Architect Waldemar Korte works with a 3D printer as it applies a layer of concrete to the walls of a house in Beckum, Germany. The cost and completion time of a build depends on the architectural plans but can be less than half traditional build methods, with completion in a few weeks. Photograph: Ina Fassbender“It makes drawings in the air, following [real] drawings [which] it scans with photo-cells… Plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes.
The first commercial 3D printer later emerged in 1987 from 3D Systems in California, a start-up founded by Chuck Hall. It used filaments of photosensitive resins which were cured by ultraviolet light. These first 3D printers cost of the order of €750,000 at today’s values, accounting for inflation.
The Icon 2016 Austin house is just under 200sq m in floor area. Apis Cor’s first residence was built in 2017 at 38sq m, and was printed in 24 hours. Both were constructed with fixed-position 3D printers. To work on larger floor areas, Icon’s technology requires the disassembly and reassembly of its gantry. The Apis Cor machine is, however, self-propelled, and so can move itself to new positions on the work site.
No doubt we'll find a way to regulate these out of existence. Nothing must threaten the property bubble apparently.