3D printing could cut the building time by 50-70% and labor costs by 50-80%.
While we’ve already seen the emergence of 3D-printed cars, bridges and homes, Dubai has revealed plans to take the technology to new heights by constructing an entire office building. Not only will the exterior walls of the 2,000-square-feet structure be printed, but its interior and furniture will be as well.
In hopes of reducing costs and time by over 50%, the one-story prototype building will be printed layer-by-layer using a 20-foot tall printer with reinforced concrete, gypsum reinforced with glass fiber, and plastic. The project is a collaborative effort between the city of Dubai, Chinese 3D printing pioneer WinSun, as well as architectural and engineering firms Gensler, Thornton Thomasetti and Syska Hennessy.
When all is said and done, officials plan to utilize the office as the temporary headquarters of a recently announced, $136 million “Museum of the Future” that is expected to open in 2017. No stranger to impressive undertakings, Dubai is already home to a number of manmade islands and the world’s tallest building.
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