Skolkovo resident AMT has created the biggest residential building to be made using 3D printing technology in Europe and the CIS: a fully-fledged house in the Russian city of Yaroslavl.
The spacious 3D-printed house was built in the Russian city of Yaroslavl for a local family. Photo: AMT.
Construction on the house, which has a total area of 298.5 square metres, began in 2015, when the building frame was printed in parts and assembled within a month in December of that year. In the summer of 2017, the roof and interior were completed. The building fully complies with individual housing construction regulations, is connected to all utility systems and is ready for the family that will occupy it to move in.
"It was important for us to set a precedent: to show in practice that 3D construction technology works," said Alexander Maslov, general director of the Yaroslavl-based AMT Group, who was in charge of construction.
“At the time we launched the project, printing a house was something from the realm of fantasy. Our task was to make it a reality,” he said.
The building fully complies with housing construction regulations and is ready to move into. Photo: AMT.
3D construction printing consists of creating a 3D model on a computer, dividing the model into cross-section layers, layer-by-layer extrusion of the cement-based mixture in accordance with the model, and the solidifying of the material until the building is complete. It reduces the time from design to production by up to 8-12 times compared to traditional construction.
AMT's 3D printer applies sandcrete in layers 10 mm high. Photo: AMT.
“We printed the building in parts (the walls, decorative elements, and the tower), and then took the parts to the construction site and assembled them like a Lego kit,” said Maslov. “Since then, of course, the equipment has been improved: both the speed of printing and the quality. But even our first model showed that it was reliable and efficient equipment."
AMT is the first serial manufacturer of construction 3D printers in Europe. Its line of printers ranges in size from those for printing small architectural forms to those capable of printing buildings up to three stories high. AMT’s printers are in use in four countries.
“Printing was done in the shop with the smallest printer: a S-6044 construction printer, a portal-type model with a working field of 3.5 x 3.6 x 1 metres,” said Maslov.
The printer can be used with standard M-300 sandcrete that is widely available. Printing is done in layers 10 mm high and 30 to 50 mm wide. Walls can be printed at a speed of up to 15 square metres per hour.
Maslov said AMT’s status as a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation’s energy cluster enabled it to accelerate its development and entry onto foreign markets, which in turn facilitates the promotion of Russian additive technologies overall.
“Russian developers are among the world’s leaders in the field of 3D printing in construction,” said Oleg Pertsovsky, operations director of Skolkovo’s energy cluster.
“Today, AMT presented the impressive result of its innovative activity: a fully formed house suitable for permanent residence. Skolkovo is actively attracting projects devoted to using 3D printing for construction, and support from the foundation will enable these companies to boost their development, not only on the Russian market, but globally.”