Dubai Builds World's First 3D Printed Office

Setting trends and breaking records is hardly a new thing for Dubai, but the announcement late on Tuesday night shows this incredible city simply knows no boundaries when it comes to brilliance.

Introducing the world's first 3D printed office. Unveiled in DIFC, and revealed on Twitter by his His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai, it is not an understatement to say it's one of the most significant 'firsts' in the region.

world's first 3D-printed office building opened this week in Dubai, Reuters reports. The 2,700-square-foot, single-story building was built in just 17 days using a gigantic, 20-foot tall 3D printer and a special mix of concrete, fiber reinforced plastic and glass fiber reinforced gypsum.

Set in the gardens of Emirates Towers, it will act as the temporary office for the Dubai Future Foundation, an organisation that will help deliver smart technologies to the emirate. Driverless cars, for example, are the work of the Foundation, and so too the World Future Games, set to take place in 2017.

Although the "printer" was massive at about two stories tall, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide, it only needed one staffer to make sure it was functioning properly. The rest of the 18-person construction crew consisted of installers, electricians and mechanical engineers who completed the job for a mere $140,000 in construction and labor costs — or about half the price of a comparable structure built with conventional methods. Of course, the building is more than just another gold star in the UAE's ultramodern playland — it will also serve, appropriately enough, as the temporary headquarters for the Dubai Future Foundation. Next year, the structure is scheduled to become the home of Dubai's Museum of the Future.

"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. According to Gergawi, Dubai plans to have 25 percent of the buildings in the emirate built via 3D printing by the year 2030.