First ever 3D-printed house in Netherlands welcomes its first tenants
The tenants of the first ever 3D-printed concrete house in the Netherlands received keys to their new home on Friday. The house, the first of five planned in 'Project Milestone', is located in the Bosrijk district of Eindhoven. It is the first legally habitable property with load-bearing walls made using 3D-printing technology, according to TU/Eindhoven.
The house, whose first residents are a retired couple from Amsterdam, features a spacious living room and two bedrooms. Inspired by the shape of a boulder, the property has 94 square meters of floor space and consists of 24 concrete elements, which were printed layer by layer at a factory in Eindhoven.
"That fits well with the natural location, and it beautifully demonstrates the freedom of form that 3D concrete printing offers," said the initiators of the project.
The project partners will soon start designing the next set of houses, which are expected to have several floors. Aside from being more sustainable and offering more personalized styles and designs, the development of such homes can also make a positive impact on the ongoing housing crisis in the country.
"We have to build 1 million homes in ten years in the Netherlands. By building in an industrial way, but at the same time providing custom designs, we think we can really make a contribution to the problem of the housing shortage," said Theo Salet, professor of concrete structures at TU/Eindhoven.
Project Milestone is a project of Eindhoven University of Technology, construction group Van Wijnen, housing investor Vesteda, building materials producer Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix, the municipality of Eindhoven and consultancy and engineering firm Witteveen + Bos.
