Could 3D printed homes, constructed in just a few days, be the answer to the Australian housing crisis?

One NSW Council believes 3D printing may be able to relieve some of the housing tensions. Dubbo Council just rented a giant 3D printer and has already started printing an entire new toilet block.

Dubbo Council is considering using the 3D printer to quickly build inexpensive tiny or basic homes as part of its response to the current housing crisis. Dubbo Mayor Matthew Dickson has already stated that four blocks of the next release of Kerwick Estate will be reserved for 3D printed housing.

The toilet is being built by Australian company Contour 3D, which recently featured on reality TV show The Block, building Australia’s first 3D printed home in just three days. In 2022, Contour 3D printed a pool cabana under the supervision of the show’s resident architect Julian Blenchley.

Nick Holden, founder of Contour 3D, says on his website the journey all started when he bought his daughter a 3D printer for Christmas. He stated that the material used in 3D printed buildings isn’t strictly concrete but a proprietary blend which is laid down in highly controlled layered curls.

Contour 3D calls it ‘contourcrete’ and it was developed in partnership with UNSW. It is currently 40 per cent recycled materials but by the end of 2023 will be 75 per cent recyclable materials.

Inside The Jindi

While the infrastructure for every building cannot be printed, normal installations using plumbers and electricians are required to fit out the building.

Contour 3D are not the only ones printing houses in NSW. When it's not 3D printing giant dinosaur skeletons like Titanosaur for the Eromanga Natural History Museum, Studio Kite, located in the Byron Shire, has created a 3D tiny home called Jindi which is commercially available from its website.

The Jindi is a modest 32m square tiny home, which takes 240 hours to 3D print and two to three weeks to assemble. It doesn’t include any internal or external work. The cost is approximately $3000 per square metre.

Another exciting 3D house printing initiative comes from the University of NSW, which has been working on its new software to print 3D homes. In another development, Dr Kate Dunn from the University of NSW’s School of Built Environment is developing proprietary 3D house printing software which will also use robots as part of the assembly stage.

Consumer-grade 3D printing has been generally available in Australia for a number of years. Wollongong Private Hospital installed a 3D printing lab in 2016 and used it to create a variety of prosthesis including skull implants. Kiama Library even has a 3D printer which members of the public are welcome to use, though they probably wouldn’t appreciate printing an entire house in the library!

Could we see 3D homes propped up in the Kiama LGA some time soon? Only time will tell.