Anthony Vu

A team of innovators, in collaboration with building industry partners, are 3D-printing a two-story, single-family home in Houston.

The project is the culmination of a two-year collaborative effort and is spearheaded by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, principals of HANNAH and assistant professors at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, along with PERI 3D Construction, an international provider for 3D construction printing, and CIVE, an engineering and design/build contractor in Houston.

The 4,000-square-foot project will be constructed with a hybridized method that combines concrete 3D printing with wood framing. This approach allows the two material systems to be used strategically and aims to increase the applicability of 3D printing in the U.S., where framing is the one of the most common construction techniques.

HANNAH

“For the design of the project, we developed a hybrid construction approach that couples innovations in concrete 3D printing with traditional wood framing techniques to create a building system that is structurally efficient, easily replicable, and materially responsive,” state Lok and Zivkovic. “The project also highlights the exciting design potential of mass-customized architectural components to meet homeowner’s needs and to simplify building system integration. These design efforts aim to increase the impact, applicability, sustainability, and cost efficiency of 3D printing for future residential and multifamily buildings in the U.S.”

Using the COBOD BOD2 gantry printer, the project takes advantage of the printer’s modularity for its design layout and is conceptualized as a series of printed cores that contain functional spaces and stairs. The spatial cores are connected by wood framing to produce an architectural alternation of concrete and framed interiors.

“We are incredibly proud to not only showcase the possibilities of the BOD2 3D-construction printer but also our extensive know-how in planning, engineering, and printing on this project, which is the seventh and largest one we printed so far,” says Fabian Meyer-Brötz, CEO of PERI 3D Construction. “We are convinced that it will set new standards from a design as well as printing execution perspective and underlines our role as the forerunner for this new construction technique.”