How We'll 3D Print a Skyscraper on Mars

I have a friend who works for Solar City and it seems like an interesting job. He gets to haul and install panels on top of homeowners' roofs throughout the country. The pay is great even if the hours suck. It's honestly a lucrative position in a booming industry. However, right now is when you start thinking, "Yeah, it could be better." He's up there on roofs throughout the whole winter. And since a lot of the work is incentive-based, the money slows down when the work does due to shorter days, cold, and soon enough-snow.

Since he's a friend, I hope he stays employed. But if 3D printing enters the construction and renovation space soon, his future in the industry can be threatened.

First, 3D scanning and printing technology is now being offered by Orchard Supply Hardware, in its Mountain View, Calif., store. (OSH is owned by national chain Lowe's.) Shoppers are offered 3D printing and scanning technology, and the store can recreate broken household parts or let shoppers create customized ones to match their home's aesthetic. Sure, shoppers in the center of Silicon Valley might expect more technology in their home repairs and upgrades, but soon enough this will be offered to homeowners everywhere.

Yet that's just the current intersection between home repair and 3D printing. Contour Crafting is a home construction company under the direction of University of Southern California professor Behrokh Khoshnevis. One of the most significant disadvantages of 3D printing has been the relatively small building envelope. The largest commercial printers offer just a few cubic feet of printing space. Yet Contour Crafting has outfitted a full-size gantry crane with a fused filament fabrication nozzle. Just as with traditional FFF technology, layers of the house are built up. Notably, this technology can also construct conduits, ducts, and pipework. CC claims it can build an approximately 2,500 sq. ft. house in 19 hours with just four workers. Considering the rate of material developments in 3D printing tech, it's not unreasonable to think the first wave of 3D printed homes will also include solar panels.

This printing technology isn't limited to residential construction. Larger versions with several nozzles can be used to build commercial spaces, such as offices or strip malls (yay, more strip malls!). Another version exists [in concept] that can build skyscrapers by climbing the building's exterior. In 2013, NASA invested in the technology as it would likely be the technique that would construct the first buildings on the moon or Mars.

But that's putting the cart before the horse. Khoshnevis hopes to bring CC printing to the home market first. He primarily invented the idea to bring relief to areas stricken by a disaster. No matter the location, it seems CC is providing building solutions on many frontiers.