After hemp concrete and hemp building structures, here’s the house made entirely of hemp and built in record time using a giant 3D printer. We explain.
A giant 3D printer to build hemp houses?
The ingenious initiative comes to us from Orlando, Florida, where Black Buffalo 3D Corp (a subsidiary of the Korean conglomerate Hyundai) presented its giant 3D printer designed to build hemp-based houses at the International Builders’ Show in February.
No doubt the1st of the 3 little pigs would have used this technique if it had been available, instead of building his house in straw, as hemp is well known as a resistant material.
But back to Black Buffalo 3 D, already a 3D printer manufacturer, the company presented its most ambitious project yet: an 8.30 m-high printer that can build a 150 m2 house in 30 hours. The great advantage of this printer is that it can run continuously, as the special ink used requires no drying time. The printer is also built on rails, so that houses can be printed in series.
Ecological, economical, ergonomic
The exact composition of the building material is a secret, but we do know that it’s a mixture of cement and hemp. We have already mentioned the hemp cement developed in France by the Vicat company, which confirms that hemp has a bright future as a sustainable building material. As Black Buffalo 3D Corp points out, there are other ecological materials that can be used, but hemp has the advantage of being very easy to grow.
Black Buffalo’s approach claims to be respectful of the environment, with, according to its brochure, a reduction in material costs of 30 to 79%, waste of 50 to 99%, construction time of 50 to 80%, and labor costs of 50 to 80%…the group’s shareholders must be delighted.
But above all, it’s the future of housing that’s on the horizon, offering everyone ecological and sustainable construction, done in record time and with a minimum of labor.
