Europe’s largest 3D-printed building is scheduled for completion in July in Heidelberg, Germany.
Spearheaded by Kraus Group, a local real estate developer, investor, and manager, this 6,600-sf project is being constructed for Heidelberg IT Management GmbH and Company KG, a cloud and data center provider. The building will contain an IT server hotel.
PERI 3D Construction is using a BOD2 3D construction printer to print the building’s walls, which PERI estimates will take only 140 hours to complete, or the equivalent of printing four square meters of building per hour.
The printer robots are provided by COBOD, which produced Europe’s first 3D-printed building in 2017 and has sold more than 65 3D printers worldwide. Denmark-based COBOD’s key shareholders include General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim Group, and PERI, the latter of which first used a BOD2 machine in 2020.
Looking to print taller buildings
The Heidelberg project is 162 ft long by 121 ft wide by 30 ft high. Its construction started on March 31. Hans-Jörg Kraus, managing partner of Kraus Group, said in a prepared statement that this project represents his firm’s commitment to innovative and sustainable construction methods.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, COBOD’s founder and GM, added that the two key benefits of 3D printing for construction are speed of execution and design freedom, noting that other projects his company’s printers have been used for include residential housing in Africa and offices in Germany.
The Heidelberg data center’s architects are SSV Architekten and Mense Korte. Heidelberg Materials is supplying an estimated 450 tons of its i.tech 3D printing mortar for this project, which is 100 percent recyclable and contains a binder with a carbon footprint that’s 55 percent lower than Portland cement.
Construction Europe magazine’s website reports that without 3D printing, the unusual design of the building’s walls would have required customized form work. COBOD’s 3D printing system is currently limited to around 9 meters in height, and the company is reportedly working on new technology that will allow its robots to print at taller heights. (The world’s tallest 3D-printed building to date is the three-story, 9.9-meter-high Dar Arkan villa in Saudi Arabia.)
The cost of the Heidelberg project was not disclosed.
Related Stories
Sustainability | Jan 9, 2023
Innovative solutions emerge to address New York’s new greenhouse gas law
New York City’s Local Law 97, an ambitious climate plan that includes fines for owners of large buildings that don’t significantly reduce carbon emissions, has spawned innovations to address the law’s provisions.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Dec 14, 2022
Flood protection: What building owners need to know to protect their properties
This course from Walter P Moore examines numerous flood protection approaches and building owner needs before delving into the flood protection process. Determining the flood resilience of a property can provide a good understanding of risk associated costs.
Mass Timber | Dec 1, 2022
Cross laminated timber market forecast to more than triple by end of decade
Cross laminated timber (CLT) is gaining acceptance as an eco-friendly building material, a trend that will propel its growth through the end of the 2020s. The CLT market is projected to more than triple from $1.11 billion in 2021 to $3.72 billion by 2030, according to a report from Polaris Market Research.
75 Top Building Products | Nov 30, 2022
75 top building products for 2022
Each year, the Building Design+Construction editorial team evaluates the vast universe of new and updated products, materials, and systems for the U.S. building design and construction market. The best-of-the-best products make up our annual 75 Top Products report.
K-12 Schools | Nov 30, 2022
School districts are prioritizing federal funds for air filtration, HVAC upgrades
U.S. school districts are widely planning to use funds from last year’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) to upgrade or improve air filtration and heating/cooling systems, according to a report from the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council. The report, “School Facilities Funding in the Pandemic,” says air filtration and HVAC upgrades are the top facility improvement choice for the 5,004 school districts included in the analysis.
Wood | Nov 16, 2022
5 steps to using mass timber in multifamily housing
A design-assist approach can provide the most effective delivery method for multifamily housing projects using mass timber as the primary building element.
Giants 400 | Nov 14, 2022
4 emerging trends from BD+C's 2022 Giants 400 Report
Regenerative design, cognitive health, and jobsite robotics highlight the top trends from the 519 design and construction firms that participated in BD+C's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Contractors | Nov 14, 2022
U.S. construction firms lean on technology to manage growth and weather the pandemic
In 2021, Gilbane Building Company and Nextera Robotics partnered in a joint venture to develop an artificial intelligence platform utilizing a fleet of autonomous mobile robots. The platform, dubbed Didge, is designed to automate construction management, maximize reliability and safety, and minimize operational costs. This was just one of myriad examples over the past 18 months of contractor giants turning to construction technology (ConTech) to gather jobsite data, manage workers and equipment, and smooth the construction process.
University Buildings | Nov 13, 2022
University of Washington opens mass timber business school building
Founders Hall at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, the first mass timber building at Seattle campus of Univ. of Washington, was recently completed. The 84,800-sf building creates a new hub for community, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according the project’s design architect LMN Architects.
Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Nov 7, 2022
Steel structures offer faster path to climate benefits
Faster delivery of buildings isn’t always associated with sustainability benefits or long-term value, but things are changing. An instructive case is in the development of steel structures that not only allow speedier erection times, but also can reduce embodied carbon and create durable, highly resilient building approaches.
