Witteveen+Bos wins award with innovative 3D concrete printing technique
On Thursday, May 17, 2018 it was announced that the Winsemius Award 2018 in the category 'Manufacturing and Production' was won by engineering and consultancy firm Witteveen+Bos, for the innovative project Virtual Design & Digital Construction (VD²C). The ceremony took place during a gala dinner in Singapore, in the presence of Masagos Zulkifli, the Singaporean Minister for the Environment and Water, Dutch Ambassador Margriet Vonno and HRH Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands. This fourth edition of the prize was organised by ADB DutchCham and was themed 'Technological Innovation'.
The Winsemius Award is an expression of appreciation for the performance of Dutch companies and organisations that excel in their business activities in Singapore, using both Dutch and Singaporean employees, technology and knowledge. The essence of the Witteveen+Bos submission is digital construction in general and 3D concrete printing in particular, as an example of the digital construction principle, with the aim of increasing construction productivity in Singapore. VD²C makes enables the acceleration of building production with less physically demanding work for the builders and with less chance of construction faults. In addition, this technology makes it possible to save on material, gives architects greater freedom in design and promotes safety on the construction site.
With VD²C Witteveen+Bos uses digital data from the design phase in a smart way to digitize and automate the construction phase. 3D concrete printing is a technique that enables it to, for example, digitally send a design to a concrete printer at any location in the world, to print it on site. For the various projects within VD²C, Witteveen+Bos Singapore closely collaborates with local universities (such as Nanyang University of Technology), governments (HDB) and other organizations (e.g. Robin Village Development). With this, the jury sees the submission as relevant to the Singaporean community and economy.