WinSun's 3D-printed mansion shows that quality can be made using scrap materials. (Photo : www.inhabitat.com)
The newest mansion in China is made of recycled materials and was constructed using a 3D printer. The 3D mansion was developed by the Chinese company WinSun using construction waste and recycled stone.
Aside from the mansion, Winson also 3D-printed a five-story apartment building in one day and 10 affordable houses, all from recycled materials.
To print the mansion, WinSun constructed a 20-foot-high by 4,000-foot-long printer, basically a larger-than-life 3D printer. The printer combined recycled materials and quick-dry cement and printed layers of the pasty material in diagonal shapes. The printed material is then left to dry. The printed pieces are then reinforced with steel and filled with insulation like any other ordinary house wall.
The WinSun 3D five-story apartment building took one whole day to print and five days to be put together using construction waste and minimal labor. The mansion also saved on construction materials and manpower costs. The whole mansion costs only $161,000 all in all.
WinSun is looking to use the same efficient and low-cost construction materials and build bridges and skyscrapers. The company has already proven that it can be done. Last March, WinSun constructed 10 houses at $5,000 each using a 3D printer.
3D printing refers to the process of depositing material layer by layer in a powder bed with inkjet printer heads. The main difference between a regular printer and a 3D printer is that a regular printer ejects ink, while a 3D printer ejects plastic or other materials and the end product is a physical 3D object that can be used on anything.
