Holstebro, Denmark — A student village of 36 3D printed apartments, Skovsporet (“The Forest Trail”), has been completed by 3DCP Group. Printed on site with a COBOD 3D printer for the affordable housing organization NordVestBO, it is Europe’s largest 3D printed housing project, and its first students have now moved in.
- Europe’s largest 3D printed housing project: 36 student apartments across 6 buildings, now welcoming their first residents in Holstebro, Denmark. Watch the project video.
- Total project size of 1,650 m² (~17,800 SF), with apartments of 38 to 50 m² (~410 to 540 SF) in 6 clusters of 6 units.
- Printed by 3DCP Group with COBOD’s construction 3D printer BOD3 for the affordable housing organization NordVestBO; designed by SAGA Space Architects with MS+; the village sits next to VIA University College in Holstebro.
- Construction cost was €1,880 per m² (~$205 per SF) for the buildings. The total project came in below Denmark’s statutory maximum budget for subsidized housing, a limit set low enough that it constrains how much new affordable housing gets built
- The entire project was printed by the same crew of just 3 people, a fraction of the workforce a conventional site of this size would need, with one building of 6 apartments (275 m², ~3,000 SF) printed in just 5 working days.
- 3D printed with locally sourced low-CO₂ concrete, using a cement that emits up to 30% less CO₂ in production than traditional cement. The printer worked around the site’s existing trees, leaving 90% of them standing.
Not enough new affordable housing is getting built in Denmark, where projects must come in under a low statutory cap on cost per square meter in a high-cost construction market with limited labor. Utilizing 3D printing, Skovsporet’s total project cost came in comfortably below that limit, while meeting the sector’s requirements for quality and operation. The buildings themselves were delivered at €1,880 per m² (~$205 per SF) as built, excluding design and engineering, utility connection charges and site and landscaping works.
For residents, that means rent from €670 (~$780) a month for a 50 m² apartment, and less for the smaller units. The numbers are more striking still given the stunning architecture. Using conventional building methods, the buildings’ curved walls and rounded forms would be cost-prohibitive: whether laid in brick, cast in bespoke formwork, or assembled from precast elements, every curve adds cost. But 3D printing a curve costs no more than a straight line, so the attractive design came at no premium.
All 36 apartments were 3D printed on site by a single BOD3 construction 3D printer by COBOD, operated throughout by the same crew of just 3 people, who completed one building of six apartments in just 5 working days. A conventional site of this size would need considerably more workers on the wall trades alone. The machine handles the heavy, repetitive lifting that wears crews down, making the job safer, and because it prints from a digital model, the walls are built to a high standard of precision and quality.
Inside, every apartment works as a full home (kitchen, study space, lounge, bathroom, and a sleeping area) with generous roof windows and sloped ceilings drawing daylight deep into the rooms. Printed concrete sits alongside timber, cork paneling, and glass for a warm, Scandinavian feel. The 6 buildings frame shared courtyards, and the gardens, footpaths, and cycle parking around them are meant to balance private living with a sense of community. The buildings were designed by SAGA Space Architects together with MS+.
Improvements in sustainability followed from the 3D printing. The team sourced materials locally, including a cement that emits up to 30% less CO₂ in production than traditional cement. In addition, the site was handled with the same restraint: the buildings were slotted in among the existing trees, leaving 90% of them standing.
Amalie Hvas, student and new resident of one of the 3D printed apartments said about the technology:
“I like it. It gives the building character. When you think of 3D printing, you picture a little machine making something in plastic – not an entire apartment!”
Mikkel Brich, Co-Founder and CEO of 3DCP Group, said:
“The technical breakthrough was not printing one successful structure. It was repeating the process across six clusters while improving speed, maintaining accuracy, and integrating the printed elements with conventional building systems.”
Philip Lund-Nielsen, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of COBOD, added:
“Construction 3D printing builds affordable housing at scale, and this student village is the largest example of it in Europe so far. The students moving in benefit from lower rents, the buildings look fantastic, and we are glad to see it scaling.”
On the back of Skovsporet, 3DCP Group and SAGA Space Architects are already trialing new material mixes and production methods for their next projects. The development has drawn considerable international press coverage, and it makes a wider point: with the speed, precision, and repeatability of COBOD’s 3D printers, printed housing meets real demand at the prices that mass market demand comes with.
Relevant Links
- COBOD: https://cobod.com/
- 3DCP Group: https://www.3dcp.dk/
- SAGA: https://www.saga.dk/
- NordVestBO: https://nordvestbo.dk/
- Watch the project video: https://youtu.be/Fo4Oz3–Lq0?si=DnrZDBnCIYHSFZOh
- Previous project coverage on cobod.com: https://cobod.com/europes-largest-3d-printed-housing-project-using-cobods-bod3/
- Danish national broadcaster DR on the project including comments from the student resident: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/poelset-op-i-beton-nu-staar-europas-stoerste-3d-printede-byggeri-klar
About COBOD
COBOD is the global leader in 3D construction printing, with 90+ printers deployed across 35 countries. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and backed by shareholders including General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim, and PERI, the company employs over 50 employees dedicated to making construction faster, more affordable, and more sustainable.
About 3DCP Group
3DCP Group consists of an engineering company, architecture firm, and the constructing party, which combined possess all the skills necessary to 3D print a complete building. This gives 3DCP a unique opportunity to take care of the entire construction process, from idea to turn-key product.
3DCP’s ambition is to build better, cheaper, and more sustainably.
When the company says its ambition is to build better, it doesn’t just mean the objective quality of the house, but also the subjective experience of the house, all of which is made possible through the construction method and the surrounding processes.
About NordVestBO
NordVestBO is a public housing association based in Holstebro and Struer. With 60 dedicated employees, we manage more than 3,300 homes, family, student, and senior housing, including both apartments and townhouses, across 43 departments in the area. In addition, we handle the administration of several private cooperative and owner-occupied housing associations.
We take pride in building, renovating, and renting out attractive homes, ensuring that our properties are always well maintained. At NordVestBO, service is our top priority, and we create homes for everyone.
About SAGA Space Architects
Based in Copenhagen and Hanoi, SAGA Space Architects works across architecture, design, research, and technology to create human-centered environments for Earth and space. Drawing on cross-disciplinary expertise, the studio develops projects ranging from lunar and underwater habitats to urban architecture, combining forward-thinking design with technological innovation and real-world application. Projects such as FLEXHab, EcoNeo, and LUNARK reflect SAGA’s ambition to expand the possibilities of architecture through innovation in space and the built environment.
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