D_Shape Tech Prints Buildings

 

Joris Peels at the Shapeways Blog posts a rather interesting interview with Enrico Dini, who intends on constructing building-sized objects with 3D printing technology. We've seen building printers before, but this approach could be more interesting - because it's actually happening! The image above shows an alien egg-shaped sculpture within a roundabout. Yes, those are vehicles on the left side, to demonstrate the scale of the object.

The interview explains that Dini experimented with various techniques until finally arriving at a technique called "D-Shape" that is quite intriguing:

• Uses no cement
• Uses any common sand as the building material
• Strength is similar to reinforced concrete
• Onsite printing is possible
• Currently 25dpi resolution (it's a BUILDING after all!)
• Low maintenance effort and costs
• Far less CO2 produced than traditional concrete approaches

You can see the actual printer itself at the Shapeways post.

Via Shapeways Blog