The World’s Largest 3D-Printed Concrete Building has been completed in Oman. The project’s team comprised of Mexican Cement Company Cemex, the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman, and Danish 3D printer maker, Cobod.
The 2,100 square foot structured building was produced using real concrete and has been designed as a typical Oman house. It features a reception area, a living room, a kitchen, and three bedrooms. The concrete that was used for the walls of the World’s Largest 3D-Printed Concrete Building cost about €1,600. Cubod said that the printable dry mix mortar that is commonly used in printed buildings would have cost from €20,000 and more.
The world’s largest 3D-printed concrete building construction phase
The construction works of the World’s Largest 3D-Printed Concrete Building took place over two stages. The first stage was dedicated to fine-tuning the concrete recipe as well as training the Omani crew.
The subsequent stage was all about construction works which are said to have taken 5 days. Instead of using the traditional dry mixed mortar that is often used in other 3D printed structures, GUtech took on a different approach. The institution employed a D fab solution that was developed by Cemex and Cobod that consisted of locally sourced sand, gravel, and cement. The mix made, according to the team, was much easier to deposit and in addition, significantly reduce construction costs.
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The executive vice president of sustainability to Cemex, Juan Romero said that the introduction of the 3D printing system should be seen as a testament to the company’s customer-centric mindset alongside the company’s relentless focus when it comes to improvement and innovation.
For the project, well over 99.5% of the construction materials used were all sourced locally; it is said that 0.5% of the construction materials came from Europe.
Quite interesting I used Cemex in Abu Dhabi to produce to prefabricate a large concrete pontoon Cemex lab came up with a high performance mix job well done
As to the Printed structure in Oman I will be interested to follow up mainly for the mix design
The Printed application in concrete construction has been plagued right at its inception from false claims of speed of construction or costs claiming such nonsense as built in 48 hours or less than $10 k
Your article mercifully did not mention such claims
As a concrete prefabrication specialist I keep stating that Printing of structures is limited to around 20%only of total the rest is beyond this scope (foundations horizontal elements stairs Windows doors MEP internal non load bearing walls and ceilings. Roofing etc)
As a first step Printing should be combined with prefabrication to produce elements that can be incorporated in he structure also reinforcement to be introduced to increase the printable elements also to use alternate techniques for internal non load bearring walls and finishes also to mass prefabricate bathrooms and toilets and kitchen modules
I have analysed all these issues with the objective of developing techniques that run in parallel with printing to take advantage of this new technology and fill in the 80% ,that so far has been conveniently brushed under the carpet for ridiculous marketing claims
Equally important I have analysed the parameters of the printing tool that is mobile flexible in height and spans and” low tec” as the field of operation requires equipment to be easily cleaned maintained and repaired in he field to reduce downtime to a minimum
I will follow up with your developments as definitely this technique has a good future if one increases the technical input and cuts down on marketing bravado
Best regards
Francois Lama