Thomas Hjort Jensen

Students printing walls

Construction materials Building production and management Building design Building construction

In the spring, DTU’s large 3D concrete printer was used by students participating in a competition to develop innovative solutions for printed houses.

“Currently there’s a lot of focus on speed, but we also believe that there’s a large and as yet untapped potential to make 3D concrete-printed buildings more energy efficient.” 

The words come from the mouths of Lars Fogh, Rasmus Green, and Adrian Brun—students from DTU’s MSc programme in Civil Engineering and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, respectively. In the spring, they tried their hand with DTU’s large 3D concrete printer in the Design Build Lab at DTU Engineering Technology in Ballerup, Denmark. 

The experience was part of the 3D Printing Housing Hack competition held by LaFargeHolcim where the goal was to invent innovative solutions that can develop 3D concrete printing. 

Rasmus Green from DTU says: 

“We’re working on an outer wall that combines several functions. The outer wall has no cold bridges—something that usually poses a challenge with 3D concrete printing. The wall is insulated with the sustainable material mycelium, which has both insulating and structural properties. We’ve also integrated ventilation ducts into the wall.”

Thomas Hjort Jensen

Unique tool

One of Europe’s largest 3D concrete printers is located in the Design Build Lab at DTU Ballerup Campus. The BOD2 printer from the Danish company COBOD International is a so-called gantry printer that can print an area of approx. 12 x 9.5 m with a height of 3.5 m at a speed of up to 30 m/min.

 

The 3D concrete printer offers the BEng academic community in the fields of construction and infrastructure at DTU Engineering Technology, students, and industry access to a unique tool to mature the next generation of concrete printing through joint teaching and development projects at DTU.

 

“The printing exceeded our expectations and the very fact that all our prints didn’t collapse is a success. This is the first time we have seen our concept ‘come to life’. Being able to see and feel the expression in 3D-printed concrete is extremely helpful in the work that follows. The printing process also gave a much better sense of what’s possible as well as the inherent challenges,” says Rasmus Green.