One story office building cost $140,000.
By Dileep Thekkethil
The world’s first 3D-printed office building was opened in Dubai on Wednesday.
The purpose is also to showcase the Emirates as a major tourism and business hub that develops cost-effective technology capable of saving valuable time.
Even though 3D-printers are widely used nowadays, both in large and small industries for making digitally designed, three-dimensional objects out of plastic, it is the first time that the technology is being used for building an office building.
According to the Dubai government, the office building was constructed by Dubai Future Foundation using a special mixture of cement and the reliability tests were done in Britain and China.
The 2,700 square feet (250 square meters) one story office building was built using a 20-foot by 120 foot by 40-foot printer, read the government statement.
The United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed Al Gergawi said: “This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it’s not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff. We believe this is just the beginning. The world will change.”
The office building, which costs about $140,000, was built over 17 days near the Dubai International Financial Center, and will function as the headquarters of Dubai Future Foundation.
The minister also said that the new technique will reduce the building-time by 50-70 percent and cut labor costs by 50-80 percent. The Dubai government aims to have 25 percent of the buildings in the Emirates printed by 2030, he said.