The housing market is a total nightmare in Ireland at the moment. If you're looking to move, the search might end up proving more stress than it's worth. However, after seeing this project, it seems you may be able to print your dream home sooner than you think.
San Francisco company Apis Cor 3D-printed this house using a mobile printer on-site, in just 24 hours. Located in Russia, the 400-square-foot home was built at a cost of just over $10,000. The house is said to be able to last up to 175 years, so this is no flimsy in-between solution, either!
When 3D printing something like a house, usually it involves creating the parts off-site and constructing the building on-site afterwards. However, a mobile printer did the job here, meaning the main components of the house were printed on-site. A lick of paint then finished the project off, all in the one day.
The walls, partitions and building envelope were printed solely with a concrete mixture, and fixutures like the windows and furnishing were added afterwards.
It was 3D-printed in an unusual shape in order to demonstrate the flexibility of the equipment and the diversity of the available forms. It could be printed any shape, meaning in future we could see some very interesting architectural developments, using 3D printing.
Nikita Chen-yun-tai, the inventor of the mobile printer and founder of Apis Cor, explained his desire is “to automate everything”.
“We want to help people around the world to improve their living conditions. That’s why the construction process needs to become fast, efficient and high-quality as well. For this to happen we need to delegate all the hard work to smart machines.”
Related: Five rooms in one - a lesson in laying out a studio apartment
