Need a New House? Just Get a 3D Printer
New technology is bringing a printed house to the U.S.
After similar 3D-printed houses popped up in the Netherlands and China, a printed estate is set to be constructed in upstate New York as early as this year after being delayed for about a year.
This one will include a printed pool, printed jacuzzi, and a printed carport. There’s no comment on whether it’ll include a printed car too.
Architect Adam Kushner and a 3D-printing design firm called D-Shape are trying to make the 2,400 square foot estate a reality, that is if they can get the printing technology they need into the country.
The one-of-a-kind printing device that will build the house is currently in Italy, where it was previously being used for projects involving Italian defense agencies. To ship the thing to the States requires high-level military clearance, which is probably a first for a 3D printer.
Once it’s given clearance and set up, the D-Shape could literally break new ground on alternative construction methods.
To actually make the house, the device collects sand and gravel at the building site, and simply mixes the basic materials with a magnesium-based agent that solidifies into a marble-like material. It prints blocks of a pre-designed structure one by one and the pieces are then put together like a puzzle until a complete structure is built.
The project is still at the experimental phase, and currently only exists on paper. Whether it’s cost efficient or safe enough remains to be seen, but if the tech could actually prove to be competent enough to produce quality construction materials it could change architecture and infrastructure for the better.
Maybe instead of building mansions and keeping it within a luxury niche they could build safe housing for the underprivileged, or be used to easily repair bridges and roads without having to completely demolish them.
It’s a technology that could be used in a beneficial and progressive manner once it’s a feasible addition to the construction industry. The only thing we need to do now is get it in the country.
