Architects:Universidad del Bío-Bío

Area:4m²

Year:2023

Photographs:Victor Cárcamo

Manufacturers:Sika,CBB,CITEC-UBB

Lead Architects:Rodrigo García Alvarado, Pablo Banda, Kevin Mendez

Direction Of The Additive Manufacturing Research Group:Claudia Muñoz

Construction Management Research:Eric Forcael

Structural Research:Alexander Opazo

City:Concepcion

Country:Chile

Text description provided by the architects. First 3D-Printed Construction in Chile. The University of Bío-Bío, on its Concepción Campus, has completed the first 3D-printed construction carried out in Chile and the southern cone of Latin America. Raising a small surveillance cabin, which tests the new additive manufacturing technology that promises to revolutionize construction, and demonstrates the advances of the UBB in this technological development. By creating a mixture optimized for printing with local materials and creating construction elements with an industrial robot, which now expands its reach with a large-format printer that allows for complete houses.

The printed cabin is made up of printed concrete walls that each took approximately 40 minutes to make, radically reducing the normal execution time and reducing the resources, waste, management and transportation used in conventional construction. Which contributes to greater eco-efficiency and sustainability with great durability. In addition, windows, seals, reinforcements, roofs, finishing coatings and thermal insulation were integrated to meet the quality and habitability conditions. They also experimented with curved shapes for greater structural stability, textured surfaces for thermal and acoustic dissipation, and greater architectural expression.

3D-printed construction is expanding in the world, but its introduction in Chile and Latin America has been delayed due to the severe seismic conditions and the variety of climates, which require more reinforced buildings than in the rest of the planet. The majority of buildings printed to date have been carried out without relevant climatic or seismic requirements. However, these challenges are being advanced in the research of the U.Bío-Bío, through the Additive Manufacturing Group for Construction (MACO-UBB) that has managed to adapt this technology to local conditions, and install a repertoire of equipment advanced to collaborate with national companies in construction development. Also promoting these capabilities for the rest of Latin America, so the equipment of the UBB and Chilean companies will allow these buildings to be promoted throughout the continent. Focused on the growing demand for housing and urbanization, which requires innovation in industrialized solutions appropriate to different realities.

This printed cabin is therefore a first step towards the development of 3D-printed construction with a variety of architectural designs and quality buildings adapted to different geographies and cultural situations. The cabin demonstrates the effectiveness of this construction alternative, which allows the integration of traditional components and printed elements with high technology, achieving an adequate quality of execution and presentation.

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Project location

Address:Collao 1202, 4051381 Concepcion, Bio Bio, Chile