Sep 8, 2016 | By Tess

After the positive reception of their last two Suzhou style 3D printed Chinese courtyards, it seems that 3D printing construction company WinSun China has decided to make more of the courtyard style homes, as it recently unveiled two more completed Chinese courtyard style villas made with their novel 3D printing technique in Binzhou City in Shandong Province. The 3D printed homes are even fully equipped with all necessary amenities (including air conditioning) and meet China’s home building requirements.

The two villas, which were inspired by China’s classical Gardens of Suzhou, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, were impressively built within only two months time and cost only 5,000 yuan per square meter (about $750/square meter). As mentioned, the two buildings were 3D printed out of a special concrete “ink” using WinSun’s massive 3D printer, which measures 150 meters in length, 20 meters in width, and 6 meters in height.

The project began in February 2016, when WinSun’s Architecture & Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. delegation, led by Chairman Ma Yihe, went to Shandong province to discuss the potentials of 3D printing construction with the Binzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. The discussions that took place were attended by a number of people, including director of the Binzhou Economic Development Zone Yao Heping, and leaders from the Construction Group, the Land Planning Bureau, and a number of merchants.

Finally, after Ma Yihe introduced WinSun’s innovative 3D printing technology and green materials, the group was convinced by both the cost and material effectiveness of the building process and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the 3D printing construction company to develop 3D printed housing in the Binzhou region. As part of the agreement, the two Suzhou-style homes are located in the “3D Printing Creation Industrial Park”.

The 3D printing process, which uses a special concrete ink, essentially built the two villas layer by layer, by extruding layers between 0.6cm and 3cm in thickness. Because the walls of the homes are designed digitally and recreated by the 3D printer, WinSun has also optimized the material usage and the structure of the walls by making them hollow. That is, by 3D printing hollow walls, not only will the housing structure be lighter in weight, but it allows for insulation to be placed directly inside the walls, and can even allow for different load bearing structures to be integrated.

As mentioned, the 3D printed houses currently cost about $750 per square meter to build, though Liao Xiaojun, the project leader of the 3D Printing Creative Industry Park, believes that this cost can still be reduced with further development of both the 3D printing technology and the materials used. Who knows, perhaps sometime in the near future 3D printed homes will be the norm in China!

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:











