Ceské Budejovice (Czech Republic) (AFP)
A Czech sculptor has teamed up with a group of architects to create a prototype of a floating three-dimensional printed garden house, intended to be a vacation home of the future.
Pouring in special concrete in Ceske Budejovice (south), the house should be transported to Prague in August.
"I dare say that it is the very first floating 3D printed building in the world," said Michal Trpak, the brains behind the project.
The design of the house, which can be printed in 48 hours, is inspired by the morphology of the protozoa and includes a living room with a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom, all with an area of 43 m2.
"3D houses will adapt to people or to the landscape. The robot does not care about the outline," said Trpak amid the buzz of a mechanical beak arm patiently laying, layer after layer, successive strips of concrete.
If the prototype seems to its designer still expensive, "a second generation should cost approximately three million crowns (112,600 euros) and the third approximately half of this price", estimates it.
Once printed, the bedroom and bathroom modules will be attached to a wooden core with large windows, and covered with a roof.
The house will then be transported to Prague, installed on a pontoon and towed to the quay on Vltava where it will stay for two months.
"We didn't have land to install it, and anyway, you need a building permit which takes up to two years," said Trpak.
But on a river, "you only need the consent of the agency responsible for navigation, which is much faster," he added.
According to him, the roof and walls of this nature-inspired house can be covered with plants.
Construction has certainly encountered problems, the concrete used being sensitive to temperature changes during hardening.
"We are continuing to research and develop (the project, note). It is a trial and error process," recalled Mr. Trpak.
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