Digital and Sustainable Building Production: Materials and Technologies for 3D Printing on Construction Sites

In recent years, technology has also invaded the construction sector, transforming the building process into an intelligent factory, with the aim of using new materials and new building production models in favor of lower costs and construction times accompanied by greater sustainability. A new manufacturing model is additive manufacturing which, even in the construction sector, is gaining ground thanks to two different types of printers: robotic arm and FDM printers. There are different 3D printer technologies for concrete on the market, thanks to various players in the sector, who have developed machines that operate in different ways and with different materials including extruded concrete or materials combined in layers, such as polymer foam, but also ceramic and brick materials. Some 3D-printed buildings include: The Summer House by DUS Architects, Amsterdam AMIE by ORNL, Tennessee; Gaia of WASP in collaboration with Rice House, Italy; Homes for Community First! Village by ICON with Logan Architecture, Texas; Home for the Solar Decathlon Africa 2019 in Be More, Morocco; Two-Story Earthquake-Resistant Villa in HuaShang Tengda, China. This construction process has numerous advantages over traditional systems, including construction times and costs, reduction of material and resource waste. These technologies with the digitization of processes allow to obtain economic and environmental sustainability for the building of the future.