3D printed home in Eindhoven welcomes tenants in European first

Tenants have now moved in to Europe’s first fully 3D printed house, which has been built out of layers of concrete in Eindhoven.

The house, a detached single-storey home with two bedrooms, is designed to look like a boulder to fit in with the natural surroundings, while at the same time demonstrating the versatility of 3D printing.

The property is the first of five homes planned by the construction firm Saint-Gobain Weber Beamix in Bosrijk. The builder forms part of Project Milestone which also includes real estate developer Vesteda, Eindhoven University of Technology and engineering firm Witteveen+Bos.

Thanks to extra thick insulation and a connection to the city heating system, the home is highly comfortable and energy efficient. And, after overcoming initial problems with the curves of the walls, printed homes can now be built quickly and so help reduce the housing shortage, Eindhoven housing chief Yasin Torunoglu said.

‘With the 3D-printed home, we’re now setting the tone for the future: the rapid realization of affordable homes with control over the shape of your own house. I’m proud that this promising innovation has a place in our city and, more importantly, that it provides people with an affordable home,’ Torunoglu said.

New tenants Elize Lutz, 70, and Harrie Dekkers, 67, retired shopkeepers from Amsterdam, received their digital key – an app allowing them to open the front door of their two-bedroom bungalow at the press of a button – on Thursday.

‘It is beautiful,’ said Lutz. ‘It has the feel of a bunker – it feels safe,’ Dekkers told the Guardian.

The house consists of 24 concrete elements which were printed layer by layer at the printing plant in Eindhoven. The elements were transported by truck to the building site and placed on a foundation. The house was then provided with a roof and window frames before the finishing touches were applied.

CEO Bas Huysmans of Saint Gobain Weber Benelux said that the construction challenges that had been overcome meant ‘a very special home’ had been realised. ‘I think that we’ll soon be able to proudly add the Milestone houses to the list of iconic projects in Eindhoven,’ Huysmans said.