[Music]
the idea of 3d printing our buildings is
nothing new
[Music]
faced with a desperate need to construct
more homes faster and in a more
efficient way countless innovators have
found themselves drawn by the idea of
being able to quickly print a structure
and have spent years trying to scale the
technology
but for all their efforts that 3d
printed world has proven elusive and
many impressive prototypes have
struggled to become viable for mass
production
but things have just taken a massive
step forward in germany with the
completion of the first ever 3d printed
home to become fully certified under a
national government's building
regulations
[Music]
the impact of this moment for
construction and for the buildings we
all use could be huge
with the promise of cutting waste
reducing time on site and addressing
labor shortages some see 3d printing as
the answer to many of our world's
challenges
originally used for small-scale
prototypes advances in 3d printing have
led to the creation of full-scale
structures like bridges and homes and
even plans for mankind's first martian
base
but while 3d printed structures have
appeared around the world from canada
and the netherlands to dubai which wants
to 3d print a quarter of its new
buildings by 2030 the technology is yet
to take off as a widespread building
technique
but the completion of this 3d printed
house in beckham germany is set to
change everything
developed by leading formwork and
scaffolding firm perry experts in its
disruptive products and technologies
departments and its project partners the
structure a detached single family
property is the first 3d printed house
in germany and offers 160 square meters
of living space across its two stories
critically the structure is the first 3d
printed building in germany to become
certified with a national building
accreditation smashing a major barrier
and paving the way for larger more
complex projects
[Music]
located just outside the city of um
perry's team is now working on the
largest 3d printed multi-family house in
europe with 380 square meters of living
space divided into five apartments
across three levels
so how did perry get into the world of
3d printing
here at perry we have let's let's call
it a think tank it's a department called
disruptive products and technologies
and they think about projects or
products and technologies that might
substitute our current core products
that might endanger our business model
in this department so various ideas are
always thrown around and actually
actively pursued so it's not just a
monitoring department
and one of the topics
even years ago was 3d construction
printing when we build up the printer on
a construction site directly on the site
and we start sprinting there that was
a moment for me which i where i realized
that we are printing that on site and
people will live in there so that was
for me a moment where i really said wow
that's not just um theory and that's not
just
in a lab it's it could it could happen
in in real
the homes were both built with cobord's
modular bod2 printing system a flexible
platform that can be scaled to suit
projects of varying size
the printer needs just two operators and
takes less than 48 hours to set up on
site
once up and running the system can print
as fast as a meter per second using data
from integrated design models
there's obviously there's been a lot of
firms around the world that have done
this a lot of research teams of 3d
printed buildings over the years and
there's been kind of different levels of
excitement around it why isn't it
widespread why isn't this just the way
that we build all of our buildings 3d
printing really affects the overall
construction process it has impact on
the planning side execution of the walls
but also on other trades and and the
planning and permitting all of these
things come into play here
the buildings that we've seen across the
globe actually have seen a steady
increase in let's say validity
so the first ones have been basically
kind of big 3d printed flower pots
where all the other trades have been
thrown in there but nobody's really
thought about how to integrate it into a
full construction process
maybe sometimes in the news and media
that hasn't been
it's always been portrayed like
everything was perfect but obviously
this has been a steady learning curve
and now we feel that we've hit another
milestone where we've now been able to
execute these permitted buildings
what perry have done in germany with
this building how is that different to
what we've seen before in
dubai the netherlands you know many
kinds of other places
we wanted to do
real world architectural scale
permitted residential buildings um so
we've done lots and lots of tests
to
to get this german building permit and
we have one of the toughest building
codes around so that's that's quite a
milestone to get these
completely normally permitted
residential homes and that's i think
where the very core difference lies i
have included project partners from the
start we are working directly with a
construction company we're working
directly with architects which don't
want just to make a demo project the
real project where later people will
live in it's a project where the
investor sketch rents out every month so
it's something which
will be used
and the other thing is i guess the the
speed and the size now it's the the
actually the biggest 3d printed building
in europe
perry also engaged a number of the core
trades on these projects a critical
hurdle that few other 3d printed
buildings have attempted to cross
with services and other works already
coordinated with the structural design
errors on site have been almost
completely eradicated saving time money
and waste material
while the savings may be modest here
they'd soon add up across an entire
estate or housing development
what kind of
real world savings have you seen on this
project so far this really this
integration of of other trades has a
huge impact um so we've had the
electrician come into one of these
buildings and he walks around and says
well guys you know i'll be saving up to
like 12 days in here
um so we are saving a lot of labor in
other trades because there's in the
buildings we're executing there's not
going to be a single slot that has to be
cut nobody's going to have to drill a
hole for a power outlet
though the design of these buildings may
feel relatively straightforward when
compared to some of today's architecture
the team are using the lessons learned
to construct larger structures in a
variety of forms
with german building certifications now
under their belt the team are planning
more projects using different materials
and with a focus on further reducing
waste
but while there is cause for optimism
we're still some way from the widespread
uptake of 3d printing and several
challenges remain not least breaking
into a traditionally conservative
industry
i mean securing german building
certification is a huge step for you
guys in a huge step for the world of 3d
printing what kind of other challenges
and barriers are there on the way
between where we are now and
this being the way we build our homes
buildings offices well it's a lot about
educating people really um to know you
know it's it's a different type of of
planning a building um it's different
for the contractor it's different for
the electrician it's it's different all
around for everybody involved so all
these trades now have to learn a how to
cope with this technology and how to
make the best of it not be threatened by
it but to to see the potential it can
have for these individual traits and
make their life easier and make
construction more safe and more
efficient
there's definitely a spot for all the
other conventional construction
techniques who are also evolving so
3d printing will play a very important
role we are convinced of that um but
this educational diffusion process into
the market will still take some time
would you live in a 3d printed house god
of course
right away i'd be all over the design of
that um i mean just having round shapes
which are also way more sustainable than
the weird rectangles we that we build
right now um definitely and you know
we've tested all of it so we know that
it's very very stable
while the technology has had its
challenges the success of perry's
project in germany marks a major step
forward and will stand as a powerful
case study for innovators rekindling the
determination to make this building
technique viable at scale
that 3d printed world we've imagined has
just moved one huge step closer to
becoming real
[Music]
this video was made possible by perry
learn more at the link below and as
always if you enjoyed this video and
would like to get more from the
definitive video channel for
construction subscribe to the b1m