All over the globe, hundreds of millions of people live in substandard housing or overcrowded conditions. Currently, it is estimated that on average 37 percent of the population in developing countries live in slum neighborhoods, defined by the UN as "a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing, squalor, and lacking in tenure security”.

In a small town in western Russia called Stupino, a 3D printed house just went up in the middle of winter and in less than 24 hours. It was printed entirely on-site by a company called Apis Cor, who used a crane-sized mobile 3D printer, a specially developed mortar mix, and covered the whole operation with a heated tent. According to the company, the house’s total building cost came to around $10,000 - or approximately $275 per square meter. A recent estimate put the average cost of building a 200 square meter home in the US at about $1,350 per square meter - a comparable cost reduction of 80 percent.

Apis Cor’s mission is to change the global construction industry so that millions of people all over the world can have an opportunity to improve their own living conditions. The company believes that the world of construction has leapt to a new evolutionary stage and aims to make their quick, affordable 3D house printing concept accessible to everyone everywhere.