This 2-story building in the United Arab Emirates is being hailed as the largest 3D-printed structure in the world—and its developers are now using the technology to bring affordable housing to the US.
The building, which was 3D-printed on site in Dubai using locally sourced materials, was finished after just two weeks of construction. Measuring in at 6,900 square feet (640 square meters), the building will now be used as an administrative facility for the Dubai Municipality.
Apis Cor, the San Francisco-based company responsible for the project, required only three workers and a construction crane on site to finish the building in October.
Now, the startup says that they will be using the same technology to build the first ever 3D-printed house in Santa Barbara County, California.
Jennifer McGovern, President and CEO of Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County, hailed their partnership with Apis Cor for the project, saying: “It has become increasingly difficult and expensive to develop affordable housing, particularly in high cost housing markets. We must create a paradigm shift if we are to begin to meet local, regional and national affordable housing needs for our residents.
“We are excited about the potential for 3D-printing to significantly lower the time and cost involved in constructing affordable housing and to promote the use of sustainable building materials. We believe that 3D-printing of homes will have broad future application for meeting a range of local housing needs. We plan to share the results of this trail-blazing collaboration with Apis Cor with our peers in the affordable housing industry and to promote this innovative new housing technology.”
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This is not the first building developed by Apis Cor—the company made international headlines back in 2017 after they premiered a demo building at their Moscow testing facility. Not only did they finish the simplified structure in just one day, they also used about $10,000 in materials.
Apis Cor now hopes to debut their first permitted, 3D-printed US home in early 2020. After that, the company plans to make their printers available for purchase later the very same year.
“Construction 3D printing technology is only at the early stages of development,” said Nikita Cheniuntai, CEO and Founder of Apis Cor. “We do extensive R&D work to make the technology available for mass use.
“We are thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with Dubai Municipality,” he added. “The project gave us unique knowledge and invaluable experience that will help us improve our technology and develop a new version of our 3D printer.
“The improved version will be more reliable and time-efficient (twice as fast). Moreover, during the project we tested and improved our own-developed 3D mixture. This project is a huge step forward in the concrete 3D printing industry.”
(WATCH the video below to see the project in action)
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