Concrete precasting company Sarawak Consolidated Industries Berhad (SCIB) has revealed its first 3D printed demo house in Sarawak, located on the Malaysian part of Borneo island.
The house incorporates a built area of 90 sq m, with a total printing time of 46 hours. It was 3D printed using the BOD2 3D construction printer from Danish company COBOD International. [Watch the video below].
The total length of the print was over 9 km, extruded layer by layer on top of each other, for a total of 145 layers each of 2 cm height. The SCIB team chose to plaster the outside walls of the house, which is a normal practice in the region due to high-humidity weather conditions. Also, plastering makes it easy to wash and clean when green algae grow on the walls, which occurs due to the climate conditions.
COBOD has supplied its 3D construction printers for projects around the world – from India, over the Middle East, Africa and Europe, to North America where its printers recently worked on two-storey buildings in Texas and Ontario.
The new 3D printed house in Borneo is located on the premises of the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), which is the permitting body in Malaysia, at its training arm premises Malaysian Construction Academy (ABM) in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, and was built in collaboration with the agency.
“The use of technology such as 3D printing comes at a time when businesses are being scrutinised for the impact of their operations on the environment and society,” explained Rosland Othman, group managing director and chief executive officer of SCIB.
“Businesses have an important role in society and an important part is to operate responsibly. We believe 3D construction printing can be part of this, and therefore we are also involved in a programme with our university partner to develop and improve the skills and knowledge of the construction industry.”
Simon Klint Bergh, head of Asia Pacific at COBOD, who is based at the company’s regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said, “At COBOD International, we are proud to have SCIB as our customer and to see them execute a first building.
“SCIB is a very innovative company and with our technology, we are excited to see SCIB enable faster execution of construction projects, as well as more efficient construction at a lower cost.”
Mr Bergh added that the project “will be the first of many 3D printed houses to come in Asia Pacific.”
All images: COBOD
