The search for solutions to the global housing crisis has focused on industrialization processes. At this point, few doubt that in the future it will be built differently than it is today. The lack of supply and labor force us to look towards a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and competitive building. With this premise, 3D printing is gaining prominence, where deadlines, in general terms, can be shorten up to 70% and prices are reduced by up to 25% compared to the conventional method. 3D printing offers an automated way to build. Starting from a digital model, the printer deposits material layer by layer. “It allows freedom in design that traditional processes do not offer and manufactures unique pieces, shortening delivery times from several weeks to hours,” says Roger Uceda, CEO of Aridditive, a company dedicated to the design and manufacture of printers. In the world there are a few hundred constructions executed with 3D printing, although many are prototypes. “This technology has faced multiple challenges related to high technological cost, scalability and regulations,” says Daniel Lorenzo, founder of Evocons. Despite this and thanks to the great room for improvement, “interest is growing,” adds Lorenzo, who places special emphasis on a new 3D printing standard, ISO ASTM 52939, which opens the door to building in Spain with this method. Although it does not exempt from compliance with the Technical Building Code (CTE), which does not specifically contemplate these systems. Even so, «it allows alternative solutions as long as it is justified that the projected building meets the basic requirements», according to the technical department of the Superior Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain. Although steps are being taken in this field, the use of robotic cranes to print houses is still in a very early development phase, especially in Spain, where construction has a history of low automation – although 68% of tasks could be automated – and very polluting processes – between 17% and 20 % of CO2 emissions come from this industry—This is why each advance is almost a milestone. The Spanish company Evocons has developed and patented a construction system that goes beyond current 3D printing, used only to make walls and walls. In addition, it is capable of building up to 40 meters high. “The technology, called Evoconstructor, is a robot that, in addition to printing the wall, allows tasks to be carried out on it by automating the finishing processes (plastering, plastering, tiling…),” explains Daniel Lorenzo, also the CEO of Evocons. The company is building a two-story, 120 square meter model building in the municipality of Agüimes (Gran Canaria) for Ecoaga (Conservation Entity of the Arinaga Industrial Estate). It will be the first in a series of constructions.Evocons builds a building in the municipality of Agüimes (Gran Canaria). But the history in Spain dates back to 2018, the year in which the first 3D printed home was manufactured in 12 hours. There were 24 square meters that the company Be More 3D printed in a space at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. And the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) presented a building made with clay and a 3D printer in 2022. That is, almost everything that has been done so far has been prototypes, experiments to test the technology and demonstrate a promising technique. which opens a possible door to solving the problems of access to housing. Among them is Wasi 3D, whose plan is to be able to start building in 2026 two-story homes with a maximum of 120 square meters that are located in suburban areas. Leading the way are Elinore Cruz and Diego de la Torre, two Peruvians whose 3D-printed affordable homes project from the EAE Business School incubator in Barcelona won the Babson Collaborative Challenge competition in May. They have just launched a financing round to raise 350,000 euros to set up an R&D laboratory and build their first prototype. They are already looking for a warehouse in Barcelona where they can build it.
Land and additives
Wasi 3D, which will function as main contractor, will use earth as material, to which additives will be added. “We have experimented with potato starch, rice starch, jute fibers, natural plant fibers, mate fibers, and even rice hulls,” says De la Torre. The automation of the construction process of gray works (walls, walls, pillars…) that they do – at a cost of 30,000 euros for houses of 100 square meters – reduces construction time by a third and has 60% fewer emissions compared to the conventional way. And it seeks to develop printable soil-based materials up to 30% cheaper than the special concrete typically used in 3D printing.
The ICON company builds Cósmico, the first printed hotel, located in Texas (USA). Globally, companies like WASP in Italy and Azure Printed Homes or ICON in the United States are leading the way in manufacturing homes. In the United States—where there is a deficit of five million new homes—and in Mexico, ICON operates, a company that develops robotic and artificial intelligence systems. A pioneer in large-scale 3D printing, it broke into the residential market by selling the first printed houses in Austin (Texas) in 2021. It has also developed several social projects (homeless people, families in extreme poverty who reside in areas seismic and flood, barracks for the army…).
Homes built with a 3D printer by the American company ICON in Georgetown, Texas. The company has raised $451 million in funding to date and in 2022 received $57.2 million from NASA to develop a construction system on the lunar surface. Additionally, it is building the world's first 3D printed hotel in Marfa, west Texas. The hotel, called El Cósmico, features curved shapes and organic domes that can only be achieved using this technique. The 24-hectare project also includes private residences of up to 232 square meters.