Dwellings made by giant 3D printers are erected in Germany, Belgium, Kenya, the Philippines, China, Dubai. In Canada, a first residential building, comprising four apartments, was built with this technology in Leamington, Ontario.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
This innovative project is notably led by Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, in conjunction with researchers from the University of Windsor and the Municipality of Leamington.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WINDSOR-ESSEX
On July 22, the roof frame was installed on top of the house built using a concrete 3D printer, in Leamington.
“It’s great to see so many different groups working together to do something remarkable that will hopefully change the future of housing,” said Fiona Coughlin, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Windsor. -Essex. “It’s very exciting because this is the first multi-unit building built with a 3D printer in North America. »
We are in the midst of a housing crisis and we need to innovate. Part of the experience serves to demonstrate that we can build efficiently for less with this technology, and provide affordable and sustainable housing.
Fiona Coughlin, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex
PHOTO PROVIDED BY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WINDSOR-ESSEX
Pamela Breault, Director of Operations, and Fiona Coughlin, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex, stand in the concrete house being built by a giant 3D printer in Leamington, Ontario.
Huge, the 3D concrete printers follow a predetermined route by computer and use concrete as a material, with a cleverly calculated consistency, since the walls are mounted one line at a time. Each coat should have dried sufficiently when the next coat is added on top. The four-unit building, partially subsidized by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), will be handed over to the community organization The Bridge.
“It was clear from the start, with the municipality, that we were working together with the aim of constructing the first building of its kind in Canada, which would be inhabited,” says Ms.me Coughlin. Each adaptation to the Building Code has been approved beforehand in order to obtain the necessary permits. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NIDUS3D
Construction of the 3D concrete house in Leamington began in early April. The giant concrete 3D printer follows a pre-determined path by computer.
The adventure began in May 2021. The company that performs concrete 3D printing, nidus3D, was contacted in the spring of 2022, some time after acquiring a 3D construction printer from the Danish company COBOD .
“It is part of our core values, to seek solutions to address the housing crisis and to help build affordable housing,” explains Ian Arthur, president of nidus3D and, until recently, MP for the constituency of Kingston and the Islands, under the banner of the New Democratic Party of Ontario.
-
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY NIDUS3D
In August, nidus3D plans to start building a two-story house with a basement in Kingston with a concrete 3D printer.
-
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY NIDUS3D
The interior walls of the future two-story house, which nidus3D will build with a concrete 3D printer, in Kingston, will not be covered with gypsum. The insulation will be in the cavity between the exterior and interior walls.
-
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY NIDUS3D
The interior walls of the future two-storey house, which nidus3D will build with a concrete 3D printer, in Kingston, will not necessarily be covered with gypsum.
1/3
“Our company’s vision is not limited to concrete 3D printing,” he explains. We want to review the way homes are built. In this project, which was very advanced when we embarked, we have a partnership with the civil engineering departments of the universities of Windsor and Queen’s, which are doing a lot of tests. It’s precious. I expected more resistance from established entrepreneurs. But the pressure is so great in the industry in Ontario, grappling with a shortage of labor and rising prices, that people are desperately looking for solutions. Concrete 3D printing is very fast and predictable. There are no mistakes. We begin construction in August on a two-storey house with a basement in Kingston. »
Research at the University of Sherbrooke
PHOTO MICHEL CARON, UNIVERSITY OF SHERBROOKE, PROVIDED BY AMMAR YAHIA
This concrete 3D printer designed by a team of researchers from the University of Sherbrooke performs numerous tests as part of the research activities of the NSERC Industrial Chair on fluid concretes with adapted rheology.
Ammar Yahia, a professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sherbrooke, strongly believes in this technology. Holder of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in the development of fluid concretes with adapted rheology, he designed with his team of researchers the first concrete 3D printer in Canada.
“It’s a small-scale printer, which prints 2 m by 2 m by 2 m elements, which allows us to test and validate the performance of the materials we develop,” he explains. Our ultimate goal is to have a large-scale printer so that we can actually print houses. We are very advanced in the development of materials, which we seek to make low carbon. Within a year or two, if we get the funding, we’ll start making prototypes. We could build a show house in three or four years. »
3D concrete printing eliminates the formwork step, which typically accounts for 40% of a project’s cost, he notes.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY AMMAR YAHIA
Ammar Yahia, professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sherbrooke
This is a major simplification of the construction process. We are moving towards the manufacture of a cake without a mold, where the material retains its shape.
Ammar Yahia, professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sherbrooke
“3D concrete printing also makes it possible to considerably reduce waste and to build elements with very complex geometric shapes,” continues Ammar Yahia.
Marco Lasalle, Director of Technical Services at the Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec (APCHQ), follows advances in the field with interest.
“The house in Leamington, which is being built as part of university research, is a very good start,” he says. Except that in terms of compliance with the Construction Code, if we want to build differently, we must demonstrate that our method will be at least equal to or of superior quality to the minimum of the Code. We haven’t reached that point in the demonstration. But Quebec, thanks to the research carried out there, is certainly in the race for printed houses. »