Standard needed for 3-D printed buildings

Industry experts called for cooperation between the government and companies to establish standards for 3-D printed buildings at a news conference for Winsun Construction Technique Co on Sunday in Shanghai.

The Shanghai-based company is a specialist of 3-D printed buildings.

At the news conference, it announced its latest works, such as 3-D printed steel structure residences and underground infrastructure. These green buildings have been built in cities including Shanghai, Suzhou, Dubai and Milan.

Shi Dinghuan, president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, said the innovation of Winsun is expected to bring about a revolution across the construction industry, and lead to the popularization and application of the technology on a global scale.

To achieve this goal, a well-established standard for 3-D printed buildings is indispensable, Shi said.

"The standard should not be regional or an industry standard. It should be a national standard formulated through the participation of the government and enterprises as soon as possible. Only in this way, such technology in the construction industry can be popularized," he said.

In Dubai, the company printed 19 office buildings for local government, which would require more than a month to finish with traditional construction methods. They first spent several hours printing building modules and then put them together in five days.

According to the company, 3-D printing technology can save up to 60 percent of building materials and 50 to 80 percent of manpower, and the buildings are five times stronger than those built in traditional ways.

"Integrating the traditional construction processes, the 3-D printing technology greatly improves work efficiency and helps save costs," said Ma Yihe, president of Winsun, which developed the building "printers" and related construction products.

"All the printing materials come from construction waste, industrial waste or tailings. Meanwhile, the printing process is environmentally friendly, because such new technology does not produce additional waste," Ma said.

Ma said his company has been working on the development of 3-D printing technology for the construction industry and related products for more than a decade.

In 2014, the company printed 10 single-story houses in the Shanghai Hi-Tech Industrial Park in less than a day with giant printers, each measuring 32 meters long, 10 meters wide and 6.6 meters tall.

Last year, the company printed a stand-alone villa covering 1,100 square meters and a full-sized, six-story building, at the Suzhou industrial park in Jiangsu province.

In addition to 3-D house printing technology, the company also developed the construction stone materials, which can decorate the interior and exterior walls and various floor models. They were used in projects including the National Center for Performing Arts, China National Aquatics Center, China Peking Opera Theatre, Shanghai World Expo Center, Guangzhou Baiyu International Meeting Center, Shenzhen Poly Theatre and Fuzhou Grand Theatre.

So far, the company has been granted 129 patents. "The technologies and products developed by our company are mature, and in the next step our major task is to promote the technologies' application worldwide," Ma said.

The company also announced its "Global Dreamworks" plan, under which it plans to establish 12 factories around the world cooperating with local companies and governments on projects of 3-D printed building and materials.

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/30/2016 page17)