Europe's largest 3D-printer just made its first two-story house - CNET

Belgian company Kamp C recently finished construction on its first 3D-printed two-story house. The printing was done by a massive cement printer called the BOD2, made by a company called COBOD (Construction of Buildings on Demand).

The house itself was printed in just 15 days, spread out over the course of several months to accommodate the school schedules of the students who were working on the project.

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Construction began in November 2019, when the printer was delivered to the construction site and assembled by crane. Human laborers helped set up, maintain and assist the printer. Once it's up and running, the BOD2 is fully autonomous and only requires one person monitoring the process from a computer nearby.

Since its completion, the 3D-printed two-story house remains on location in Belgium alongside the printer that birthed it, for visitors to stop by and marvel at. Kamp C says in the future, its hoping to turn the building into an office space for people to rent, or perhaps someday, a place for people to live.

This two-story marvel joins other exciting developments in the emerging field of 3D-printing in construction, including the world's first 3D-printed community, currently being built in a seismic zone in Mexico. 

3D-printing has the potential to make construction more sustainable and housing more affordable, but the potential usefulness of this technology goes beyond construction. Kamp C says one of its partners is developing a new way to build swimming pools that incorporates 3D-printing, and COBOD has partnered with GE Renewable Energy to help 3D-print concrete bases for windmills, which GE says will lead to the construction of taller, more efficient wind turbines.