Forget 3D-printed sponges or cooking knives, a company in China just successfully 3D-printed an entire 200 square meter home and then assembled the structure in just three hours. Though the home may not show up on House Hunters International anytime soon, the manufacturer did outfit the abode with a roomy living room, a functional kitchen, and a large upstairs balcony. Don’t fire up those at-home 3D-printers just yet though, the manufacturing company — The Zhuoda Group — filed 22 patents for the structure’s technology and remains hush-hush about the material it used during the build.
While construction of the home took roughly three hours to complete, the entire process required only 10 days from the beginning of printing to the installation of the final module. In all, The Zhuoda Group printed six modules — comprised of a bathroom, living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. — out of materials the company’s vice president says were sourced from industrial and agricultural waste. Furthermore, each module in the home is supposedly capable of enduring high-magnitude earthquakes, thanks to the fact the rooms each bear weight individually. Vice President Tan BuYong added that the printed modules are fire and water proof, and remain void of harmful substances like radon or ammonia.
Surprisingly — especially considering that 3D-printing is a fairly new and exotic technology — the price for this pseudo-prefab home isn’t outrageously expensive. Running roughly $400-$480 per square meter, this entire six module home costs anywhere from $81,000-$96,000, and will likely get cheaper as 3D-printing advances. The Zhuoda Group even said buyers have the opportunity to select between a mixture of finishes ranging from wood and granite, to marble and jade. To display the home’s incredible ease of construction, the manufacturer assembled the six-module house in front of a group of people then invited them in to take a look.
It seems the era of 3D-printing is in full swing, and projects such as the one The Zhuoda Group just finished show there’s no shortage of unique ideas originating within the industry.
