#### <center>The technologies of 3D printing conquer the world and this is a real scientific and technological revolution taking place before our eyes. Looking at the speed of translating into everyday life ideas that have been fantastically fantastic recently, such as the production of a large-scale printing of artificial hands by human hands, not only futurologists, but also experts confidently speak about the future significant changes in the life of human society. And if in some sectors of the economy the practical applicability of 3D printing is no longer in doubt, this is medicine, engineering, radio engineering and electronics, then in such a weighty industry as construction, bulk printing robots look like expensive toys. </center>
[source](http://reconstructromania.ro/a-new-way-of-building-3d-printing/)
As you know, the main difference between a 3D printer and any other industrial robot in the way of creating products. In particular, the building 3D printer has a nozzle or extruder and squeezes out of it a quick-hardening working mixture. The surface on which a volumetric product is created is called the working area and has dimensions determined by the stroke size of the nozzle.
And formwork is not required. That is, the volumetric printing machine is declared as a self-sufficient mechanism capable, when connecting electricity, literally on a bare ground to create a finished building.
There are three known ways to create a volumetric construction:
## 1. Layered extrusion of a viscous working mixture.
[source](http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/news-releases/2012/61_Freeform.html)
The first to make a public presentation about such a technology in construction, apparently, Professor Baruch Koshnowitz from the University of Southern California in August 2012. His group also put forward the concept of a gigantic, assembled on site construction of a printer by the type of a bridge crane.
A group of scientists led by Dr. Sungwa Lima of the British University of Loughborough University, printed the world's first hollow panel with double rounded contours.
On the same principle, 3D printers of the Chinese company Shanghai WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co were built, which first printed a series of real houses in early 2014.
## 2. Sintering method / selective sintering.
[source](http://apis-cor.com/en/about/blog/construction-3d-printing)
With this technology, the working mixture melts in the working zone of the 3D machine, and melting is achieved, with reference to construction, a concentrated laser or a sunbeam, and the working mixture is ordinary sand. It is known, at the time of writing the article, about the only existing model of such device inventor Marcus Kaiser, a student of the Royal College of Art (Royal College of Art).
## 3. Method of sputtering / component gluing (stereolithography)
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[source](https://inhabitat.com/solar-powered-stone-spray-3d-printer-robot-creates-entire-buildings-from-sand/sandsprayarchitectureiaac3dprinteronbeach/)
Known in particular is the working model of the group of the Catalan Institute of Advanced Architecture (IAAC) (the Peter Novikov group) called Stone Spray Robot, as well as the D-Shape system developed by Enrico UK (private company) for the construction of buildings. In this case, a jet of sand emerges from the working nozzle, which immediately mixes with the adhesive composition / catalyst, forming a volume at a programmed point.
Methods of sintering and sputtering are elegant in idea, as solar energy is used, they are environmentally friendly (at least, as long as there is a lot of sand on the planet), the movement of sandy streams can be watched for hours and the products come out of very unusual shapes. Well, already now it is quite possible to build in this way small architectural forms, a flower girl, for example, or a doghouse. In the meantime, it is difficult even to imagine what the resulting operational effect will be in creating a real, albeit small, house made of melted and vitreous sand.
[source](http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=1854)
Of the listed ways of forming the volume, the attention of builders is attracted first of all, the method of layer-by-layer extrusion in many respects because already now large enough bearing surfaces and even real houses are created.
And if European architects demonstrate first of all, aesthetic and ecological orientation, then the Chinese in their development are extremely pragmatic.
[source](https://www.military.com/defensetech/2014/01/20/navy-helps-fund-3d-printing-of-buildings)
Many romantics 3D frankly razacharya series of simple and gruffly-looking houses of the Chinese company. Meanwhile, it is overlooked that these rectangular simple constructions are the link of a clearly marked technological chain.
It is planned to build a large factory for processing construction waste and garbage, the material will be used to prepare a working mixture for a 3D printer. Considering China's great achievements in the field of bioenergy, namely the prevalence of wind, solar and bio-electric power plants, it can be assumed that giant landfill crushers will be installed at landfill sites that are powered by electricity from the nearest bioelectric power station.
[source](http://nothingmajor.com/journal/93-3d-printed-mobius-strip-house/)
Constructed from a patented material (a mixture of construction debris, concrete and additives), houses are segmented in a class of inexpensive quick-build housing. This explains their odd appearance.
If we talk about the technology of 3D construction. then I would put in the first place is not the 3D-device itself. A building printer is a link of a new technology, and not the most, perhaps, the most difficult.
After all, the construction robot design has been worked out well enough. but houses for now - only the Chinese series. Already exist in many copies of two types of structures-in the form of a gantry crane and in the form of a boom.
Much more questions are caused by the composition of the working mixture and the conceptual architectural forms. Generally, when preparing a working questionnaire on a topic, more than 30 points were formed on the move, the answer to some of them, according to the playful remark of engineer Zotov, requires writing a decent monograph. The Zotov Group has already developed the composition of the working mixture and the 3D printer in the version of the "bridge crane".
Also, an interesting concept based on the idea of supplying a working mixture under high pressure in a 3D printer having a rather elegant bridge structure was suggested by the industrial designer Sebastian Bernard.
[source](http://civilrnd.com/construction-house-using-large-3d-printer-machine-kamermaker/)
The supply of thick concrete under high pressure, translates volumetric printing technology into a fairly realistic framework. Further, the development of materials specifically for the application of this technology. In Russia, research is known in Penza, new types of concretes are being developed at the Department of TBK & P of the Penza GUAS. New high-strength reactive powder concrete (FPB) is quite suitable for building robots.
To build the technological process, in addition to the working mixture, an important point is the architecture of the building itself and a group of buildings as a single construction object. The most promising area for Russia, apparently, is the construction of a village of two-storey townhouses of arch forms. Approximately such as the domed house of the architect Grebnev.
[source](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3d-construction-printers-peter-calka-lion-)
The format of the arched house in two floors will allow using relatively small and inexpensive 3D printers, solve the problem of overlapping and will allow to build, really, quickly, massively and inexpensively. And beautiful. On the scale of the village, it will be possible to use bridge printers, since the track (not necessarily of metal rails) will move as the construction progresses.
Many questions are caused directly by the technology of construction. First, how the strength of the structure will affect the seams, going every three to five centimeters. Secondly, the existing (from the known) process of laying reinforcement is rather controversial. The Chinese are reinforced with a fiberglass mesh. At least, it is visible on the video of the process.
![image.png]
(https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1516046456/njiwioaieri3depkbzct.png)
[source](https://sourceable.net/3d-printer-can-build-230-square-metre-house-20-hours/)
There is an opinion on the applicability of fiber-reinforced concrete and it is possible that such a dome in one or two floors will stand the certification procedure. It is also proposed to connect the armature on the sticks, screw up, etc. Of course, while this is a detour. Perhaps the problem of online reinforcement will be solved using two robots at once: one mounts the armature, another puts the mixture. The situation of automation is simplified by the fact that formwork is not available as a "class".
With the installation of engineering systems in terms of ventilation, sewerage and heating, things are easier to solve. 3D printers are robots with a fairly accurate repeatability of operations and the joining of pipe elements in a given sequence is quite feasible. Naturally, industrial designers will have to break their heads over new designs of engineering systems elements.
In general, most of these technical problems are typical for the transition period, which includes 3D printers. For some time, old and new technologies will coexist, the time is necessary, first of all, for psychological addiction. When some builders criticize the 3D process, they criticize evolution - "here, they say, the printer is big, expensive, noisy and consumes electricity, and your house will fall apart. And in general, a bunch - the panel plus "Tajikstroy", is not cheaper. "
So, a 3D building printer is not an evolution. Many people in the head do not yet fit this moment, because this is a revolution, and it must be realized.
Indeed, today it is difficult to imagine how much the structure of a construction firm will change, or its subdivision specializing in cottage settlements. Apparently, there will be no additions and "dopnikov" from the superintendents, there will be no replaceable Moldovan, Belarusian and other brigades. The face of the firm will be a small team of specialists and a pair of robots; the engineer-operator of the 3D robot (3 people with three shifts), the dispatcher-logist (the current supplier) and further-the interlocutors-bring the working mixture, mount the IT systems. A few more specialists during the process mount the fittings, mortgages and windows with doors. In the state of the construction department - 12 people, with a salary fund of one million rubles a month. For this month, such a team completely puts the village into operation. Fantastically short construction time, among other things, is the absence of financial gaps in the construction cycle, and the removal of the problem of seasonal natural cycles.
3D-printer in the construction is the production robotization, a kind of conveyor. of course, all related industries in this chain correspond to the standards of the era of robots. Where the working mix will be made, how will the transport logistics be solved (if the solution is prepared next to the object being erected, then the delivery is not needed), the format of the warehouse of components (generates a common for the whole village or a subcontractor brings the lot to a particular house), these and many other questions a solution will undoubtedly be proposed. Specialists who develop the technology of volumetric printing are very active, 3D methods are being introduced into the life of the society with an unprecedented speed since the time of the first STRA. If during the presentation of Baruch Koshnevitsa held in 2012, gently called 2017-2020 as the threshold for the start of operation of building robots, then in reality, as early as February 2014, a series of real houses in China was demonstratively printed.
In addition to the opportunity to build a truly inexpensive mass housing, let's say, a standard class, there are original concepts that offer the opportunity to remove the acute shortage of housing in megacities. In Germany, Peter Ebner and his students printed a shell house.
[source](http://www.abudhabi2.com/3d-printing-will-be-the-future-of-uaes-development/)
The use in this, in general, well-known, conceptual direction, of 3D technologies, makes it possible to build and operate warm "house-shells" in large numbers and relatively inexpensively in "northern" Moscow. Very many residents of the nearest Moscow region would have acquired such shells on the territory inside the Moscow Ring Road, to stay in them from Monday evening to Friday morning.
## The era of automatic construction
It can be said that conditions and certain frameworks have already been formed, when an architect, an engineer of an ASG and a construction technologist are able to issue a feasible, socially directed project in a profitable business format. Naturally, with the help of experts-materials experts, logisticians, profile engineers of designers. Only a comprehensive solution of the issues: socially demanded architectural forms and the format of the settlement, conveniently assembled engineering components and special building material, plus automated transport and warehouse logistics, will allow us to speak about the revolution in construction.
***
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References :
[1](http://www.abudhabi2.com/3d-printing-will-be-the-future-of-uaes-development/)
[2](http://civilrnd.com/construction-house-using-large-3d-printer-machine-kamermaker/)
[3](https://sourceable.net/3d-printer-can-build-230-square-metre-house-20-hours/)
[4](http://fooyoh.com/geekapolis_gadgets_wishlist/11074069/a-3d-printer-concept-will-print-you-a-house-in-24-hours-video)
[5](https://www.houzz.in/ideabooks/75229463/list/3d-printed-houses-our-future-or-a-dead-end?irs=US)
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