See what it's like living in Portugal's first 3D printed, 2-bedroom concrete home

Brittany ChangMay 8, 2024, 08:51 IST

Portugal-based 3D printing construction startup Havelar built Portugal's first printed home.COBOD International and Havelar

Startup Havelar built Portugal's first 3D printed home using COBOD's popular printing system.
The walls of the two-bedroom, 861-square-foot home were printed in 18 hours.

If companies like Portugal-based Havelar have their way, the future of affordable housing will look like perfectly stacked strands of spaghetti (as in, they'd be 3D printed).

Printing-construction startup Havelar says it can build a new home in less than two months while pricing it significantly below market, all with the help of a robotic construction printer.

It may sound like an impossible claim, but its latest project — and Portugal's first 3D printed home — has made its case.

Havelar completed an 861-square-foot, two-bedroom home in Porto, Portugal, in late April.

According to data from Idealista, the median price of a home in Porto, Portugal, is 3,392 euros per square meter.COBOD International and Havelar

Like Havelar, proponents of printer-built homes have been making lofty promises about the futuristic tech.

Havelar was able to achieve its low cost by printing efficiently and quickly, according to COBOD. COBOD International and Havelar

Printers have limitations, too: Most can only build walls, while the rest of the home has to be completed conventionally.

Philip Lund-Nielsen, cofounder of COBOD, told Business Insider in late 2023 that the company has sold over 70 of its "BOD2" construction printer systems to companies worldwide.COBOD International and Havelar

Despite how it sounds, a printer-built home doesn’t have to look unrecognizably futuristic.

The layered walls are a visual signature of construction 3D printers.COBOD International and Havelar

It wouldn’t be a modern home without an open-concept kitchen and dining room.

The two-bedroom home has a dining room and kitchen.COBOD International and Havelar

But don’t start pulling out money for the downpayment.

Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, a cofounder of Havelar, said the company wants to "team up with partners who see themselves in building sustainable and accessible communities," according to COBOD's news release.COBOD International and Havelar

If you want to move into an affordable printed home, it might be best to wait for Havelar’s next projects.

This is a model home at Icon and Lennar's 100-home community in Texas. When complete, it will be the world's largest neighborhood of printed houses.Icon

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