Within the last 12 months we have seen the innovation of 3D printed buildings become a reality on both side of the Atlantic, with Icon Build in America and PERI GmbH in Germany. Both of these companies have been working towards building a full house or apartment using 3D printing technology which we see so much now in manufacturing.
PERI builds the first 3D-printed apartment building in Germany
- Building consisting of 5 apartments across 3 floors with approx. 380 square metres of living space constructed using a 3D construction printer
- The largest printed apartment building in Europe is proof that 3D construction printing is also suitable for the construction of large dwelling units
Weissenhorn / Wallenhausen. 17 November 2020. PERI GmbH has set about printing another residential building using a 3D construction printer, this time in Wallenhausen, Bavaria.
At the end of September 2020, the family-owned company announced that work had begun on Germany’s first printed residential house in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. Only two months later, work has begun on the next residential building to make use of 3D construction printing technology. Upon completion, the 5-in-a-block apartment building with around 380 square metres of living space will be the largest printed residential building in Europe. On this project, the printing process is expected to take six weeks.
PERI is using the gantry printer BOD2 for this construction printing project in Wallenhausen. The system has a print head that moves about 3 axes on a securely installed metallic frame. The benefit here is that the printer can move along its frame to any position within the construction and only needs to be calibrated once. This saves time and cuts costs.
During the printing process, the printer takes into account the pipes and connections for water, electricity, etc. that are to be laid at a later time. The BOD2 has been certified in such a way that it is possible to carry out work within the printing area while printing is in progress. This means that manual work, such as the installation of empty pipes and connections, can be easily integrated into the printing process.
The “i.tech 3D” material that is being used to print the building in Wallenhausen was developed by Heidelberg Cement specifically for 3D printing. “The properties of i.tech3D are tailored to the specific requirements of 3D construction printing using concrete,” says Dr. Jennifer Scheydt, Head of Engineering & Innovation at Heidelberg Cement. “Our material has excellent pumping and extruding characteristics and works perfectly with the BOD2 printer.”
Two operators are required to run the printer. The print head and the print results are monitored by a camera. With a speed of 1 m/s, the BOD2 is currently the fastest 3D construction printer available on the market. The BOD2 only takes around five minutes to complete 1m² of a double-skin wall.
Insulated walls viewpoint
Modern Methods of Construction is a wide category of innovation and 3D printed building certainly deserves to be part of that revolution. The twin or triple wall construction allows for insulation to be installed to provide a thermally efficient envelope whilst the materials for the walls can be sourced relatively locally so going some way to ticking the sustainability box.
This without question is just the start, and time will tell if this type of construction is sustainable and more importantly scalable.
Insulatedwall.co.uk will ensure that we keep an eye on this one.
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