The world's first functional 3D printed office building opened in Dubai on May 24. The project, which passed the stability tests both in the United Kingdom and China, was constructed by Yingchuang Building Technology Co. Limited, a Chinese company.It created the one-story building spread over an area of 250 square meters by placing layers of specially made cement with a 3D printer of 6 meters in height, 36 meters in length and 12 meters in width. Its interior and all other details were also printed this way. It was finished in 17 days at a cost of $140,000.

 

To make it more stable, the company built it in an arc shape. Many innovative technologies were adopted to make it less energy consuming.

 

Co-designed by Gensler，Thornton Tomasetti and Syska Hennessy, the building is an example of a transformation from traditional working environment to a future one, which encourages communication and innovation between working teams, and cooperation with experts and innovators around the world.

 

With space for exhibition, seminar and other functional purposes, the office building, next to Emirates Towers, will become the temporary headquarters of Dubai Future Foundation.

 

The building is part of Dubai's future 3D printing strategy, which aims to make the city into a center of 3D printing technologies before 2030.

 

The strategy mainly focuses on three fields: Construction, healthcare and consumer goods. About 25 percent of buildings will be built by 3D printers in Dubai by 2030.

 

"It is not just a building, but also has functional offices and people working in it," said Mohammad Al Gergawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs of the Federal Government of the UAE, at the opening ceremony.

 

"We believe it is just a beginning. The world will change," he said, adding that 3D printing is estimated to cut construction time by 50 to 70 percent and labor cost by 50 to 80 percent.