Faced with a desperate need  to construct more homes

faster, and in a more efficient way -

countless innovators have found themselves

drawn by the idea of being able  to quickly print a structure  

and have spent years trying  to scale the technology.

But for all their efforts, that  3D-printed world has proven elusive  

and many impressive prototypes have struggled

to become viable for mass-production.

But things have just taken a  massive step forward in Germany

with the completion of the first-ever  3D-printed home to become fully certified  

under a national government's  building regulations. 

The impact of this moment for construction

and for the buildings we all use could be huge.

With the promise of cutting  waste, reducing time on site

and addressing labour shortages,  

some see 3D-printing as the answer  to many of our world's challenges.

Originally used for small-scale prototypes,  

advances in 3D printing technology have led  to the creation of full-scale structures like  

bridges and homes, and even proposals  for mankind's first martian base.

But while 3D-printed structures have  appeared around the world - from Canada  

and The Netherlands to Dubai; which wants  to 3D-print a quarter of its new buildings  

by 2030 - the technology is yet to take  off as a widespread building technique.

But the completion of this  3D-printed house in Beckum, Germany,

is set to change everything. 

Developed by leading formwork  and scaffolding firm PERI,

experts in its Disruptive Products  and Technologies department

and its project partners,  

the structure, a detached single-family  property, is the first 3D-printed house  

in Germany - and offers 160 square metres  of living space across its two storeys.

Critically, the structure is the first 3D-printed  

building in Germany to become certified  with a national building accreditation,  

smashing a major barrier and paving the  way for larger, more complex projects.

Located just outside the city of Ulm,  

PERI's team is now working on the largest  3D-printed multi-family house in Europe

with 380 square metres of living space

divided into five apartments across three levels.

So how did PERI get into the world of 3D printing?

Here at PERI we have a think tank  - a department called Disruptive  

Products and Technologies - and they  think about products and technologies

that might substitute our current core products

or that might endanger our business model.

In this department various ideas are  always thrown around and actively pursued,  

so it's not just a monitoring department.

One of the topics even years ago  was 3D construction printing.

When we built up the printer  on the construction site

- directly on the site - and we  started printing there, that was  

a moment for me where I realised  that we are printing that on site

and people will live there.

That for me was a moment where I said

'Wow, this is not just theory, it's not  just in a lab, it could happen for real'.

The homes were both built with  COBOD's modular BOD 2 printing  

system - a flexible platform that can be  scaled to suit projects of varying size.  

The printer needs just two operators and  takes less than 48 hours to set-up on-site.

Once up and running, the system can  print as fast as a metre per second  

using data from integrated design models.

There are a lot of firms around  the world that will have done this,  

a lot of research teams that have  3D-printed buildings over the years  

and there have been different  levels of excitement around it.

Why isn't it widespread? Why isn't it just  the way that we build all of our buildings?

3D-printing really affects the overall  construction process. It has an impact  

on the planning side, the execution  of the walls but also on other trades  

and the planning and permitting - all  of these things come into play here.

The buildings that we've seen across  the globe actually have seen a steady  

increase in, let's say, validity.

The first ones have basically  been big 3D-printed flower pots

where all the other trades have  been thrown in there but nobody  

has thought about how to integrate  it into a full construction process.

Maybe sometimes in the news and media

it's always been portrayed like everything  was perfect but obviously this has been a  

steady learning curve and now we feel  that we have hit another milestone  

where we've now been able to  execute these permitted buildings.

What PERI have done in Germany with  this building - how is that different  

to what we've seen before in Dubai,  The Netherlands and many other places?

We wanted to do real-world, architectural-scale

permitted residential buildings.

We've done lots and lots of tests  to get this German building permit

and we have one of the toughest building  codes around so that's quite a milestone  

to get these completely normally permitted  

residential homes - and that I think  is where the core difference lies.

I have included project partners from  the start. We are working directly with  

construction companies, we are working  directly with architects, which don't want  

to make just a demo project - it's a real  project where later people will live in.

It's a project where the investors  get rents out every month

so it's something which will be used and the  other thing I guess is the speed and the size.

Now it's actually the biggest  3D-printed building in Europe.

PERI also engaged a number of the  core trades on these projects;  

a critical hurdle that few other 3D-printed  buildings have attempted to cross.

With services and other works already  coordinated with the structural design,

errors on site have been almost  completely eradicated - saving time,  

money and waste material.

While the savings may be modest here,  

they'd soon add up across an entire  estate or housing development.

What kind of real-world savings have  you seen on this project so far?

This integration of other trades has a huge  impact. We've had an electrician come into  

one of these buildings and he says 'Well  guys, I'll be saving up to 12 days in here.'

So we are saving a lot of labour in  other trades because in the buildings  

we are executing there is not going to  be a single slot that has to be cut,  

nobody's going to have to drill  a hole for a power outlet.

Though the design of these buildings  may feel relatively straight-forward  

when compared to some of today's  architecture, the team are using the  

lessons learned to construct larger  structures in a variety of forms.

With German building certifications now  under their belt, the team are planning  

more projects using different materials  and with a focus on further reducing waste.

But, while there is cause for optimism,  

we're still some way from the  widespread uptake of 3D-printing

and several challenges remain  - not least breaking into

a traditionally conservative industry.

Securing German building certification is a  

huge step for you guys and a huge  step for the world of 3D-printing.

What other barriers and challenges are  on the way between where we are now  

and this being the way we build  our homes, buildings, offices.

It's a lot about educating people,  really. It's a different type of  

planning a building - it's different for the  contractor, it's different for the electrician,  

it's different all around for everybody involved.

So all these trades have to learn how  to cope with this technology and how to  

make the best of it - not be threatened by it

but to see the potential it can  have for these individual trades  

in making their lives easier and making  construction more safe and more efficient.

There's definitely a spot for all the  other conventional construction techniques

who are also evolving. 3D-printing  will play a very important role

- we're very convinced of that -  but this education and diffusion  

process into the market will still take some time.

Would you live in a 3D-printed house?

Of course! Right away - I'd be  all over the design of that.  

Just having round shapes, which  are also way more sustainable than

the weird rectangles that we build right now.

We've tested all of it so we  know it's very, very stable.

While the technology has had its challenges,  

the success of PERI's project in  Germany marks a major step forward

and will stand as a powerful case study for  innovators - rekindling the determination  

to make this building technique viable at scale. 

That 3D-printed world we've imagined

has just moved one huge step  closer to becoming real.

This video was made possible by  PERI - learn more at the link below.  

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