How is 3D Printing Affecting the Architecture Industry?
We live in a world where technology is advancing every single day. If you don’t check the latest news in a week or a month, you will be surprised by everything new that’s happening and we don’t even pay attention to it. From smartphones to medical advances and up to the architecture industry, we get new things every day that are making our lives safer and easier. One of the latest trends is 3D printing.
Even though 3D printing is not something that happened a year ago, now more and more companies are using it to save time, money and to make the jobs of the workers easier. When we use 3D printing, we can see the models that we were able just to imagine before we could look to the real product. This type of printing is not largely used in medicine and it is safe to say that many lives are saved by this technology.
However, one thing you probably didn’t know before is that this technology is also used in the architecture industry. Here we are going to talk about it and how it made a difference in it.
New opportunities
Did you know that 3D printing can actually be used to create larger objects and structures? A residential or a commercial building could be printed room by room and this would allow the crew to assemble and build in a variety of new environments, locales and even hard to reach locations.
The plan the experts have is the structure to be firstly designed and then printed elsewhere, and then to be hauled to the destination to be assembled. Sounds cool, right?
Print everything
If we use this technology in the right way, then everything could be printed that comes into the building. This includes floorboards, ducts, internal walls, and fixtures. The building that is made like this will be really efficient and all the components will be built or attached right into the main framing.
This process will speed the development up because everything would already be embedded within the prefabs. This will allow designers more creative freedom and it is possible to have more space for other things.
Realistic scale concepts and models
This is probably the biggest difference 3D printing is making in the architecture industry. Now we are able to look at a scale model of a structure and then slide open the hatch and just look inside the structure.
And this is not something we need to imagine for the future, it’s something that’s available now. These models offer more than just reference points and resources, engineers and designers are able to see the results of the work before anything is put in place.
This process is used to test new designs and possibilities and can even be used to test the durability of a structure even before it is made. The great thing is that these models are even available for the public as novelties and they can see more about their favorite building before they go and visit it in person.
New designs
Until now the designers and developers were limited in their creativity. With the nature of the 3D technology now they are able to be as creative as they want. There is no limit to creations to modern structures now. The modeling of the structures will not change drastically. According to Pick3DPrinter, these are the best sites for free 3D Printer STL files that architects are testing With right now.
Did you know that there is a Chinese company that already printed an entire apartment building? And the speed was just breathtaking! They printed and developed one floor per day. Imagine a world where a completely new building can be erected in just a few days! This will be a huge game-changer in every aspect of our lives!
Commercial development
China is not the only place where 3D printing is taking place! In Dubai, the world’s first printed office building was just finished.
They used a printer that was 20 feet high, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide and a unique cement mixture was used to be able to create this structure. It only took them 17 days to build and assemble this structure. This was definitely not possible before.
More jobs
There are many people who fear that with this technology people will be losing their jobs. The reality is quite different. Experts say that when a structure is printed and assembled that fast, the people will have more work overtime. The popularity of this technology will only get up and this means that there will be a huge increase in interest for the companies that are working in 3D printing.
More and more people will be hired to do that and this skill will be something people will cherish. It is said that this is the future and our future generations will have one more thing to focus on.
Experts say that the 3D printing construction will become mainstream in the near future. This opens an endless list of opportunities for companies that use this technology.
In 2017, the manufacturing market was about $8.8 million. The same market is expected to fetch up to almost $27 billion by 2024.
What do you think, are our lives becoming better because of the 3D printing technology? Have you ever used this type of printer? There is not a single person in the world who would not want to have a printer like this in their own home. No matter if it is just something you could play with or something that would make your business better, we all want them.
With the advance of every industry, we want things to get easier and to get better. It is said that many people are more protected now and that they can focus on things that are more important. As time goes by, we expect new technologies to show up that will make things even better.
The 3D printing definitely made a difference in our lives and every industry, from construction to architecture. Now we can expect our houses to be done in a matter of days, not years. This cuts overall costs in construction and opens a lot more doors for creative freedom.
