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  • Review Article
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3D printing technology in concrete construction

Nature Reviews Clean Technology volume 1, pages 288–303 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Concrete construction strategies can be material-intensive and labour-intensive and often rely on formwork that produces material waste. 3D printing (3DP) technologies could reduce the materials and time needed in concrete construction and could enable designs to optimize thermal management, energy efficiency and structural monitoring relative to formwork-based construction strategies. In this Review, we discuss 3D concrete printing and its application in construction. Large gantry printers and robotic arms have been used in the construction of houses (~100 m2), buildings (exceeding 1,000 m2) and other infrastructures, including bridges with spans up to 30 m. Advances in design and printer control, such as using topological optimization, allow for material efficiency (saving up to 70% materials) and use of features for thermal management and incorporation of vegetation into buildings. Strategies to integrate sensors for structural monitoring and materials for energy storage and thermal management of 3DP are also being developed. For example, self-sensing 3DP concrete has been integrated for structural health monitoring, and there are efforts to incorporate phase change materials to enhance thermal management. However, concrete 3DP ink has a high proportion of cement (owing to the need to balance pumpability and extrudability with buildability during printing), which increases the embodied carbon associated with 3DP concrete construction. Low-carbon inks and use of waste-derived materials are, therefore, needed to reduce the life-cycle impact and embodied carbon of 3DP concrete structures.

Key points

  • 3D printing (3DP) concrete construction technologies enable materials efficiency and structural integrity in designs. Through the use of topological optimization, more than 50% of material savings relative to conventional construction methods have been reported.

  • Owing to extrudability, pumpability and buildability constraints, printable inks require more cement than conventional concrete (often > 40% of the volume).

  • Low-carbon inks and materials reuse are being developed to mitigate the environmental impact associated with increased cement usage.

  • 3DP can enable structural designs to be multifunctional and integrate thermal management, structural monitoring strategies and green walls or other vegetation.

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Fig. 1: 3D printing in concrete construction.
Fig. 2: Printability and rheology of printable inks.
Fig. 3: 3D-printed building features and potential functions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the financial support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RIF R6008-24 and HKUST 15231522) and HKUST ‘30 for 30’ Global Talent Acquisition Campaign.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Yuying Zhang, Xiaohong Zhu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China

    Yuying Zhang, Muduo Li, Chao Zhang & Daniel C. W. Tsang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Xiaohong Zhu & Paulo J. M. Monteiro

  3. Key Laboratory of Urban Security and Disaster Engineering of Ministry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

    Xiaohong Zhu & Xiuli Du

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Construction Materials, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Yamei Zhang

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Nemkumar Banthia

  6. Institute of Construction Materials, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Viktor Mechtcherine

  7. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Josephine V. Carstensen

  8. Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Paulo J. M. Monteiro

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Contributions

Yuying Zhang and X.Z. contributed equally to all aspects of the article. M.L. and C.Z. researched data for the article. Yamei Zhang, X.D., N.B., V.M., J.V.C., P.J.M.M. and D.C.W.T. contributed substantially to the discussion of the content and revisions of the article. Yuying Zhang, X.Z., M.L., C.Z. and D.C.W.T. reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.

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Zhang, Y., Zhu, X., Li, M. et al. 3D printing technology in concrete construction. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. 1, 288–303 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00047-z

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