The most BEAUTIFUL HOUSE in the world will be built in Italy and made with a 3D printer

It looks like a mix between a beehive, a chestnut, a hut and, with a little imagination, even a foot pump. On the other hand you have to realize that it could be the most beautiful house in the world and certainly the one built in the most innovative way that exists on Earth.

The most BEAUTIFUL HOUSE in the world will be built in Italy and made with a 3D printer

# Tecla: a name for a unique home

It’s called Tecla (acronym of “Technology and Clay”) and it is the future most beautiful house in the world. Such a house must necessarily have a name, it cannot be commonly known as “home”, because it is the first housing model printed in 3D. The idea came to Mario Cuccinella and the project born thanks to the collaboration between the architect’s studio and WASP, a company specialized in 3D printing.

“Tecla shows that a beautiful, healthy and low-impact house can be built by a machine that informs the matter that is on the spot. Tecla is the finger pointing to the Moon. The Moon is the house as the birthright for every man on Earth. Possible from Tecla onwards”, this is how the WASP founder, Massimo Moretti, presents the project, the finger that touches the Moon and that, perfectly sustainable, represents the future.

# It is not just a project, it has actually be built

And if you wonder where this futuristic house will be, the answer is in Italy. The beautiful country is trying to reconcile its beauty with innovation, so the Tecla house appeared close to the capital of Italian mosaics. Precisely the house has been built in Massa Lombarda, in the province of Ravenna, and should has been completed by the spring of 2021.

Making Tecla, however, is not such an easy job. The 3D printing system can print using land-based materials, cement mortar and geopolymers at a linear rate of 300mm per second. Building each unit takes about 200 hours of printing and 7000 machine codes, corresponding to 350 layers of clay, each 12 mm thick. It is the first housing model that uses two synchronised printer arms simultaneously and its construction is perfectly safe.

# Ancient materials combined with today’s technology

For the realization of Tecla, Mario Cuccinella was inspired by one of the “invisible cities” of Italo Calvino, the one in continuous construction. The house will not be particularly large and will extend for about 60 square meters. Inside there will be a living area, a kitchen, a sleeping area and a bathroom. Like walls, the furniture will also be printed and made of raw land. Tecla is the perfect way to combine such an ancient material with today’s technology.

BEATRICE BARAZZETTI