You next new home or commercial building may be so different from what we are presently used to that no one can really imagine the details of what a building will be in the next few years. We are accustomed to buildings that are various boxes put together in only a few configurations. New building will not need squared corners, or flat roof lines, or traditional heating and cooling, or connection to power grids. Architectural details will take on an intricacy that present construction methods would make so exorbitant in price that we can’t even conceive of doing such things. Your next home or commercial building may be constructed in hours and cost less than half of conventional building cost.
Three dimensional printing technology is developing rapidly. Within the next 5 years 3D printing will change the ways we do many things. Articles as diverse as human replacement parts, food and antique replica parts for vehicles and furniture are currently being made. There are companies that will custom print your design from an emailed CAD file. In the very near future this is the way many items will be manufactured including residential and commercial buildings. There are even plans being developed to print housing on the moon using solar powered 3D printers that use moon dust as a building medium.
Three dimensional printers are very similar to your ink jet printer except that it prints layers on layers of print medium until the desired object is built. New materials and machines are constantly being developed for 3D printing. Plastics, metal wire, ceramic, concrete, foam, sand and liquid adhesive are some of the materials currently being used. The most intricate designs are possible with 3D printing, also called contour crafting. Designs will be limited only by imagination.
You will be able to design your own home on a 3D drawing program creating almost anything you can imagine. You will email the plans to the builder and the structure will be printed in just a few days from site preparation to finish.
Printing housing has advantages. Labor costs are much lower. There are fewer humans used in the process. Houses can be printed in hours using fewer materials resulting in stronger, more energy efficient homes with the possibility for intricacy that has never been seen before. The down side is that the labor intensive construction industry employees a lot of people who will have no role in future construction.
These buildings will become common within 5-10 years according to some estimates. Combined with other developing technology, 3D building printing will bring us safer, more environmentally friendly housing and commercial buildings that will cost less, require less maintenance and last longer. Big changes in construction, buildings and even the way we live are coming soon. Three dimensional printing will bring soon touch every aspect of our lives.
Robots are coming to construction. The video below shows a Japanese construction robot at work