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Saudi real estate developer, Dar Al Arkan, has completed the world’s tallest 3D printed building in Riyadh using a COBOD 3D construction printer.
COBOD said in a press statement that the 3-storey, 9.9-metre-tall, 330 square metres (sqm) villa was built with 3D printable concrete created using low-cost local materials in 26 days and in full compliance with building codes.
“The project was executed using local materials and the D.fab solution developed by Cemex and COBOD. This solution allows COBOD customers to use 99 percent local and inexpensive materials, while only relying on one percent sourced from a central location,” the statement said.
It said the villa is equipped with smart controls and has 9 solar panels on the roof, which generate enough electricity to power many of the villa's systems, including lighting and heating.
“Also, heat-reflecting nano technology was used for painting the exterior walls, which makes the villa up to 40 percent more heat-resistant than traditional buildings,” the statement noted.
Wael al Hagan, 3D construction printing project manager from Dar Al Arkan said: “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”.
Fahad al Nasar Head of Innovation, The Ministry of Housing in Saudi Arabia said: “In Saudi, we are rapidly developing in the construction sector through our Building Technology Initiative and implementing new technologies to enable 70 percent of the Saudi population to own their homes by 2030. Our strategy is to revolutionise the way people think about home through smart futuristic methods.”
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder & General Manager of COBOD said: “The 3-storey villa from Dar Al Arakan is really representing state of art of the 3D construction printing industry both in terms of size and quality and in many other ways. The villa demonstrates the capabilities of the technology regarding scale, speed, use of cheap local materials and innovative solutions. Our technology delivers the fastest construction method in the world, and when this is combined with low-cost locally made concrete a winning formula has been established.”
The Denmark-headquartered COBOD is privately owned by General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim and PERI as key shareholders, and its partners include Dar Al Arkan (Saudi Arabia), L&T Construction (India), JGC (Japan), Siam Cement (Thailand) and Orascom (Egypt).
(Writing by Anoop Menon; Editing by Bhaskar Raj)
