News: Dutch studio DUS Architects has joined the race to build the first 3D-printed house with plans to print a full-size canal house in Amsterdam.

DUS Architects will print components for the house on-site using a purpose-built printer called the KamerMaker (above and below) and plan to start work in the next six months.

"This year we want to print the entire facade and the first room bit by bit," architect Hedwig Heinsman told Dezeen. "Then in the following months and years we will print other rooms."

The KamerMaker, which is Dutch for "room maker", is 3.5 metres high and sits inside a shipping container. Each building component will be printed and tested at a scale of 1:20 before being printed at a 1:1 scale with the KamerMaker.

Above: a round window frame printed with the KamerMaker

The house will be built in a developing area alongside the Buiksloter-canal in the north of the city, where it will act as a hub for research into 3D-printed architecture. "We want to build a construction site as an event space," sais Heinsman. "We'll have the printer there and every print we make will be exhibited. It's very much about testing and learning."

The first floors and facades of the house will be printed from polypropylene, but the architects hope to eventually use bioplastics and plastic recycled on-site.

Once the first part of the canal house is complete, it will be put to use as a "welcoming room" while the architects design and print additional rooms.

Each room will be dedicated to a specific research theme, such as the "cook room" where researchers will explore 3D printing with potato starch and the "policy room" where they'll consider how to obtain permits for printed structures.

Other rooms will include a workshop to test and repair designs and a "recycle room" where used items like plastic bottles will be shredded into printing material for the KamerMaker.

"We have the building grounds for three years, so I'm pretty confident it will last for that long, but of course our aim is for longer," said Heinsman. "We also had the idea that if at one moment we had to relocate it, we would just shred all the pieces and build it anew somewhere."

The race to complete the first 3D-printed house is already well underway, with London collective Softkill Design recently announcing plans for a plastic dwelling that could be printed in three weeks and assembled in a day, while Dutch firm Universe Architecture intends to print a house based on a Möbius strip.

DUS Architects' previous projects include a pavilion made of bubbles and a pop-up bar made of umbrellas, both on the streets of Rotterdam.

Other 3D-printed designs we've featured lately include a floor-length nylon gown designed for burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and a fuel-efficient three-wheeled car – see all 3D printing news.

Read more about the project on DUS Architects' website.