Jun 2, 2017 | By Benedict

CyBe Construction, a Dutch construction company and concrete 3D printing specialist, has finished 3D printing the “R&Drone Laboratory,” a drone research laboratory in Dubai. The building is the first laboratory in the world to be 3D printed on site.

As hyperbolic as it sounded at the time, it looks like Dubai wasn’t messing around when it claimed that 25 percent of its buildings could be 3D printed by 2030. Startup Cazza Construction has reportedly landed a massive contract to start building there, and the Emirate capital has already experimented with 3D printed residential buildings and offices.

The latest Dubai-based structure to pop up using additive manufacturing is the R&Drone Laboratory, a 3D printed laboratory for drone research consisting of “27 separate elements which have all been printed under a controlled environment in the middle of the desert in Dubai.” We first heard about the 3D printed drone lab in September.

If some of Dubai’s 3D printing projects still sound a little wishy-washy to you, about this one there should be no doubt. Why? The company behind the impressive new drone building is CyBe Construction, the Dutch concrete 3D printing specialist who developed the incredible RC 3Dp, a concrete 3D printer that moves around on caterpillar tracks. It’s really neat.

In a newsletter sent out to followers on Wednesday, CyBe announced that all concrete 3D printed sections of the R&Drone Laboratory are now complete. The company set up a giant tent in the desert, unpacked the aforementioned RC 3Dp, and got to work on the groundbreaking structure.

“In earlier updates, we reported that we are working on the 3D concrete printing of the R&Drone Laboratory in Dubai,” CyBe writes. “Recently we…finished our part of the project by printing the elements of the lab. This means we can finally show the first results of this building.”

The results, for what it’s worth, look pretty good. Though CyBe is only responsible for laying the foundations and erecting the walls of the new laboratory, the company has created an unusual-looking structure with rounded corners—futuristic, but somehow reminiscent of a medieval castle.

“After printing the inner and outer walls with the CyBe RC 3Dp…we printed the smaller parapets,” CyBe explains. “Currently the contractor CONVRGNT is finalizing the building by adding…the roof, the stairs, doors, and sanitary facilities.”

The 3D printed drone lab, which measures 168 square meters, was printed in just three weeks, and CyBe thinks this impressive timeframe is evidence of 3D printing’s massive potential in the construction industry.

While not all construction projects are suitable for concrete additive manufacturing, CyBe’s latest effort won’t harm perceptions of the technology at all.

“The R&Drone Laboratory shows that it is possible to print such buildings in a shorter time span compared to traditional methods,” CyBe says, noting that it will recycle some of the processes employed in the R&Drone Laboratory for future projects. The company is also promising further updates on the 3D printed Dubai drone lab once further sections are added.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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