After the first residential building with 3D printing technology, PERI has now realized the world’s first residential building extension – also with a 3D printer – in Lindau. You can read all about the project here.
Following the first residential building with 3D printing technology, the company Peri has now realized the world’s first residential building extension – also with a 3D printer – in Lindau. You can read all about the project and its significance for contemporary urban development in terms of redensification here.
A few weeks after Germany’s first 3D-printed house was opened in Beckum, the Weißenhorn-based formwork giant Peri is once again making a name for itself with a project on Lake Constance. This time with the addition of a storey to a residential building in Lindau, Bavaria.
The planning architect André Baldauf is extending the residential building by one storey. What is unique about this residential extension is that the load-bearing wall structures of the new storey are applied to the existing load-bearing structure using a 3D concrete printer. For this purpose, the old roof is first removed and a concrete ceiling is placed on top. In contrast, the ceiling is still being produced conventionally, as current 3D printing processes are not yet suitable for ceilings.
This creates an additional storey on the house with a floor area of 120 square meters and a height of 3.70 meters. The insulation made of Neptune gas insulates the double-shell walls. A new timber folding roof completes the extension at the top. With this project, Peri wants to show how flexibly 3D printing technology can be used in building construction. A particular challenge in the extension project in Lindau was the slope of the property, which initially posed difficulties for those involved in setting up the 3D printer. Like the house in Beckum, the extension in Lindau is a prototype project for Peri, with which the company wants to demonstrate the possibilities of its technology.
Similar to a 3D printer for plastics, the 3D concrete printing process from Danish company Cobod used here involves applying layers of specially designed concrete on top of each other until the desired wall height is reached. This is because the printer is set up as a gantry printer. This means that the machine stands on a structure that spans the work surface. This allows the print head to move in the resulting space. The print head uses a nozzle to apply layers of concrete two centimetres high and five centimetres wide as standard.
Layer by layer, load-bearing walls are created that can follow almost any curves and curves. The layer structure creates the corrugated look of the walls that is typical of this 3D printing variant. According to the manufacturer, the printer used (BOD2) takes around five minutes to print one square meter of double-skin wall.
The concrete used is a special formulation. The manufacturer HeidelbergCement has developed this specifically for 3D printing and calls it “i.tech 3D”. It is designed for good pumpability and high green strength and allows fresh-in-fresh printing. The special concrete is said to be fully recyclable and its development focused on the lowest possibleCO2 footprint. According to the manufacturer, up to 50 percent ofCO2 emissions can be saved compared to conventional concrete construction.
The advantages and disadvantages of adding storeys to buildings using 3D printing are similar to those of 3D building printing in general. In terms of time, costs and manpower, the technology already has an advantage over molded concrete in certain areas of application. In addition, complex shapes can be realized without high additional costs. However, there is currently no way to print reinforced walls with increased load-bearing capacity. This is because the choice of materials for 3D printing of buildings is still very limited.
3D concrete printing could provide a significant boost to urban densification. Where possible, a 3D-printed extension can also be harmoniously added to complex building structures. Compared to traditional construction methods, the disruption caused to the surrounding residents by the construction work would ultimately be reduced, at least in terms of time. This could therefore pave the way for greater acceptance. In the near future, the method could also offer considerable cost savings in some cases compared to traditional formwork concrete construction.
The 3D printing of buildings is still in its infancy and is currently undergoing a rapid phase of development. We can look forward to many more innovations in this area before certain processes become established and suitable for the mass market.
You can find more information on Peri’s 3D concrete printing process on the manufacturer’s website.
Also interesting: In Hamburg, the urban real estate developer Sprinkenhof is planning an administrative building in timber construction together with ADEPT. This is set to become Germany’s largest timber building.
