Dive Brief:
- Russian engineer Nikita Chen-yun-tai has developed a 3-D printer that can create a 1,000-square-foot building of any height in one day.
- The Apis Cor printer, shaped like a tower crane, sets up in the middle of the building and, as 3DPrint.com reported, can print a house layer by layer, at high speed, with a commercial extruder rotating in two planes.
- The Apis Cor has a printing zone of up to 630 square feet, can print sloping walls horizontally and vertically, produces no construction waste, and provides a cost savings of up to 70% over frame construction, according to 3DPrint.com.
Dive Insight:
The use of 3-D printing in construction is a hot topic right now, and the Apis Cor comes in the wake of another high-profile house printer, WASP's Big Delta. But the Apis Cor, according to its creator, is much easier to move from site to site, requiring only a truck for transport.
With 3-D printers being used for concrete, housing, hotels, office buildings and even satellites in outer space, innovators are on the move, creating countless ways the construction industry might one day benefit from the new technology.
However, as TreeHugger noted, the industry has been "on the verge" of 3-D printing of houses for years. That delay in substantial change has been attributed to building codes, at least in the U.S., the initial cash investment required to buy a large supply of 3-D printing equipment, and pushback from construction workers and labor suppliers who fear the possibility of replacing construction crews with machines.
