Dubai’s 3D-Printed Skyscraper Plan Could Be Game-Changing

The plan to build the world’s first 3D-printed skyscraper in Dubai was recently announced. If successful, this project holds the potential to change the face of construction the world over. Not only could it lead to faster erections of tall buildings, it could also help cities save on the costs since printing an entire building is bound to come with fewer expenses than using traditional methods.

Although most people have come to take them for granted, skyscrapers are a marvel of engineering that makes them incredibly difficult to build. Doing so with 3D-printed materials is likely to present its own difficulties, but a firm called Cazza Technologies is intent on being the first to actually build one.

In a recent interview with Construction Week Online, Cazza CEO Chris Kelsey noted how this project was above and beyond what his team was planning to do with 3D printing. The company certainly has the technological capabilities, but printing an entire skyscraper is still a whole other ballgame.

“When we first thought of implementing 3D printing technologies, we were mostly thinking of houses and low-rise buildings,” Kelsey said. “Developers kept asking us if it was possible to build a 3D printed skyscraper. This led us to begin researching how we could adapt the technologies for taller structures.”

Thanks to its gigantic robot 3D printers, creating complex architectural buildings is already possible for the company. Everything that is needed for erecting a tall construct can be 3D-printed, including all of the reinforcements necessary to keep the building upright, Futurism reports.

As to how Cazza actually intends to do something like this, it will involve mounting the printers onto tall cranes, much like the ones that regular construction businesses use. This is useful because building specialized equipment to build the 3D-printed skyscraper with would have cost more time and money.