Construction Robots 3D-Print First 20-Story Residential Building: 70% Faster

On December 18, the world's first 20-story residential building constructed using 3D printing technology was officially completed in Shenzhen's Qianhai district. Jointly built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Country Garden's BrightDream Robotics subsidiary, the project took just 98 days from groundbreaking to completion — approximately 70% faster than traditional construction methods.

This 67-meter-tall, 12,000-square-meter building's main structure was completed by six giant construction 3D printing robots. Each robot features a 12-meter robotic arm with a concrete extrusion head at its end, printing walls and floor slabs layer by layer according to BIM models. Printing speed is approximately 15 square meters of wall area per hour.

"We use a special concrete formula — adding fiber reinforcement and accelerating admixture, which reaches 80% of design strength within 2 hours of printing," said BrightDream Robotics' CTO.

The core advantage of 3D-printed construction extends beyond speed to material savings. The project's construction waste was only 15% of traditional methods, and concrete usage was reduced by approximately 30% (due to precise control of wall thickness and internal structures). Labor requirements also dropped from approximately 200 workers on a traditional site to about 40.

Industry experts note that 3D printing remains limited to main structures — plumbing, electrical, door/window installation, and interior finishing still require manual work. BrightDream says it is developing a next-generation system integrating utility pre-embedding capabilities.

All 156 residential units in the project have been sold at an average price of ¥52,000/sqm, on par with comparable nearby projects.