Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Futuristic Dubai Office Showcases 3-D Printing's Potential

Darpan News Desk, 01 Jun, 2016 12:45 PM
    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — There are office printers that spit out documents and others that always seem to jam. And then there those that make the office itself.
     
    A small group of employees in Dubai is starting to move into a new workspace that the emirate says is the world's first functional office building made using three-dimensional printer technology.
     
    Dubai's ruler quietly inaugurated the whitewashed buildings last week, not far from the site of a planned "Museum of the Future " that is due to open in 2018.
     
    Looking like a mashup of a "Jetsons" abode and an Apple Store, the compact office was printed out layer by layer over 17 days at a cost of $140,000, said Saif al-Aleeli, the CEO of a government initiative called the Dubai Future Foundation that is behind the project. Features include a tree-shaded outdoor garden deck and LED lights that automatically adjust to the brightness outside.
     
    "Why 3-D printing? Because it makes sense in terms of cost, in terms of time-saving, in terms of efficiency," the 29-year-old al-Aleeli said. "We really believe that this technology will revolutionize the construction, the development sector as well as other sectors, (including) the medical sector (and) consumable products."
     
    Products made using 3-D printing are first designed on a computer and then printed out using a variety of materials, including metal, plastic and concrete.
     
    Developers are finding a growing number of uses for the technology as it evolves.
     
    European aeronautics giant Airbus just unveiled a lightweight electric printed motorcycle made from aluminum alloy particles, while a Wisconsin schoolteacher recently fashioned prosthetic feet for a duck who lost his due to frostbite.
     
    The technology has been used in other construction projects too, including a Dutch canal house being raised in Amsterdam. But the foundation says its Dubai office is the first "fully functional 3-D printed building," constructed with full services and meant for daily use.
     
    The Chinese company WinSun Global used a 20-foot tall printer squirting out cement and other materials to produce the 17 building modules for the new Dubai office, according to the foundation. The pieces were then shipped from China to the Gulf port city, where it took workers two days to piece them together.
     
    Further work, including the installment of the interiors and landscaping, took another three months. Designers left open part of the finishing in the foyer so visitors can see how the 3-D printed layers came together, row after squiggly row.
     
    The building occupies prime real-estate between the city's iconic twin Emirates Towers and the Dubai International Financial Center, which is a stand-in for a futuristic city in the forthcoming "Star Trek Beyond" film.
     
    The site will serve as the temporary offices for between 12 and 20 foundation staff members for now. Dubai hopes it will kick-start its plans to transform the sheikhdom into an incubator for emerging technologies. It has an ambitious goal of using 3-D printing in a quarter of all buildings by 2030.
     
    "The future will be 3-D printed," al-Aleeli predicted. "I won't be surprised if in 20 years down the road whole cities will be 3-D printed."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    A Million Over Asking

    A Million Over Asking
    Good news if you’re selling your home but bad news for most home buyers who are struggling to find a house that suits their needs while staying within their budget.

    A Million Over Asking

    No Charges After Naked Woman Prompts Vancouver Police Emergency Response

    No Charges After Naked Woman Prompts Vancouver Police Emergency Response
    Policed cordononed off a downtown block on the Robson Street shopping district last Friday after a witness called 911 to say they looked into a locked store and saw a bare foot sticking out from behind a counter.

    No Charges After Naked Woman Prompts Vancouver Police Emergency Response

    Indo-Canadian Woman Pawandeep Kaur Booked For Arranging Hit On Estranged Husband In India

    Indo-Canadian Woman Pawandeep Kaur Booked For Arranging Hit On Estranged Husband In India
    Mohali NRI’s murder: Canadian woman booked for husband’s murder, paid Rs 2.7 lakh to contract killer

    Indo-Canadian Woman Pawandeep Kaur Booked For Arranging Hit On Estranged Husband In India

    Canadian Relatives Of Missing 5-Year-Old Syrian Girl Seek Help After Photo Appears Online

    Canadian Relatives Of Missing 5-Year-Old Syrian Girl Seek Help After Photo Appears Online
    Mohamed Masalmeh, a cousin of the dark-haired girl, says he's sure the photo shows Mira Akram Al Jawabrah after she was rescued from a boat that overturned off the coast of Italy in August 2014, when the girl was three years old.

    Canadian Relatives Of Missing 5-Year-Old Syrian Girl Seek Help After Photo Appears Online

    $17.6 Million Promised To Upgrade Safety On Coquihalla Highway For Commercial Truckers

    $17.6 Million Promised To Upgrade Safety On Coquihalla Highway For Commercial Truckers
    The expansion will accommodate up to 70 trucks.

    $17.6 Million Promised To Upgrade Safety On Coquihalla Highway For Commercial Truckers

    Join Surrey RCMP's Campaign Against High Risk Driving Behaviour

    Join Surrey RCMP's Campaign Against High Risk Driving Behaviour
    While National Road Safety Week may have just ended, the Surrey RCMP continues to focus on traffic safety with a series of education and enforcement campaigns this week aimed at high risk driving .

    Join Surrey RCMP's Campaign Against High Risk Driving Behaviour