3D-printed canal home takes shape in Amsterdam

[The Straight Story]

It sounds like the ultimate do-it-yourself project: the print-your-own-home.

In place of bricks and mortar and the need for a construction crew, a customisable building plan which transforms itself from computer screen graphics into a real-world abode thanks to the latest in 3D printing technology.

That dream is still beyond our reach, but several teams of architects across the globe are engaged in efforts to take a major step towards it by creating the world's first 3D-printed homes.

Amsterdam-based Dus Architects is one of the firms involved - it plans to print a canal house in the Dutch capital.

...

The pieces will be assembled on site like a huge jigsaw with parts attached to each other thanks to some of their edges having being shaped like giant Lego pieces, and the use of steel cabling to "sew" the elements together.

Each part is created using a layer-by-layer process in which solid objects take shape by printing thin "slices" of the construction materials, one level at a time, which bind together.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22152212

[Hoyt]

1. On this scale, the 3D printer isn't much different than pouring concrete from cement truck.

I suppose the future is limitless, though.

[EC]

2. About 10 years ago when I was in college

I did a paper on homes of the future and 3D building was being tested then for use in emergency housing. A polymer that hardens with exposure to light was being sprayed into projected images - I'm guessing this is pretty much the same as the printing process, only this was using holograms.

[Downwinder]

3. Lego land and now Plasticville.