Discussion on:

3D houses 'grown' like bones

Would YOU put your children in a "Softkill" house?

It's a bit proof of concept, but overall seems a little pointless.

I'm sure you could eventually 3D print a new-born baby, but the traditional method is probably still better.

As someone pointed out - pointless. So many people have sensitivities to artificial materials (plastics). Do we really need more? Also does the material degrade in sunlight? Will it, at some point, collapse around your ears? Knowing what I do about the breakdown products of many plastics would I like to spend over half my day inside one of these structures? As an experiment it's really interesting, as a practical thing at this point in time, not interested.

you could happily use flexible ceramics or similar materials. Actually, nanocrystalline cellulose would be ideal, coated. And it does note that there would be a waterproof coat; this can very easily also be hypoallergenic.

It would be fun to contemplate how you could use in-situ 3d printing to build habitats in space, e.g. to expand the ISS. The load bearing requirements in zero g would be radically relaxed, but it could be useful to organically expand living quarters on demand.

Housing consists of a number of major process components (frame, coverings, insulation, wiring and its insulation, breakers and switching systems, plumbing, high wear and water proof materials for kitchens and baths and heating and cooling systems. Thinking 3-D printing will be economically competitive to current processes in traditional housing markets - given the dramatically higher cost of 3-D print materials, print material limitations, as compared to traditional materials - not to mention that most print materials are peak petroleum derived and or dependent - is more than absurd. Not considering that the housing structure is not necessarily even the most expensive part of house construction - is another give away to the incompetent assumptions.

Not only it is not the first prototype but neither it is the first 3D printed house, I'm afraid. Have a look at Enrico Dini's work in D-Shape, monolite-UK, or just google images of Enrico Dini.

Just here: http://www.dinitech.it/gallery_DINITECH/gallery.html

It is a very good idea, not for housing, but for mechanical structures. It seems to be a very effective algorithm for designing space frames. You should be able to get extremely light and strong structures with this approach. I think the idea would be wasted in the building industry where weight is probably the least of concerns- now in the Aerospace on the other hand.........