German Innovation Award goes to first 3D-printed house
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The first ever 3D-printed house in Germany wins in the “Building & Elements” category
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HeidelbergCement supplies the building material for the 3D-printing
The first residential house in Germany to be built with a 3D concrete printer has won the German Innovation Award from the German Design Council. The two-storey single-family home in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia, with around 160 m2 of living space consists of multi-layered walls filled with insulating material or ready-mixed concrete.
After the innovative property had been designed by the engineers and architects at Mense-Korte ingenieure+architekten, the printing was carried out with a PERI concrete printer installed at the construction site. The printing material used was “i.tech 3D” printing mortar from HeidelbergCement. The project was supervised by experts from the Technical University of Munich and engineers from Schießl Gehlen Sodeikat. “With this production process, houses can be built faster, more economically and more sustainably. It also allows a highly individual design of living spaces,” stated the jury. With the award, the German Design Council recognises projects that advance their industry through originality, application and effectiveness.
Dr Jennifer Scheydt, Head of Engineering & Innovation at HeidelbergCement Germany, said: “The printing of the residential house in Beckum is a milestone for 3D concrete printing technology. As a strong and innovative partner in this project, we have helped to adapt the traditional building material concrete to the possibilities offered by 3D printing, namely application areas of all sizes and shapes. We are convinced that this new type of construction will become an established standard in the years to come.”
The German Innovation Award recognises cross-sector products and solutions that stand out from previous ideas by focusing on users and creating added value. The jury for the German Innovation Award is made up of independent, interdisciplinary experts from industry, science, institutions and the financial sector. The submissions are evaluated according to to the criteria of innovation level, user benefits and cost-effectiveness. The innovation strategy should consider aspects such as social, ecological, and economic sustainability as well as the use of energy and resources. Factors such as location and employment potential, durability, market maturity, technical quality and function, materiality, and synergy effects also play a decisive role in the evaluation process.
