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By Shane McGinley
Dubai will soon follow the unveiling of the world’s first 3D-printed building with even more equally ambitious projects, but construction of a large-scale skyscraper using the technology is unlikely in the near future, a design expert said during a presentation last week.
Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in May unveiled the Office of the Future, the world’s first 3D-printed office. Located near Emirates Towers and measuring 250 square metres, it was constructed using a special mixture of cement and a set of building materials designed and made in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States.
Four months later, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority announced its plan to build the first 3D-printed laboratory to be fully printed and assembled onsite, but Nick Billoti, head of special projects at Dubai-based engineering firm E.construct, which was involved in the development of the Office of the Future, said more announcements are in the works.
“I think you will see some interesting things come up in Dubai in the near future,” he told delegates during a presentation at the Big 5 Excellence in Construction Summit in Dubai last week.
The projects are all part of the Dubai Future Foundation’s Dubai 3D Printing Strategy, which aims to turn the UAE into an international hub for the new technology, which it estimates will be worth $300 billion by 2030.
However, Billoti said the technology was not yet at the stage where it could be used to build a full-scale skyscraper.
“You are not going to build a skyscraper with 3D printing in its current form any time soon,” he said. “We will see what else is out there.”
As part of a bid to inspire advances in the development of the technology, the Dubai Future Foundation last month agreed to partner with American multinational software corporation Autodesk to provide $100 million in funding for entrepreneurs and start-ups in the 3D printing sector in the region, according to a report by Dubai-based daily newspaper Khaleej Times.
© Zawya 2016
