A 3D-printing arms race is pushing makers to build bigger and better with ever-more-resilient materials and increasingly precise extrusion techniques. That could change, however, as the mark of success in additive manufacturing shifts from size to scale and architects and designers take it upon themselves to hone the technology at the building-component and systems levels and bring their results to market. The trio of parts below shows how materials like concrete, plastic, and metal are being used to create 3D-printed components that, if applied at scale, could find their way to the job site in the not-so-distant future.
