3D printing has long been touted as a way to quickly build homes, buildings, and communities, enabling the construction industry to work more quickly. Now, we are seeing the technology is helping to rebuild a 3D printed school in Ukraine.
The country has faced many hurdles due to the recent geopolitical conflict, resulting in the destruction or damage of more than 2,000 schools, with 277 schools completely demolished. Rebuilding in the days ahead isn’t going to be an easy feat, but the objective is going to be to address this infrastructure to rebuild schools.
With 3D printing technology, the project team aims to speed up the development of educational facilities and reconstruct housing and vital infrastructure throughout Ukraine. The project is led by the humanitarian foundation Team4UA and conducted by the Danish 3DCP Group using COBOD’s BOD2 printer.
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. COBOD has an open-source material strategy, partnering with customers, academic institutions, and suppliers around the world.
In this case, the primary one-story school is being built where the existing school was and will serve as a resource for young children. In this example, the architect chose to clearly show that the building has been 3D printed by opting not to print with COBOD’s flaps technology, enabling the printing of very smooth walls.
This meets a very clear need in this country. Half of the printing was able to be done in just three-to-four days of printing and it highlights the opportunities of 3D construction printing technology for projects that need to be done quickly.
It also benefits the local economy, as roughly 90% of the construction materials will be locally produced, further empowering the community. In fact, 99% of the materials for the 3D printed concrete has been sourced at low cost locally.
This effort demonstrates a few key things. First of all, it illustrates how technology can address urgent infrastructure and societal needs. Following a disaster of epic proportions, technology can come in and rebuild what was once destroyed.
Second, it creates greater resilience among communities, as they are able to rebuild and get back to work and life faster than once before. The example from Ukraine is simply one. 3D printing is poised to change the way the construction industry does business in the years ahead, creating an entirely new blueprint for building.
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