Beijing architect Huashang Tengda has printed a house that it claims will be able to withstand an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale.
The two-storey, 400-square-foot villa was printed on site over a period of 45 days using 20 tons of concrete. The structure’s walls are 9.8 inches thick.
A magnitude eight event, which occurs somewhere on Earth about once a year, would normally cause moderate to heavy damage to earthquake-resistant buildings.
The house was entirely printed in situ. HuaShang Tengda says it developed the technology itself, and that the huge 3D printer required to carry it out had only recently passed the testing stage.
Webstie 3dprint.com quotes the company as saying: "This technology will have immeasurable social benefits, particularly to improve farmers’ living conditions.
"Because of its speed, low cost, simplicity and use of environment-friendly raw materials, it can generally improve the quality of people’s lives."
In 2008, an earthquake measuring 7.9 in Sichuan killed at least 80,000 people. Last year, an earthquake measuring 6.4 killed 48 in China’s Xinjiang region.
Images via Huashang Tengda
