If you think 3D technology only has an application in movies, think again. 3D printed home building could address a plethora of concerns, from homelessness to sustainability, offering great promise for the future. This emerging building method is far less wasteful, far faster and far cheaper in terms of building much sturdier homes. The only downside currently is that the skills and technology required to construct these houses isn’t widely available just yet. However, the transition to 3D printed construction could create many new white-collar jobs, as the training required isn’t considered to be exceedingly difficult. Many industries are being transformed by 3D printing, starting with manufacturing: HP, for example, moved from prototyping to production parts, then to colors, and finally to metals. Now HP is working on mixed material 3D printing and the possibility of composite metal/plastic parts. But where 3D printing could have the most significant impact is on home building. It could reduce build times from several weeks to mere days, reduce costs to one-seventh of what it currently costs for people to build a house, and could reduce construction waste by almost 60 percent. In terms of resilience, 3D homes in China are designed to survive an 8.0 Richter scale earthquake, and the relatively high accident rates associated with traditional home construction are eliminated with 3D home building. Before you know it, 3D printing might be building your next home.
