3-D Printing: The Future of Sustainable Housing?

The opportunities with 3-D printing are seemingly endless, allowing our human ingenuity to design on a screen and then print out almost anything we can come up with. From 3-D printers making pizza for astronauts in space to bio-printers churning out carbon copies of human body parts and organs, the 3-D printing industry certainly has the opportunity to revolutionize the way we make things.

While the immediate future of 3-D printing will most likely be taken advantage of by the medical industry, the construction industry is not far behind. Recently, a small startup construction company in San Francisco 3-D printed a small home in under 24 hours. The printer produced the concrete walls, partitions, and the building envelope while human labor was required for painting, wiring, plumbing, insulating, and adding the roof.

For people with environmental awareness, the main question is, “Can a 3-D printer provide a more sustainable housing alternative in the near future?” We talked with Charles Overy, director, and CEO at LGM 3D, a leading firm in 3-D printing and architectural modeling solutions.

What Can 3-D Printers Do in the World of Architecture and Home Construction?

Overy believes that 3-D printing may have the possibility to become mainstream in the US construction industry within 10 to 20 years. He believes that “chronic labor shortages in construction due to government policies may force builders to invest in (3-D printing) technology faster.”

In the meantime, 3-D printing fills three different market categories.

1. 3-D printers can be designed to print complete or nearly complete homes. Apis Cor is one startup construction company that has developed a mobile construction printer that is capable of printing entire buildings on site. They report a 40% cost reduction in comparison to traditionally built homes. While there are valuable examples of companies venturing into whole-house 3-D printing, this is still at least a decade away from becoming more conventional.
2. 3-D printers can be used to facilitate the production and design workflows of components of buildings. Overy says that the “time to market is reduced and design is improved by using additive fabrication as a prototyping tool as well as a way to produce final products.” 
3. 3-D printing can be used to make scale models and other design visualization tools. This is the specialization of companies like LGM 3D. Utilizing 3-D printing for architectural design work allows for better visualization of projects as well as reducing the actual work time associated with developing a design. In relation to sustainable architecture, 3-D design can allow homeowners to visualize the ways differently, sustainable materials can be added into homes as well as testing different designs to maximize the energy efficiency of a home. As Overy states, “generally speaking, it is a good thing if design limitations are reduced as it allows the designer to focus on sustainability as more important design criteria.”