Kamp C, the Westerlo, Belgium-based provincial Centre for Sustainability and Innovation in construction, printed a house using the largest 3D concrete printer in Europe. The 90-square metre (969 sq ft) dwelling was printed in one piece with a fixed printer. This is a world first.

The printed house is three times sturdier than a house built with quick build bricks. “The material’s compressive strength is three times greater than that of the conventional quick build brick”, Marijke Aerts, the project manager at Kamp C, explains.

Besides the fibres in the concrete, the amount of wire-mesh reinforcement used is extremely limited. As a result of the printing technology used, formwork was redundant, saving an estimated sixty percent on material, time, and budget. In the future, an entire house could be printed in just under two days. If you add up all the days, it took just three weeks to print the house at Kamp C.

The model home was designed to showcase the technology and the potential of 3D printing. “We printed an overhang, it has heavily curved walls, different types of walls… We also incorporated solutions to the traditional thermal bridge, eliminating cold bridges altogether”, says Ascione. “We developed a low-energy house, with all the mod cons, including floor and ceiling heating, special façade solar panels and a heat pump, and we will also be adding a green roof.”

For more information visit Kamp C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What makes this house so unique, is that we printed it with a fixed 3D concrete printer”, says Emiel Ascione, the project manager at Kamp C. “Other houses that were printed around the world only have one floor. In many cases, the components were printed in a factory and were assembled on-site. We, however, printed the entire building envelope in one piece on-site.”