Emergent3D Has Made 3D Printed Fire Resistant Houses in California

The West Coast of the United States, especially in the state of California, is unfortunately known to be a land plagued by flames. In the summer of 2022, the area suffered numerous fires that caused the destruction of many homes. With global warming, the summer season causes droughts, and the high heat leads to uncontrollable fires for firefighters. The biggest fire of the year, named “McKinney”, caused the death of a number of people. However, one company in the state, Emergent3D, may have a solution.

It all started about 300 km from San Francisco, in a city called Redding. This city is surrounded by forests, and is one of the communities that are often affected by fires in the state. Per year, it experiences more than 100 fires. In 2018, Redding was affected by the “Carr” fire, where 1,100 homes were destroyed by flames, 270 of them directly in the city. To help find a solution to this, Emergent3D, an American company specializing in 3D printing, decided to make a house with concrete that was much more resistant to wildfires.

Construction of the house in the town of Redding (Photo credits: COBOD)

A Fire-Resistant Material for the Homes

But how was this done? Well, the material was manufactured using the D.fab concrete solution developed by COBOD and CEMEX, a building materials company. Meanwhile, for the construction, Emergent3D used COBOD’s BOD2 3D construction printer. The BOD2 is often used for large-scale home construction. For example, it was used to build the world’s tallest building in Saudi Arabia.