Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, deep tech startup founded by three IIT Madras alumni, has created history by constructing India’s first 3D printed house. The single-storey, 1BHK project inspires hopes for India’s affordable housing project.
Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, a deep tech startup founded by three alumni of IIT Madras in 2016, has created history by constructing India’s first 3D-printed house. Constructed on campus with a built-up area of about 600 square feet, this single-storey home consists of a single bedroom, hall and a kitchen.
According to the company, “Tvasta’s ‘Concrete 3D Printing’ is an automated manufacturing method for constructing three-dimensional real-life structures (at all realisable scales). The technique utilises a concrete 3D Printer which accepts a computerised three-dimensional design file from the user and fabricates a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer manner by extruding a specialised type of concrete specifically designed for the purpose.”
Developed in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, the ‘Concrete 3D Printing’ technology employed has multiple advantages:
-Potentially reduces overall construction cost significantly
-Order of magnitude difference in overall construction time
-Brings down the related carbon footprint
-Increases productivity of labour involved
-Offers raw material flexibility/utilisation of eco-friendly materials.
Speaking to The Better India, Adithya VS, the CEO of Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, gets into the details about their indigenously developed technology.
“Tvasta’s 3D Printing technology is built to bring digital technological advantages to the realm of construction. The focus is to make the process available to all sections of the construction industry, including affordable housing and large-scale infrastructure building. The reduction in overall time required for construction involves an order of magnitude change. What would require months to build can be built in days. Currently, the capability is to print the superstructure of a house that would require 4 to 5 months to build conventionally in about 5 days. The technology has also been designed in such a way that it is sustainable and green. The material used contains industrial waste and recycled material. This reduces the overall carbon footprint of the structure during construction,” notes Adithya.
But the technology goes beyond that. The houses built using 3D Printing are customised for geographical and climatic conditions that exist in an area. As a result, any additional heating or cooling requirements—mostly cooling in India—are very minimal for the structure. This will ensure that the energy consumption of any structure that is built will be very minimal, claims Adithya.
“We’re currently studying the carbon footprint that the structure reduces over its lifetime along with IIT Madras. Also, the construction cost of a house or any large-scale structure depends on several factors. It depends on the design of the structure, the city or geography in which it is being built, soil properties, number of structures in a specific project, etc. Considering the nature of the current projects, we are estimating 20-30% savings compared to conventional construction in our projects. We are working with several institutions to make this technology even more affordable in the construction domain,” he says.
