Construction firm building Europe’s largest 3D-printed apartment building

German construction company, PERI GmbH, announced that it has begun work on a 5-in-a-block apartment building with around 380 square metres of living space, making it the largest printed residential building in Europe when completed.

According to the company, the residential building has a full-length basement and will consist of five apartments across three floors. Once construction is complete in approximately six weeks, the apartments will be rented out, except for one show apartment.

“With the project in Wallenhausen, we are seeing the PERI 3D construction printing team take the next important step. At the same time, PERI is consolidating its position as a leading company in the field of 3D construction printing,” says Thomas Imbacher, Managing Director Marketing & Innovation at PERI Group. “By printing the first apartment building in Germany, we are demonstrating that this new construction technology can also be used to print large-scale dwelling units. In terms of 3D construction printing, we are opening up additional areas of application on an entirely new level.”

To construct the building, PERI is using the BOD2 gantry printer. The system has a print head that moves about 3 axes on a metallic frame. During the printing process, the printer takes into account the pipes and connections for water, electricity, etc. that are to be laid at a later time. According to PERI, the BOD2 allows for manual work, such as the installation of empty pipes and connections, to be carried out during the printing process.

Two operators are required to run the printer. The print head and the print results are monitored by a camera. With a speed of 1 m/s, the BOD2 is currently the fastest 3D construction printer available on the market, the company says, and can complete 1m² of a double-skin wall in around five minutes.
www.peri.com