If you think 3D printing is only good for making flimsy paperweights, then you're pretty much right. However, a group of audacious Dutch architects have already begun 3D printing an entire canal house in Amsterdam. Is the first 3D printed house a gimmick? Definitely! Is it an experiment that pushes the possibilities for 3D printing technology and architecture? Maybe!

如果你认为3D打印只擅长打印轻薄的镇纸，那你是非常正确的。但是，一群大胆的荷兰建筑师已经在阿姆斯特丹开始打印一座完整的“运河之家”了。这第一座3D打印的小屋有趣吗？肯定的！这是一项推进3D技术和建筑学发展的实验吗？或许吧！

3D Print Canal House is the brainchild of DUS Architects. “KamerMaker”, Dutch for “room maker”, is their giant printer built inside a shipping container. Just a few weeks ago, KamerMaker began printing plastic furniture and walls at an empty canal-side lot in northern Amsterdam. Smaller versions of the unusual honeycomb walls have been tested on normal desktop printers, and everyone just needed to scale it up. Well, if only it were that easy.

用3D技术打印“运河之家”是DUS Architects工作室的构想。KamerMaker在荷兰语中表示“房屋建造者”的意思，是他们建造在集装箱中的巨大打印机的名字。就在几周前，KamerMaker在阿姆斯特丹北部的运河边的空地上开始打印塑料家具和墙壁。这种不同寻常的蜂窝墙的缩小版已经在普通台式打印机上被测试打印过，大家要做的是把它放大。哦，要是那么简单多好！

“The printer did not always manage to spread the plastic evenly, making some of the ribs of the honeycomb structure of the block uneven,” reported ARN (Australian Radio Network), to the surprise of no one who has used a 3D printer. But the architects remain optimistic. The first few printed blocks are meant to be test pieces as they improve the process.

澳大利亚广播网报道：“这台打印机不能一直均匀地喷出塑料，这使得蜂窝结构的某些骨架不那么平滑。”对于使用过3D打印机的人而言，这没有什么值得大惊小怪的。但是，建筑师们一直很乐观。在他们改进的过程中，首先被打印出的一些块状物只是测试品。

It takes about a week to print a 3-meter high block right now. The project's leader hopes to eventually get that down to two hours and finish the first of 12 rooms in a year, and the entire house in less than 3 years.

目前，打印一个3米高的块状物大概需要一周。该项目负责人希望最终把时间减少到2小时，1年内完成12个房间中第1个房间的建造，整个房子的建造时间不超过3年。

Ultimately, 3D Print Canal House is an architectural research project, one that is very much being conducted in the public eye: you can actually buy tickets to visit the construction site for 2.50 Euros.

总的来说，3D打印的“运河之家”是一项建筑研究项目，它基本上是在人们的视野中公开进行的——你可以花2.5欧元买票参观。

The top floors will become more ornate, for example, as newer techniques are incorporated. They'll explore the possibilities of 3D printing, like the honeycomb walls or an entire room recycled, redesigned, and built anew. Nobody's going to move into a 3D printed house soon, but, if anyone ever does, something might be learned from this experiment by the canal.

随着新技术的不断引入，上面几层会变得相对更华丽。他们将探索3D打印的各种可能性，比如蜂窝墙或者整个房屋的回收利用、重新设计和重新建造。没有人会在短期内搬入这个3D打印的房屋居住，但是，如果有人这样做的话，我们可以从这个运河旁的实验项目中学到一些东西。