Have a Look at The World’s First 3D-Printed Home Made Entirely of Clay
After years in the making, it’s finally time to meet TECLA—an eco-friendly model home designed in the likeness of a wasp’s nest.
After years in the making, it’s finally time to meet TECLA—an eco-friendly model home designed in the likeness of a wasp’s nest.
In 2019, 3D-printing company WASP and Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) unveiled their concept to design the first 3D-printed house made entirely from clay. Today, the collaborative project—known as TECLA, a name derived from the words technology and clay—is finally complete and on display near Bologna, Italy.
Created from clay harvested at the build site, TECLA sports a curvy, ridged facade—similar to an oversize wasp’s nest—with large, circular skylights capping the two connected dome structures.
Photo by Iago Corazza, courtesy of Mario Cucinella Architects
The brainchild of Mario Cucinella, the founder and creative director of MCA, and Massimo Moretti, the founder of WASP, TECLA is a nearly zero-waste project. By implementing reusable and recyclable materials, the company hopes to provide a new means of affordable housing. "We like to think that TECLA is the beginning of a new story," says Cucinella, noting how the project responds to the increasingly serious climate emergency and the need for sustainable homes.
The newly finished model is currently located near Bologna in Italy, and is the first eco-friendly, 3D-printed home ever to be created entirely from clay. The nearly 650-square-foot residence can be printed in 200 hours.
Photo by Iago Corazza, courtesy of Mario Cucinella Architects
For the project, MCA and WASP also collaborated with the School of Sustainability (SOS), a postgraduate training center founded by Mario Cucinella in 2015. Cucinella poses near an archway inside the home that leads to the "living zone," which includes the kitchen and dining area.
Photo by Iago Corazza, courtesy of Mario Cucinella Architects
See the full story on Dwell.com: Have a Look at The World’s First 3D-Printed Home Made Entirely of Clay
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