- The world’s tallest 3D printed building is now complete and it is in many ways impressive.
- The 3-story, 9,9 m tall building compromises 345 m2/3713,55 ft2 and was made by the leading Saudi Arabian real estate developer, Dar Al Arkan, using a COBOD 3D construction printer.
- The villa features several smart home features and the use of new materials.
- Low-cost local materials were used to create the 3D printable concrete, which all of the walls of the 345 m2/3713,55 ft2 building was printed with.
- The building was made without the use of a tent just after the summer in a hot desert where temperatures run as high as more than 40 degrees.
The villa in the capital city of Riyadh is the first 3D printed building from Dar Al Arkan. It was 3D printed in just 26 days and is fully compliant with the building codes, making it a bright example of how technology and innovation can work hand in hand with safety and regulation.
The villa features smart applications that control various functions of the house, including doors, locks, AC, lighting 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% more heat-resistant than traditional buildings. In addition, the exterior of the house is four times stronger that any regular-built one.
The level of design flexibility, made possible using cutting-edge 3D printing technology, allows for easy and quick customization of finishes and styles, enabling Dar Al Arkan to offer its future clients a truly personalized experience. With this feature, the company aims to create homes that are tailored to the unique tastes and preferences of their clients, setting a new standard in the real estate industry.
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”.
The project by Dar Al Arkan has not happened unnoticed by the local authorities. Commenting on the use of new technology 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% of the Saudi population to own their homes by 2030. Our strategy is to revolutionize the way people think about home through smart futuristic methods”.
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% local and inexpensive materials, while only relying on 1% sourced from a central location.
Commenting on the completed 3D printed villa Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder & General Manager of COBOD said: “The 3-story 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.
ABOUT COBOD
We are world leader in 3D construction printing solutions with +65 printers sold world-wide.
COBOD’s mission is to build smarter through multifunctional construction robots based on 3Dprinting technology and COBOD’s vision is to automate minimum 50% of construction processes on building sites. All leading to better, faster, cheaper and more sustainable construction than conventional concrete. We constantly strive to reduce the co2 footprint of 3D printed concrete.
COBOD’s 3D printers made Europe’s first building in 2017. Subsequently our printers made the first 2- and 3-story buildings in Europe (Belgium & Germany), North America (US & Canada) and India. Also, the first 3D printed villa in Dubai and buildings in Africa have been done by COBOD 3D construction printers, just like the first wind turbine bases.
COBOD has an open-source material strategy, partnering with customers, academic institutions, and suppliers around the world.
COBOD is privately owned by General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim and PERI as key shareholders, and our partners further include Dar Al Arkan (Saudi Arabia), L&T Construction (India), JGC (Japan), Siam Cement (Thailand) and Orascom (Egypt).
COBOD is headquartered in Denmark with regional offices and competence centers in Florida and Malaysia. Our team consists of +100 passionate pioneers from 25 nationalities and through our installed base of printers, we have a truly global presence in North- and Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
ABOUT DAR AL ARKAN
Dar Al Arkan is a real estate development company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), The company specializes in the development of master planned lifestyle residential communities offering developed land parcels, apartments and villas, as well as the mixed-use real estate, which is part of large residential communities, such as retail and commercial buildings. As a result, Dar Al Arkan has evolved into a fully-fledged all round mixed use real estate developer.
Dar Al Arkan converted to a joint stock company in 2005. The founding shareholders currently own 81% of the Company, while 19% is held by other private investors. Recently, Dar Al Arkan achieved a 50% capital increase of SR3.6 Billion to jump up from SR 7.2 billion to an overall capital of SR10.8 Billion. The progression of Dar Al Arkan from a small real estate developer to one of the largest private sector providers of master-planned lifestyle communities in KSA is a result of consistent growth since its inception.
Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development took the first rank among Saudi real estate companies, and the fifth position in the Arab real estate sector on the list of Forbes’ List Top 500 Companies.”