Dubai opens the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office

Dubai has opened what it said was the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office building, part of a drive by the Gulf’s main tourism and business hub to develop technology that cuts costs and saves time.The printers – used industrially and also on a smaller scale to make digitally designed, three-dimensional objects from plastic – have not been used much for building.This one used a special mixture of cement, a Dubai government statement said, and reliability tests were done in Britain and China.The one-storey prototype building, with floorspace of about  2,700 sq ft (250 sq m), used a 20-ft by 120-ft by 40-ft printer, the government said.“This is the first 3D-printed building in the world, and it’s not just a building, it has fully functional offices and staff,” the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Mohamed al-Gergawi, said.“We believe this is just the beginning. The world will change,” he said.The arc-shaped office, built in 17 days and costing about $140,000, will be the temporary headquarters of Dubai Future Foundation – the company behind the project – is in the centre of the city, near the Dubai International Financial Centre.Gergawi said studies estimated the technique could cut building time by 50-70% and labour costs by 50-80%. Dubai’s strategy was to have 25% of the buildings in the emirate printed by 2030, he said.