San Francisco firm Apis Cor have 3D-printed a home in a day for less than $15k

A San Francisco-based company has successfully 3D-printed a home in a day and claim it all cost less than $15,000.

The distinctive-looking home was put together using the latest 3D-printing technology at one of their facilities in Stupino, near Moscow in Russia.

Using a concrete mixture, Apis Cor along with the Russian PIK group report that they have produced a 38-square-metre building with a kitchen, bathroom, living room and self-bearing walls.

According to their website, the “pure machine time of printing amounted to 24 hours”, with set-up time of around half an hour.

Just adding a lick of paint. Photo: Apis Cor

Other 3D-printed houses have popped up before, most notably in China, but these generally require some individual components to be printed separately – or constructed elsewhere – then assembled together at the final location.

For this latest project, there were some challenges with the weather – in the dead of winter, the temperature was much colder than the minimum 5 degrees celsius the concrete mixture needed, so a tent was erected around the site to keep the printer warm enough to print. 

Inside the 3D-printed house. Photo: Apis Cor

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Apis Cor’s distinctive home is expected to last about 175 years – not bad for a day’s work and a budget of $US10,134 ($13,375). 

There was some follow-up work, with windows, furnishings and a paint job to the outside added after printing had finished, but if it’s a feat that can be replicated then prefab building could one day be a lot easier.

The printing system in action. Photo: Apis Cor