Dubai Municipality has achieved another world record for completing the largest 3D-printed two-story structure in the world.
The building that earned the Guinness Book of World Records nod is 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-story structure in the world executed by undertaking 3D printing onsite directly under external working conditions and using local components.
The project is in line with the directives of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to construct 25 percent of the buildings in Dubai with 3D printing technology by 2030.
Dawoud Al Hajri, director general, 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 labour.”
Al Hajri noted that the national cadre and the Municipality team were instrumental in this achievement as the in-house consultative body that supervised the completion of the project at all stages, which is the 3D printing team from the Building Permits Department, and no external consultant was hired.
“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.” Said Al Hajri.
“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,” he added.
The Municipality has also highlighted 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 utilising 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.
