3D printed concrete stairs
The 3D printing Business Unit of Saint-Gobain Weber has a new digital tool for designing custom stairs that meet customer expectations quickly and efficiently using 3D concrete printing, in an innovative approach that saves CO2 and materials.
Designing a staircase is more complex than it might seem: its shape, its slope, the step depth-to-height ratio, and so on. A 17th century French architect even gave his name to a formula to determine the ideal dimensions of a staircase: Blondel’s Law.
But today, with digital tools, the 3D printing Business Unit of Saint-Gobain Weber in the Netherlands is stepping up its innovation and now offers a new tool to easily design and engineer custom slopestairs that can be printed in concrete!
As well as allowing it to respond quickly and efficiently to the needs of its customers, Webers tool reduces their carbon footprint: stairs designed and printed using this innovative method emit 60% less CO2 than a conventional prefabricated staircase. Resource-efficiency is also the order of the day with a design that avoids steel frames and offers hollow steps, using fewer materials. Additional to the CO2 reduction, the overall process from design to delivery can happen in two weeks.
To learn more and see how this 3D printing technology works, watch this video.