DFAB House – build using 3D printers 'new way of seeing architecture'

The DFAB House was created using 60 per cent less cement than a normal man-made house.

(Web Desk) – Researchers in Switzerland have built an entire house using robots and 3D-printed materials in what they say are the future of building. The proof of concept comes in the form of the DFAB House, celebrated as the first habitable building designed and planned using choreography of digital fabrication methods. (DFAB stands for digital fabrication technologies).

The DFAB House was created using 60 per cent less cement than a normal man-made house, according to its creators.

Erecting a new building ranks among the most inefficient, polluting activities humans undertake. The construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of the world’s total energy consumption and CO2 emissions, according to a UN global survey.

The process turned out to be faster, more environmentally friendly and safer than manual construction.

The DFAB House, built near the capital of Zurich, is the first habitable home to have been made entirely of digital fabrication methods, its creators said.

And the 2,370 square foot (220 square metres) house made it through strict Swiss planning laws and it’s hoped it will inspire the future of construction. A member of the DFAB team, Matthias Kohler told Quartz: ‘This is a new way of seeing architecture.

‘Suddenly how we use resources to build our habitats is at the center of architecture. How you build matters.’

The timber frame was constructed on-site by robots and the walls were specially designed to be as energy-efficient as possible.

Although the robots which built the house were able to do so significantly faster than people, the speed gains were secondary to the team’s overall goal.

And they said the improvements shouldn’t scare people into thinking machines will cut labourers out of their jobs.

Handmade interiors and designs will potentially become even more desirable as building processes are more standardised and control by robots, Mr Kohler suggested.

There will need to be people to operate the robots, too, and working alongside automated machines may be safer than being with other people.

‘I think that future machines will be less separated from human,’ he said.

‘One should not romanticize the jobs on the construction sites. [It] really makes sense to have this kind of collaborative setups where robots and human work together.’

The DFAB House is not the first to have been built by robots.