Southeast Asia's largest 3D concrete printer operational in Singapore

Southeast Asia's largest 3D printer for construction was declared operational on Sept. 11, 2019, by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), at the PEAK Forum in Singapore. This 3D concrete printer is capable of printing concrete elements up to 9 m long, 3.5 m wide and 3.8 m high. The 3D printer was developed and is operated by Witteveen+Bos Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd. for HDB and the overall project is a joint effort between Robin Village Development Pte. Ltd., Nanyang Technological University Nanyang and Witteveen+Bos.

The 3D printer and the first object produced were visited over a week ago by National Development Minister Lawrence Wong and HDB CEO Ms. Cheong-Chua Koon Hean. They were shown a room-sized 3D-printed building component of about 11 m2 (3.6 m long x 3 m wide x 2.75 m high) that was printed in 13 hours, a successful result of the printing trials.

HDB, as Singapore's government social housing agency, is responsible for developing 80 % of housing units in Singapore. Housing is in high demand and 3D printing of concrete can help accelerate the construction task facing HDB.

Currently, designing and fabricating concrete building elements using the conventional precast method is time-consuming and requires skilled labor. Moreover, the formwork used in construction is discarded afterwards, leading to material waste. Construction using 3D printing, on the other hand, combines digital Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology with 3D printing to enable form-free construction without formwork, resulting in less material waste. Printing offers new possibilities for creating geometric shapes that are nearly impossible to create using traditional methods.

For Witteveen+Bos, this milestone proves the feasibility of their efforts in 3D concrete printing for construction. Witteveen+Bos has been working as one of the pioneers in the development of 3D concrete printing since 2015. As a frontrunner, they have paved the way for the first 3D printed pilot projects around the world, such as the first 3D printed bridge and the first habitable 3D printed houses.