Dutch architects Universe Architecture hope their möbius strip ‘Landscape House’ will be the first home constructed with 3D printing technology, but London’s Softkill Design aims to beat them to the punch with this nest-like design. Made of plastic, the organic-looking ProtoHouse 2.0 could be built off-site in three weeks and assembled in a single day.
Softkill Design plans to have the first prototype out by this summer. The single-story house will be 8 meters (26 feet) wide and 4 meters (13 feet) long, with prefabricated sections small enough to transport in vans and snap together on-site. The lightweight pieces fit together like velcro or buttons, without the need for bolting, screwing or welding. Once assembled, the structure looks like a spider’s nest.
Gilles Retsin of Softkill Design told Dezeen of the competing Landscape House, “We actually don’t even consider that a 3D printed building because he is 3D printing formwork and then pouring concrete into the form,” Retsin said. “So it’s not that the actual building is 3D printed.”
The original ProtoHouse 1.0 represented the first prototype for a 3D-printed building, in which all elements of the house – structure, cladding, interior and finishing – were printed. “When we started this research, it was kind of science fiction,” says Retsin. “It’s not actually that far off any more.”
