It’s time to chalk up another world record for the UAE! On Wednesday, 23rd October 2019, Dubai Municipality officially entered the Guinness Book of World Records for constructing — wait for it — the largest 3D printed two-storey structure in the world. Awesome!
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Spanning a height of 9.5 metres and a total area of 640 square metres, the record-breaking structure goes in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The goal? To build 25 percent of buildings in the emirate using 3D printing technology by the year 2030. Impressive!
Dubai Municipality Builds Record-Breaking Structure
“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,” stated Dawoud Al Hajri, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, as cited by WAM News Agency.
“This, in turn, will increase the pace and speed of execution and completion of buildings, and reduce construction costs and contribute to the development of solutions to the demographic challenges by reducing the number of construction workers,” he explained.
According to Al Hajri, 3D printing technology would support Dubai’s sustainability trends through the use of local materials and reduction of construction waste — as the printing can be done electronically based on engineering plans, and without direct human intervention.
“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,” he continued. “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 Director-General also mentioned that the building was designed with different shapes and curves, which had been tested to see whether 3D printing could be used to construct a variety of designs. During construction, the municipality team performed experiments and tests on combinations of materials used in printing, thus making sure that these possessed the quality, strength, and consistency needed for the construction of the two-storey building.
Likewise, the municipality also ensured that the structure was made of locally available materials, and that it was constructed based on green building standards and sustainability requirements.
Check out this video featuring the record-breaking 3D structure, as shared by Dubai Municipality on Facebook:
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When it comes to pushing boundaries and using new technologies, the UAE is fast becoming a global pioneer! In fact, the list of Guinness World Records made in the emirates just keeps getting longer, and there seems to be no stopping the UAE from breaking more records!
