World’s Largest Delta 3D Printer Can Print Almost Zero-Cost Houses Out Of Mud
When 3D printing was introduced, it promised to change the world. And thanks to The World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) that might not have been just some empty words.
Innovator Massimo Moretti has launched the project with the aim to help out the developing countries by creating affordable housing. And by affordable, we mean a house built for less than a 100 Euros (around $110 USD). It was achieved with the world’s largest delta-style 3D printer that stands 12 meters tall (40 feet). It can produce full-size buildings using only mud, clay and plant fibers for reinforcement, keeping the production cost under a 100 Euros mark (the first house it built actually cost less than 50 Euros). The printer can lay down from 60 cm to 1 meter of material every day.
Moretti says: “When the work starts again, we will raise the wall until 4 meters, then we’ll create the door and build the roof. In the future we will test new materials and continue the research on soil and straw.”
More info: wasproject (h/t: inhabitat)
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Got wisdom to pour?
Is $110 somehow including capital costs for the printer itself? Mud houses are similarly cheap in many parts of the developing world when built by hand, and unless the construction is better, would still have the stigma of being a mud house (over concrete). Addressing those 2 points would be pretty important to be justified.
Production cost of <100€ – no way. It'll be more expensive to build up the printer structure in place. In addition this is not a house. No doors, no roof, no house. This printer has build a prototype structure that might be developed into a house some day. In addition i challenge the practicability of 3d printing technology in rural areas of the underdeveloped world. It is hard to get there, no electricity, no fuel, no infrastructure.