Dubbed Project Milestone, the initiative will use a huge 3D printer to fabricate five concrete houses in a wooded area near the city’s airport. The effort is being undertaken in the midst of a shortage of bricklayers in the Netherlands, Rudy van Gurp, a project manager at Van Wijnen, the construction firm that’s overseeing the project, told CNN. But the main goal will be to show how 3D printing can cut costs and concrete waste. A 3D printer at Eindhoven University of Technology printing concrete for a bridge construction project. The robotic printer used to create the homes will follow architectural plans to put down layers of a special concrete mix. The designs are intended to show off the printer’s versatility, including the ability to create unusual shapes that are hard to make with conventional construction methods, van Gurp said. Will 3D printing really revolutionize the construction industry? Carlo Ratti, an architect and professor of urban technologies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told MACH in an email that while he believes digital fabrication will revolutionize construction, 3D printing in concrete is unlikely to be the key.

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