If you’ve got the right kind of 3D printer these days, you can manufacture everything from plumbing pipes to the wrench for installing them, but architect Pitupong Chaowakul is way ahead of that. He’s printed out a home.

Hacking into the future of home-building technology, the Siam Cement Group (SCG) and Pitupong have produced Southeast Asia’s first printer-spawned dwelling, the “Y-Box Pavilion, 21st-century Cave”. It’s on view until Sunday in the “Architect16″ exhibition” at the Muang Thong Thani Impact complex.

It’s a concept for the modern century that happens to vaguely resemble a cave, but if Fred Flintstone saw it, he would definitely be yelling “Yabba dabba DOO!”

“It’s a cave, indeed – but a 21st-century cave,” says Pitupong, who spent years on the design with SCG’s research-and-development department. The designation “Y-Box”, he says, is a pun on the question architects always ask about housing – “Why does it have to be a box?”

The new 3D printing technology is making tremendous waves, revolutionising everyday life on almost every imaginable scale. In medicine, surgical instruments and orthopaedic hip and knee implants can be printed out. Astronauts deep in space can print a needed spare part, though at the same time, criminals can also print untraceable guns.

From small items and components, the 3D printer is now scaling up to create house beams and whole buildings.

In the case of the Y-Box Pavilion, a special kind of cement is used, along with powders and fibres, to fabricate parts in a process that greatly speeds construction and allows for dramatic shapes in place of the customary upright columns and flat walls. The building needn’t look “boxy” at all, but can instead be freely structured.

The pavilion comprises six twisting columns that call to mind cave stalagmites – or perhaps even the rough-hewn pillars of Stonehenge in England. The central element of the interior design is a geodesic lamp 70 centimetres in diameter that is itself composed of 180 triangular pieces.

“Every single part is printed out on a 3D printer,” says Sanit Kessuwan, head of R&D at SCG. “The pavilion was printed in sections at the SCG factory and then all the components were simply snapped together.”

The design alone took three months, he says, and the printing another month, using a massive machine made in Italy. The special cement paste, a binding agent, was formed into stone-like material for the structure, solid enough to withstand high compression.

The 3D printing technology blows the field of architecture wide open, says Pitupong. Designers and homebuilders can now move far beyond the usual concepts in floors, walls and ceilings. Walls can arch to the ceiling in elegant curves. “The technology allows craft and industry to merge,” he says.

He’s enthusiastic enough about the science to speculate that architects and builders armed with 3D printers could easily replicate the Taj Mahal, perhaps the world’s most beautiful edifice and a monument to 17th-century Persian craftsmanship. The iconic mausoleum in ivory-white marble took 20,000 stonemasons and artists 11 years to complete.

“Craftsmen today probably couldn’t duplicate the Taj Mahal without the help of 3D printing technology,” says Pitupong. “It’s an additive technology that’s having a huge impact on design and construction.”

“And there’s huge potential for savings in terms of labour, time and transportation costs,” Sanit adds.

Had the technology been available last century, it’s safe to say, Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi’s wondrous Sagrada Familia temple in Barcelona would not remain famously unfinished.

The technology is by now so advanced that it can created structural beams that mimic bone – hard on the outside but spongy on the inside and thus more resilient than concrete.

Nevertheless, SCG says, houses that are 3D-printed aren’t going to replace conventional brick-block-and-concrete buildings anytime soon. The process remains far more expensive, for a start. The Y-Box Pavilion – a basic dwelling with six columns that couldn’t possibly be considered a complete home – cost about Bt1 million to manufacture.

So, while the technology answers the higher calling of innovative design whose requirements go beyond the capabilities of human handiwork, the vast majority of people are, for the foreseeable future, still going to be living in “boxes”.

YOUNG THAI designers once again showed their passion for recycled materials, with 200 entries from all around the country pouring in for the 2016 edition of the Reco Young Designer Competition. Organised by Indorama Ventures, the annual contest has as its concept “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”, and this year was held on the theme ‘Life is Play, Show Your Passion’.

After much soul-searching by a panel of judges who included Jarupatara Archawasmith, a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang; Asst Prof Singh Intrachooto, head of the Building Innovation and Technology Programme at Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Architecture; Apiwat Yosprapan, Praew magazine’s style editor Chaiyong Ratana-angkura, of Wallpaper Magazine; and freelance artist Narita Lert-utsahakul, the 200 entries were whittled down to 30.

These selected candidates were then invited to attend an exclusive eco-design workshop led by professionals in the design industry, along with a successful brand manager who gave practical business advice. A final 20 were selected to work more closely with project mentors and these advised the finalists throughout the project to maximise design potential and teach production techniques.

The winning prize in the fashion design category went to Wannakorn Oonvised, a freelance designer who was inspired by pyrotechnics. His “Fire Power” dress, made using recycled x-ray film, displayed vivid colours on a dark background depicting fireworks sparkling in the sky.

Suphavinee Jaikwang, a sophomore student at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, picked up the top prize in the product design category for her Jewellery Hot Stone collection made from recycled PET bottles. Based on the principle of Zen, her jewellery portrayed a sense of calm but with an underlying toughness.

All designs for the Reco competition were made using at least 60-per-cent recycled PET and polyester. Each offered an example of the potential for waste to be used in creating sophisticated items that also serve a practical purpose, surpassing normal expectations.

“This project aims to raise awareness on how we can use PET and polyester waste to create wonderful designs. For this, our fifth competition, we were delighted to see such good feedback from aspiring designers who are keen to know more about recycling and making designs to save the environment,” said Richard Jones, vice president of Indorama Ventures.

The winners of the two categories took home Bt100,000 each, while the first and second runners up received Bt30,000 and Bt20,000 respectively. This year, a new reward for young fashion designers called “Indorama Ventures’ Favourite” was introduced to recognise outstanding design for practical everyday clothing.

– The works of all the Reco finalists are on show at the Hof Art Gallery, 2nd floor, W District (BTS Prakanong) through Monday.

– Find out more at http://www.IndoramaVentures.com and Facebook.com/recoyoungdesigner.