World’s Tallest 3D Printed Building
Europe had it first, a 3D printed building of 3 floors made in Germany by PERI in 2021, and now Asia also has one. While North America may lead the development in terms of the amount of new 3D printed buildings, Europe and The Middle East is clearly leading the way in the use of the 3D construction printing technology to create larger and larger buildings. With its’ 9.9m in total height the villa in Saudi Arabia is the tallest on-site 3D printed building in the world.
Dar Al Arkan, a real estate development company located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just revealed their first project: a 3-story 3D printed villa made with a 3D construction printer from market leader COBOD International. The project is in Shams Al Riyadh, just northwest of the city Riyadh, the capital of Saudi, in a new development project of 12 million m2 of land, which is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
“Our efforts are focused on developing the kingdom’s real estate sector by integrating the latest trends and technologies, drawn from global best practices to enhance our industry locally and deliver on the objectives of vision 2030. The introduction of 3D construction printing enables us to focus on greater flexibility of design, strengthen productivity and achieve higher cost efficiency,” Wael Al Hagen, 3D construction printing project manager from Dar Al Arkan, said.
The first Dar Al Arkan project is a 3-story 330 m2 house, with a total height of 9.9 meters. The first floor has an area of 130 m2 which includes a spacious hall which has several living areas, a kitchen, and 2 toilets. The second floor is 140 m2 and has 3 bedrooms (one of which is a master bedroom) 2 bathrooms, a living room, and a balcony. The third floor is a roof annex which holds a maid’s room with a bathroom, a multipurpose hall, and a laundry room. In Saudi Arabi such a building, although it consists of 3 floors is referred to as a two story + annex, due to the third floor being somewhat smaller than the two first floors.
The project was executed using local materials and the D.fab solution developed by Cemex and COBOD. This solution allows COBOD customers to source 99% of the concrete materials locally, while only relying on 1% sourced from a central location. Less than 10,000 euro was spent for the printed materials.
Following the printing of the first villa, Dar Al Arkan has moved the printer to print another villa. Wael Al Hagen continued: “We are currently building the second villa, which will typically take a month to complete, but we’ve already finished the first floor of 130 m2 in only eight days. This 3D printed villa has additional insulation layers and features that ensure energy conservation, saving up to 30% in energy consumption. We urge all industry experts to visit us and view the first completed villa and the second under construction for themselves,” noted Al Hagan.
The villa was printed in a dessert area without the use of a tent in August and September where temperatures run as high a more than 40 degrees in Saudi Arabia. “The printing of the villa without the use of a tent shows the competence of the Dar Al Arkan team and their ability to handle our world class technology. They are pushing the boundaries for the future of construction. Printing with a COBOD 3D construction Printer, Dar Al Arkan proves how 3D printing buildings can be both very cost effective and time saving at the same time,” Zaid Marmash, Head of Middle East & Africa for COBOD, concluded.
