DUBAI 24 October 2019: Dubai Municipality achieved yet another milestone by entering the Guinness Book of World Records for completing the largest 3D printed two-storey structure in the world.
The achievement is in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to construct 25% of buildings in Dubai with 3D printing technology by 2030.
Dubai Municipality has completed a two-storey integrated building project with a height of 9.5 meters at a total area of 640 square meters through the use of 3D printing technology. It is the largest and first 3D printed two-storey structure in the world executed by undertaking 3D printing onsite directly under external working conditions and using local components.
It did not say where the building is located.
Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality said: “This project is a major turning point in the construction sector at the local and regional levels and is based on the strategy of innovation in 3D printing technologies in construction, which in turn will increase the pace and speed of execution and completion of buildings in record time, and reduce construction costs and contribute to the development of solutions to the demographics challenges by reducing the number of construction labor.”
“It will also support the Emirate’s sustainability trends using local materials and reduce construction waste, where printing is done electronically according to engineering plans directly without human intervention,” he added.
“The two-storey building has been designed and executed with a number of spaces that can be used as rooms or offices of different sizes. The walls are printed directly from the printer, unlike the traditional method of construction, which depends on the work of tightening wooden pieces with nuts and bolts, reinforcement and pouring of concrete and making bricks. The building has been designed with different curves and shapes through which it was tested whether it can be possible for 3D printing in the construction of a variety of designs,” said Al Hajri.
Local Materials
The municipality has ensured that the materials used in the mixture are local materials available in the country. The printing mix was created from local materials and will be the Intellectual Property of Dubai Municipality as the holder of the rights of this mixture and the possibility of using it morally, commercially and industrially at the regional level in the future.
The building has been executed according to sustainability requirements and green building standards. It features efficient insulation systems through innovative geometrical wall printing and increases the possibility of utilizing voids inside the wall, which mainly helps the thermal insulation of the building and reduce energy consumption, in addition to developing solutions to connect services within the printed walls, which includes all services to the building such as electricity, water, communications, air conditioning and IT technologies.
