Using a mixture of construction waste (a mixture of sand, concrete and glass fiber) and concrete for printing material, a single-story, one-room house can be printed for less than $5,000.
Using a 6.6-meter-tall, 32-meter-long industrial printer a Chinese company is using 3D-printing technology to build cheap housing for modernizing housing conditions in Chinese villages.
We’ve covered contour crafting 3D printers before and as mentioned back then “even just a handful of these units in a given geographical region could have an enormous impact on housing in the near future”.
Now, I’m a big believer in natural and traditional building methods such as log homes or cob because of the low energy input, low environmental impact, low cost, and the fact that anyone can build such a house for themselves without needing a degree in engineering.
But what this company has done shows the potential for this kind of construction method to disrupt the housing and mortgage market in a big way in the not so distant future, and we’ll keep close watch on how this technology develops.
What do you think?
