-Shahat, paid a state visit to China from March 15 to March 18. On March 16, King Salman witnessed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation for extensive 3D printing construction operations between the Saudi Almobty Construction Group and house 3D printing pioneer Winsun (Ying Chuang).
Dubai-based construction technologies firm, Cazza, has announced plans to build the world’s first 3D printed skyscraper. The firm will be able to 3D print high rises using a new construction technique called ‘crane printing’, similar to that used by Apic Cor to digitally build a small house in Russia last month.
The ACTLAB experimental architecture laboratory at Politecnico di Milano University is presenting a preview of its Trabeculae Pavilion at Made Expo 2017, an experimental architecture that fuses 3D Printing with biomimetic research. The innovative prototype of lightweight architecture, which demonstrates the revolutionary potential of computational design and 3D printing for constructions, will be on display at the BSmart! area, in Pavilion 10 of Fiera Milano-Rho,
The first house in Russia built using 3D printing technology has been completed in Stupino, in the Moscow region of Russia. Russian house 3D printing pioneers Apis Cor in cooperation with PIK proceeded to print the building using a mobile 3D printer. Construction took place at the Apis Cor company’s test facility in the town of Stupino. Printing of self-bearing walls, partitions and building envelope were done in less than a day: pure machine time of printing amounted to 24 hours.
It’s clearly not 3D printed in any way – although it is very likely that Zaha Hadid architects used 3D printing for many parts of the building’s physical modeling and prototyping – but the Morpheus Hotel and Tower in Macau is probably one of the clearest example of what can be achieved with the […]
During the AAAS 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston, Jonas Buchli, ETH Zurich — The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, Ronald Rael, University of California, Berkeley and Emerging Objects, U.S.A., and Jane Burry, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia discussed the latest developments in digital fabrication in architecture at 1:1 building scale. As ScienceDaily reports, these global experts showed that digital technologies can be successfully integrated in design, planning, and building processes in order to successfully transform the building industry.
French construction giant VINCI Construction has signed a partnership agreement with large size cement 3D printing startup XtreeE. In conjunction with the partnership, VINCI Construction also acquired a stake in the company. The move will accelerate the expansion of XtreeE and boost cooperation between the teams. It is also designed to explore and develop opportunities for using 3D printing technologies in construction.
It’s always nice when the generalist media cover 3D printing, in any of its forms, in a positive way. After they stopped blabbering about how 3D printing is dead, generalist media are once again finding an interest for 3D printing and 3D printing companies. It just happened with CNN and house 3D printing – or maybe we should say “city 3D printing” since when the generalist media talks about stuff they do it “extra large”.
Les Roux’s project shows exactly the state of DIY house 3D printing: on one hand it is an amazing accomplishment for a single person to be able to “digitally” build a living structure out of concrete. On the other, there still are years of work ahead in figuring out exactly how this additive process can be integrated into the industrial AEC sector.
Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inaugurated the first 3D printed office. The building is the first of its kind in the world prepared for actual use, taking into account the integration of unique building design and 3D-printing technology to offer key services within the building, such as electricity, water, telecommunications, and air-conditioning.
SEAT automotive has confirmed it will be among exhibitors at the new 3D printing event in Barcelona, along with Stratasys, HP and Hoffman Group
Desamanera SRL, a 3D Printing Business Directory Featured Company, has signed an exclusi ...
Il nome, un termine che in inglese significa “vespa” ma che è anche un acronimo per World’s Advanced Saving Project, non deve ingannare: WASP è davvero una società di sognatori, fondata nel nome del desiderio utopico di rendere il mondo un posto migliore attraverso la manifattura additiva. Il collegamento di WASP alla Terra, però, va oltre il progetto BigBigDelta per stampare le case in 3D: la società stessa è un esempio brillante di artigianalità italiana applicata alle stampanti 3D. Ciò che la società fondata da Massimo Moretti difetta in termini di industrializzazione e processi di serializzazione è compensato con dedizione e attenzione ad ogni dettaglio.