Structural engineers and architects are beginning to see the potential of designing and constructing new buildings with the aid of 3D printers. It is a technology which could fundamentally change the way we think about construction.

The race is on – a global race involving some of the brightest and most visionary minds in architecture and construction. It is a race to transform the way we construct buildings and virtually eliminate the huge industry costs for materials and manpower. At the heart of this is the 3D printer.

What these visionary minds are racing to achieve is the construction of the first 3D printed building. It sounds like fantasy, but architects and engineers working on numerous projects across the world are much closer than one would think.

Earlier this year a 3D printed component, the first to be approved for construction use in the UK, was used in the decorative roof of six Bevis Marks – a new 16-floor office block in London.

It may be no surprise that architects are thinking ahead of the curve for 3D printers – studios have been using them to make small models since the 1990s. Long before the explosion in 3D printing seen today.

For household building, these small 3D printers have been cast aside and superseded with large-scale machines, which can manufacture complex objects – sometimes as big as 7ft – in materials including concrete, clay and even wood.

Yet architects and engineers do not want to restrict the use of 3D printing to just components.

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