Villas made entirely out of printing machines
3D打印高科技别墅面世

Two houses are on display in the city of Suzhou in east China, as part of an ongoing exhibition held by a high tech company. What's remarkable about them isn't so much their speed of completion but the manner in which they are constructed. Stella Lee has more on these houses built without a single piece of brick.

These are not your homes that can be found next door. This is the world's first 3D printed villa.

"We transfer the design of the house we want to the printing machine," Ma Yihe, CEO of Shanghai Winsun Decoration Design Engineering, said.

The building next to it, is the world's tallest 3D printed apartment. Compared to conventional brick and concrete, these are build almost at lightning speed with the help of technology.

Utilising huge 3D printing machines, walls are constructed layer by layer.

"We use urban construction waste, mine tailings and urban solid wastes as raw materials. So there is no dust, no waste on the construction site," Ma said. Architects say this technology could change home building trends for the future.

"I think this technology is going to change the way buildings are built. It's going to be attractive to all income brackets. Lower income bracket, will get something cheap and quick and something they can be proud of, something that looks really nice," Patrick Feeney with GXD Limited, Import Export Company, said.

And it's not just providing a roof over people's heads.

"If you want to build a hospital in western area in China, it's very hard because you have to have all these machines, and get everybody to go there. But with this technology, you need fewer people.You can get this thing done at a faster pace," Sun Tianyao, planner with Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning, Design Institute, said.

The company claims it already has 10 orders to print this type of villa, at a cost of 150 thousand US dollars

But it says, house printing is only in its infancy. It envisages perhaps building villages fully printed in 3D.