In a first, Army constructs 3D Printed houses for soldiers in Gujarat

New Delhi: The Indian Army for the first time has created 3D printed houses for its personnel. The Military Engineering Services (MES) of the force accomplished the task of constructing the first-ever 3D Printed houses in mere four weeks at South Western Air Command at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

According to the Indian Army Officials, the 3D Printed houses were inaugurated in presence of an Engineer in Chief Lieutenant General Harpal Singh. "MES used the 3D Rapid Construction Technology to construct two fully 3-D concrete printed, modern-day dwelling units, with Green Building concepts in only four weeks," they said.

The MES collaborated with the Chennai-based startup 'Tvasta' to build these houses, which have a built area of around 700 square feet. The IIT Madras start-up is credited to construct India's first 3D printed house last year which was inaugurated by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the IIT-Madras campus.

The technology is an automated manufacturing method for constructing three-dimensional real-life structures.  It utilizes a concrete 3D printer that accepts a computerized three-dimensional design file from the user and fabricates a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer manner by extruding a specialized type of concrete specifically designed for the purpose.

The 3D printing technology enables a house to be constructed in five days against four or five months in conventional mode. It also significantly reduces the cost of construction by around 30% and increases the life of the building by 50 years.

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