DUBAI // The world’s first 3-D-printed office is to be built in Dubai.
A six-metre-tall 3-D printer will be assembled on site to create the 185 square metre office, big enough for 16 people.
The office will be a temporary headquarters for staff from the Museum of the Future, which was launched this year by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and is due to open in 2017 in the Emirates Towers area near Sheikh Zayed Road.
The furniture and interior detailing will also be 3-D printed. The project will use reinforced concrete, gypsum and plastic.
“The idea of 3-D printing buildings was once a dream but today it has become a reality,” said Mohammed Al Gergawi, chairman of the National Innovation Committee. The project would play a “major role in reshaping construction and design”.
The technique has been used mostly for making small models of development projects, although there are plans for robot 3-D printers to build a bridge across a canal in Amsterdam.
Experts say 3-D printing in full-scale building could cut construction time by up to 70 per cent, labour costs by up to 80 per cent savings and construction waste by up to 60 per cent.
WinSun Global, the Chinese company leading the Dubai project, introduced its technology last year when it printed 10 concrete homes in a day in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, then assembled them in Shanghai.
The technology could also be used to provide almost immediate housing after natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Mr Al Gergawi said the printed office would be a stage in making Dubai a global centre for innovation.
“This is the first step of many more to come,” he said.
lgraves@thenational.ae