A retired couple from Amsterdam have recently moved into the first-ever Dutch 3D printed concrete home in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
The project highlights the successful collaboration between multiple stakeholders from the government, knowledge institutions and industry. While the municipality was a co-initiator and facilitator of the project, TU/e conducted research and developed models to enable 3D concrete printing, Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix developed the special types of concrete mortar needed for 3D printing, Witteveen+Bos worked on the building engineering and structural aspects, and construction company Van Wijnen built the house. The house is now owned by residential real estate investor Vesteda, which rents it out to private individuals.
The 3D-printed concrete home, which is fully compliant with all of the strict building requirements of The Netherlands, is a detached single-storey 94-square-metre home with a spacious living room and two bedrooms in the Eindhoven neighbourhood of Bosrijk. The giant boulder shape of the home fits in well with the natural location and demonstrates the freedom of form facilitated by 3D concrete printing.
The house consists of 24 printed concrete elements, printed layer by layer in the printing plant in Eindhoven in about 120 hours. These elements were transported by truck to the building site and placed on a foundation and provided with a roof and frames, followed by the finishing touches.
Thanks to R&D that allowed concrete printing in all sorts of forms, the project team was able to design the house in the shape of an irregular boulder. Though printing the inclining walls was a major challenge, the team was able to master the process, helping open the door to a completely different kind of construction from the usual rectangular house designs.
Photo Credit: Bart van Overbeeke/Project Milestone
