3D-printed homes: The New way of Building
Contec Australia’s project came in 22% cheaper than a comparable local masonry build, produced a single wheelbarrow of waste, and was handed over within five months. Around the same time in Melbourne, Luyten’s AI-powered PLATYPUS X12 crane printer completed the first 3D-printed multi-storey home in the Southern Hemisphere, in 35–42 degree summer heat, through storms, without stopping.
3D concrete printing has moved from industry curiosity to construction reality.
How does 3D printing homes work?
The first step of printing a 3D home is creating a blueprint or CAD drawing. Usually, architects and engineers create a plan using computer-aided design (CAD) software. The plan contains a detailed description of the design and measurements of the building, such as the placement of windows, doors, and electrical and plumbing systems. You can download Weathertex drawings here
Next, a 3D slicer software program helps the printer convert the detailed drawing into a printable file. This allows for the preparation of installing the printer onsite and estimating time and material usage.
The printer uses the converted drawing and prints the walls in layers, following the predetermined design of the house. Depending on the design and architecture, the printer’s position or nozzle might be changed during the process. The nozzle defines the finish of the walls, which can be smooth or layered.
The Jamie Durie way
When one of Australia’s most recognised sustainable designers puts his own family home on the line to test a technology, the industry takes notice.
Jamie Durie is building Australia’s second 3D-printed concrete home on his Bangalow farm, near Byron Bay. The build is the centrepiece of his new Channel Nine series, Jamie Durie’s Future House, which follows three families using three different modern methods of construction, modular, pre-cast prefab, and 3D printing, with each build evaluated by the Green Building Council of Australia.
There’s an honest conversation the 3D printing industry needs to have. The technology is remarkable, but a freshly printed concrete home, straight off the extruder, looks exactly like what it is. A stack of layered grey concrete. Functional, precise, and about as warm as a car park.
That’s not a criticism of the technology. Concrete is the point, it’s what makes the speed, the cost savings, and the structural performance possible. But a home isn’t just a structure. It’s where people raise families, host dinners, and come back to at the end of the day. The way it looks and feels matters enormously.
Durie understands this instinctively. His Bangalow build doesn’t stop at the structure, Weathertex has been selected as the cladding to bring the home’s exterior to life, adding to the printed concrete to transform it from an engineering achievement into somewhere people want to live.
Solving the housing crisis isn’t just about getting roofs over heads. It’s about building homes worth coming home to.
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