Saudi Arabia: the world’s tallest on-site 3D printed building completed

North America may lead the development in terms of the amount of new 3D printed buildings. However, Europe and The Middle East are clearly leading the way in the use of 3D construction printing technology to create larger and larger buildings. Europe had it first 3-story 3D printed building made in Germany by PERI using COBOD technology in 2021, and now Asia also has one. With its 9.9 meters in total height, the Dar Al Arkan villa in Saudi Arabia is the tallest on-site 3D printed building in the world.

Dar Al Arkan, a real estate development company located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just revealed their first project: a 3-story 3D printed villa made with a 3D construction printer from market leader COBOD International. The project is located in Shams Al Riyadh, just northwest of the city Riyadh, the capital of Saudi, in a new development project of 12 million m² of land, which is part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

Wael Al Hagan, 3D construction printing project manager from Dar Al Arkan said: “Our efforts are focused on developing the kingdom’s real estate sector by integrating the latest trends and technologies, drawn from global best practices to enhance our industry locally and deliver on the objectives of vision 2030. The introduction of 3D construction printing enables us to focus on greater flexibility of design, strengthen productivity and achieve higher cost efficiency”.

The first Dar Al Arkan project is a 3-story 345m² house, with a total height of 9.9m. The first floor has an area of 130m² which includes a spacious hall that has several living areas, a kitchen, and 2 toilets. The second floor is 140m² and has 3 bedrooms (one of which is a master bedroom) 2 bathrooms, a living room, and a balcony. The third floor is a roof annex that holds a maid’s room with a bathroom, a multipurpose hall, and a laundry room. Although it consists of 3 floors, in Saudi Arabia such a building is referred to as a two-story + annex, due to the third floor being somewhat smaller than the two first floors.

The project was executed using local materials and the D.fab solution developed by Cemex and COBOD. This solution allows COBOD customers to source 99% of the concrete materials locally, while only relying on 1% sourced from a central location. Less than 10,000 euros were spent on the printed materials.

Following the printing of the first villa, Dar Al Arkan moved the printer to print another villa. Wael Al Hagan continued: “We are currently building the second villa, which will typically take a month to complete, but we’ve already finished the first floor of 130m² in only eight days. This 3D printed villa has additional insulation layers and features that ensure energy conservation, saving up to 30% in energy consumption. We urge all industry experts to visit us and view the first completed villa and the second under construction for themselves” noted Al Hagan.

The villa was printed in a desert area without the use of a tent in August and September when temperatures run highest than 40 degrees in Saudi Arabia. Zaid Marmash, Head of Middle East & Africa for COBOD concluded: “The printing of the villa without the use of a tent shows the competence of the Dar Al Arkan team and their ability to handle our world class technology. They are pushing the boundaries for the future of construction. Printing with a COBOD 3D construction Printer, Dar Al Arkan proves how 3D printing buildings can be both very cost effective and time-saving at the same time.”