Havelar, a newly established Portuguese company, has made history by completing Portugal’s first-ever 3D printed house. The stunning 80 square-meter two-bedroom house, located in the Greater Porto area, was printed in a record-breaking 18 hours.
Havelar’s groundbreaking 3D-printed house was built using the innovative BOD2 printer from COBOD, the same printer that was used to construct Europe’s largest 3D-printed building. According to COBOD, Havelar’s 3D-printed houses can be produced for the incredibly low cost of just €1,500 per sq m. This price is in stark contrast to the average cost of €3,104 (around US$3,330) per square meter for houses in Porto.
The affordability of Havelar’s houses can be attributed to the incredible speed of construction offered by the 3D printing process. By following a blueprint and extruding a cement-like mixture out of a nozzle in layers, the printer can quickly build up the basic structure of the home. This remarkable feat is a testament to the incredible efficiency and speed that 3D printing brings to the construction industry.
While the printing process itself took 18 hours, human builders were still responsible for installing the windows, doors, paneling, roof, and any other necessary finishing touches. Despite this, the entire project was completed in under two months, which is impressive in and of itself.
The house is a charming single-story residence with ribbed walls that indicate it was constructed using 3D printing technology. The interior of the house is centered around a spacious kitchen and dining area, with the living room, two bedrooms, and bathroom located adjacent to it. While it may not be as luxurious as other 3D-printed houses, such as the high-end Wolf Ranch models, it is considerably more affordable, with a price tag of roughly $400,000 less.
Havelar is not only focused on delivering affordable and modern homes, but also on reducing construction waste and transitioning to alternative building materials in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Havelar hopes to reach carbon neutrality in its’ operation via use of alternative building materials like earth, sludge, slag, straw and other biomaterials.
“We want to team up with partners who see themselves in building sustainable and accessible communities. With €150,000, it’s possible for a young couple to have the home they’ve always dreamed of, in an area with good access and services,” Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Co-Founder of Havelar, underlined the transformative nature of their business approach.
