I gotta say that the 3d printed building thing is starting to look noticeably more serious than the mortar blob huts that I remember seeing a decade ago. It will be interesting to see if they find their niche and become widely used and affordable. The main thing is, the sitework will still need to be done by laborers and heavy equipment, so now the building itself is going to include even larger specialized equipment for the printer. Will normal laborers learn how to set up and mind these, or will there be another set of specialist operators created?

My understanding is there is emphasis in moving building construction to having most of the work done in a shop environment, and then the pieces all sent to the site and put together like legos. We’re suffering a bit for that right now, with simple precast concrete buildings having lead times of over one year. If this keeps up, it may become a case where the trade off between the higher quality (and aesthetic quality) of a precast building is an even trade-off with a less sturdy printed building. Cases when there is an emergency need, like replacing a controls building after a tornado.