Shanghai-based
WinSun Decoration Design Engineering company made waves in April after saying
it successfully constructed 10 full-sized, single-story houses in an
impressively fast 24-hour period. But today Joe Kempton, an analyst with
Canalys, an international technology sector advisory group, says that the
company’s claims may not match the current capabilities of 3-D printing
technology.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the firm
uses four large 3-D printers to make the small houses using a mixture of cement
and other construction waste materials. The printers dramatically reduce
construction costs by being able to repurpose old construction materials and
reducing labor costs, printing each house for under $5,000.
WinSun holds 77 national patents for its
construction materials. But while the company hopes to pioneer 3-D printing
construction, China’s volatile real estate market may put an end to those
dreams - the risk of a real estate bubble in China has been written about
extensively.
WinSun’s chief executive Ma Yihe says he
hopes to one day build a skyscraper using 3-D printing technology. But China’s
push to build will likely have tapered off by the time technology can catch up
to what's needed to build really viable printed houses. “In all honesty it is
more likely to be 100 years before we get anything close to automated
construction on the scale and complexity that we currently require,” Kempton
said.
(Πηγή: ibtimes.com)
