HORIZONTV FEATURING BD+C: WATCH EPISODES ON DEMAND AT HORIZONTV
Two notable 3D-printed projects mark milestones in the new construction technique of “printing” structures with specialized concrete. In Athens, Tennessee, Walmart hired Alquist 3D to build a 20-foot-high store expansion, one of the largest freestanding 3D-printed commercial concrete structures in the U.S. In Marfa, Texas, the world’s first 3D-printed hotel is under construction at an existing hotel and campground site.
Walmart has completed one of the largest free-standing, 3D-printed commercial structures in the US. Alquist 3D printed the almost 8,000-sf, 20-foot-high addition to a Walmart store in Athens, Tenn. The expansion, which will be used for online pickup and delivery, is the first time Walmart has applied 3D printing technology at this scale.Â
Researchers at ETH Zurich, a university in Switzerland, have developed a new robotic additive manufacturing method to help make the construction industry more sustainable. Unlike concrete 3D printing, the process does not require cement.
Printed Farms, known for completing Florida’s first permitted 3D-printed house in Tallahassee, announces the completion of the world’s largest 3D-printed building: a luxury horse barn.
The building is designed to print and dispense its own dwellings in vending machine-obsessed Tokyo.
Its growth strategy includes adding 1.2 million sf of space for teaching, housing, and research.Â
The 3D concrete printing industry is expected to more than double in size within the next five years.
The 2,690-sf structure took 17 days to print. City officials say the labor cost was only half as much as similar size conventional buildings.
By networking 3D printers and divvying up the work, the project creates big items 80% to 90% more efficiently.
The pen, which melts and strings together plastic filaments, can be used to make large-scale temporary structures.
Starting with Manhattan, the company hopes to expand to other cities, villages, and "suburban cul-de-sacs"Â with its detailed, 3D models.
The team's Fossilized project allows for structures that are more varied and volumetric than other forms so far achieved.
