3D printing reaches new heights with two-story house

A 3D printer is taking housing construction to a new level — literally. The massive printer weighing more than 12 tons is creating what is believed to be the first 3D-printed two-story home in the United States.

The machine continues to hum as it pours out layers of concrete to build the 1,200-square-foot Houston home.

Construction will take a total of 330 print hours, said architect Leslie Lok, co-founder of design studio Hannah and designer of the home.

“Actually, you can find a lot of 3D-printed buildings in many states,” said Lok. “One of the things about printing a second story is you need, you know, the machine… And of course, there are other challenges: structural challenges, logistical challenges when we print a two-story building.”

The three-bedroom, timber-framed home is halfway through the process and is being sold to a family, who prefer to remain anonymous, she said.

The project is a two-year collaboration between Hannah, Peri 3D Construction and Cive, a construction engineering company.

Hikmat Zerbe, head of structural engineering at Cive, hopes the innovative technique will one day help build multi-family homes faster and cheaper.

In addition, concrete can withstand hurricanes, strong storms and other severe weather conditions in Texas, which due to climate change are becoming more frequent and severe.

And because the printer does all the heavy lifting, fewer workers are needed on the jobsite.

“Traditional construction, you know the rules, you know the game, you know the properties of the material, the behavior of the material. Here, everything is new,” said Zerbe. “The material is new, although concrete is an old material in general, but 3D printing concrete is something new.”