News Detail

Ventures in 3-D

9/4/2018

Recent headlines suggest that three-dimensional (3-D) printing technologies for concrete construction are coming fast. In the past month, a news item reported that a family in France moved into their new 3-D printed home that took 2 days to print. In the Netherlands, an initiative called "Project Milestone" aims to build five 3-D printed houses starting in 2019. A startup in Austin, TX, demonstrated low-cost houses that are printed in 24 hours. An article on the 3D Natives website listed 11 companies that aspire to print houses in a matter of days. The photos that accompany these news articles show compelling architectural shapes that further differentiate new age 3-D printed houses from their traditional stick frame counterparts. The trajectory for an emerging industry may be impressive, but time will tell how the market response unfolds.

All this is no surprise to researchers and visionaries that have watched the early technology rollouts. ACI member Pete Carrato was the inaugural Chair of ACI Committee 131, Building Information Modeling of Concrete Structures, which had its first meeting in November 2009. Carrato is also head judge of the NASA 3D Printed Habitat Challenge that is now underway. The NASA Challenge Phase 3 will cap off with the printing of 3-D structures at the Caterpillar facilities in Peoria, IL, in April 2019. ACI members Anne Ellis, Joe Biernacki, and I are members of the judging team. With a purse of $2M in prize money, NASA promises fame and fortune to the winners of Phase 3.

The NASA Challenge follows a format with a rich tradition. Dangling a carrot of big prize money has been used in the past to spur innovation. In 2004, SpaceShipOne was the winner of a $10M prize for sending a reusable spacecraft into space twice within 2 weeks. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh claimed the $25,000 Orteig Prize when he flew solo from New York to Paris nonstop. And history tells us that in 1795, Napoleon paid 12,000 francs to an inventor of technology for long-term sealed food storage.

Testing 3-D printed concrete for Project Milestone, an initiative with the goal of building 3-D printed houses starting in 2019 (photo courtesy of 3dprintedhouse.nl)

The current NASA Challenge is not just about public relations, but is aimed at spurring developing creative solutions with real commercial impact. I attended the NASA Phase 2 competition in Peoria in August 2017. It was a frenetic event for the competing teams, but there was plenty of time for the judges to visit and contemplate the impact that 3-D printing may have on the construction industry as the technology matures and the markets develop. I learned that venture capital (VC) firms are being attracted to this technology space. I expect to hear about VC firms funding medical device start-ups in Silicon Valley, but it was unusual to hear about this funding mechanism turning toward technologies used in construction.

High growth and high return opportunities in construction include new BIM software, 4-D planning, material tracking systems, efficient crane control, wearable devices for the construction site, smart vests that monitor worker heart rate and respiration for work in confined spaces, and virtual reality tools to aid construction sequencing. Carrato tells me, "The Dot Com era for construction is here." ACI member Florian Barth agrees. He recently wrote me that VC partnerships try to identify disruption like smart asset management, smart operations controls, smart products, and smart enterprises. Big Data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and nanotechnology have roles to play in concrete construction, and we are only at the beginning of a wave of advances.

I am finalizing this memo during a break at a Gordon Research Conference in Hong Kong, and the discussion this week has underscored that there are many, many academic and industry researchers trying to address a myriad of challenges that lie ahead. It has been an exciting week. There is a lot yet to do. But hopes are high, and the future is bright.

David A. Lange