Many MindedTCC to demo outdoor concrete printer at UN climate talks for quake rebuilding
Taiwan Cement Corporation Group Holdings (TCC) said it will show an outdoor 3D printer at the 31st UN climate conference, held Nov. 9 to 20 in Antalya, Turkey. The demonstration is framed around rebuilding areas hit by the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes. TCC is attending with its European subsidiary Cimpor and its Turkish subsidiary Oyak Cement, which it describes as Turkey's largest cement producer.
The setup is practical. TCC has reserved 150 square meters outdoors and 100 indoors, and cement mixer trucks can park beside the printer to feed it. Indoors, a virtual reality display will present the Hatay project, where Oyak is building 20 homes for displaced residents and a community library. TCC plans to add its EnergyArk storage system there. Elsewhere, the printer was used on the Mariadeira social housing project in Portugal, which comprises 16 buildings with 32 units. Cimpor has also launched a brand, Havelar by Cimpor, pairing low-carbon materials with digital design and construction.
This matters for shelter because the bottleneck after a disaster is how fast and how cheaply durable homes can be built. A printer fed directly by ordinary concrete trucks could shorten that loop, and the Portuguese project shows it has been used at more than demonstration scale. The company also says the method can cut carbon emissions, which would link housing supply to climate goals.
The caveats are significant. The benefits for housing, reconstruction and emissions are TCC's own statements and have not been independently verified. The report gives no completion dates or costs for Hatay, and it is unclear whether those homes are printed. Watch for cost per home, build times and whether Hatay moves past 20 units. The report originated with the Commercial Times, via Taiwan News.
Source: Google News