3D Printing with Concrete (2019-04)¶

The introduction of digital control and the robotization of the construction industry has the potential to make a big change in the way buildings and civil engineering structures are designed and built. This technology encourages us to reconsider the way in which buildings are designed, in order to have structures that optimize the forms and the quantities of materials used. Similarly, it is imperative to review the way in which the cement-based materials are reinforced, in order to compensate for their weakness under tensile stress, as well as to create standards and codes that design these new printed constructions well. Similarly, “digital concrete” should shake up the organizational structure of a construction project and the skill sets required to build a structure, both during the design stage (engineering) and the production stage (construction). This societal impact of “raising skill levels” in the construction industry will have to be accompanied by a reduction in physical labor and the stress levels generated by work.