The Middle Eastern nation of Qatar is set to house the world's largest 3D-printed building, spanning the size of six football fields. Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal), local construction company UCC Holding, and Danish 3D construction specialist COBOD have announced that two public schools will be built using 3D printing in the middle of the Qatari desert. This project is part of a larger plan to construct 14 schools in total.

Each school will have a built area of 20,000 square meters, bringing the total area for both schools to an impressive 40,000 square meters. This is an overwhelming scale, approximately 43 times larger than the current world's largest 3D-printed building, which measures 929 square meters in Florida, USA. Completion is scheduled for the end of this year.

For this construction, two customized BODXL printers from COBOD, measuring 50m long, 30m wide, and 15m high, will be deployed. These are the world's largest construction 3D printers and utilize a material extrusion method, building walls by layering a viscous mixture similar to cement. Notably, printing is being conducted during nighttime hours to avoid high temperatures and optimize material performance.

3D printing in construction offers environmental, economic, and aesthetic advantages. It minimizes concrete usage, reducing carbon emissions, and facilitates the creation of curved walls inspired by the desert landscape. Furthermore, it can shorten construction periods compared to traditional methods. The COBOD team conducted over 100 full-scale tests to develop concrete mixtures and customized nozzles suitable for the local climate conditions.

These two-story school buildings, each to be built on a 100m x 100m plot, are expected to set a precedent for future educational infrastructure in Qatar and the wider Middle East region.