The University of Johannesburg House enters the history books as South Africa’s first-ever 3D printed building. The building was a project by UJ’s Department of Architecture and Design and Department of Science and Innovation, aimed at investigating whether 3D concrete printing could pose a solution for the South African housing crisis.
The challenge
CyBe Construction partnered with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to construct the first 3D concrete printed building in South Africa: the UJ House. The building served as a research project for the university to assess whether 3D concrete printing could be an effective tool in combating the housing shortage crisis in the country, which currently faces a housing backlog of over 2.5 million homes. UJ has multiple units focused at 3D concrete printing, and now that they have their own CyBe RC (Robot Crawler), their research is bound to propel even further.
The takeaways
University staff were impressed with the production speed of 3D concrete printing and the relatively low costs of the technique. They noted that in under 8 hours, a 3D printed home of excellent quality could be produced cost-effectively. The university is happy to continue its research on the building method and believes it could help in solving the housing backlog in South Africa. Currently, the South African Housing and Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF) is looking into a collaboration with CyBe to tackle the problem.
