A Chinese construction company named WinSun recently 3D printed a huge five story apartment building and a 11,840 square foot mansion. Both of the new projects are located side by side in Suzhou Industrial Park. Each project was constructed with a unique type of pre-mixed concrete which is made from from “construction waste” according to cnet. The concrete is then printed layer by layer and placed together in pieces.
In total, a project like this costs roughly $161,000 to build, which is actually a far lower price than builders would see with traditional construction. The smaller homes that WinSun has been able to print are actually extremely affordable, with a price tag of just $5,000.
The 3D printer that made the project possible was designed by 3D printing pioneer, Ma Yihe, who has been in the industry for over ten years. The unit is 20 feet high, 33 feet wide and 132 feet long, and is stored at WinSun’s main factory. During the building process, the structure was reinforced with steel bars, but only to comply with safety regulations, the building would still be capable of standing on its own without them.
WinSun first made headlines in March of last year, when they printed 10 houses in 24 hours out of recycled materials.
Below is a video showing how the construction process works on some of their smaller homes:
