Melo Villareal
World’s First 3D Printed Commercial Building, Coming Soon in Pampanga, Philippines
If you’re a lurker or a wallflower on the World Wide Web, then you’ve probably seen or heard of the concept of 3D printing. And you’ve probably learned that uninhabitable/miniature buildings, action figures, highly-personalized shoes, clothes, and even food, can be 3D printed. But you’ll be surprised to know that there is currently a life-sized and livable hotel suite being constructed using 3D printing technology, and that it is set to become the world’s first operational 3D printed hotel suite after completion. And yes, the suite has its own 3D printed Jacuzzi too.
Lewis Yakich sitting in front of his 3D printed hotel villa photo by 3dPrint.com
This 3D printed breakthrough is set to emerge at The Lewis Grand Hotel in Angeles City (about the hotel), Pampanga, Philippines. After 3D printing specialist Andrey Rudenko1 proposed the idea to hotel owner Lewis Yakich, plans to create the world’s first 3D printed hotel suite turned out very promising.
Plumbing and other hardware installed into the 3D printed hotel villa photo by 3dprint.com
Although the assembly of the 3D printer took Yakich and his team two months, and another one month to find the perfect material mix, Yakich was able to construct a 34ftx41ftx10ft hotel room with two bedrooms, a living room, a spa, and a Jacuzzi room in just more or less 100 hours.
“The Philippines is actually a great place for concrete printing because of the weather. Currently everything is made of concrete, and it’s a third world country so it can do a lot of good in disaster zones, etc.,” Yakich said to 3DPrint.com.
Lewis Grand Hotel
The mix used for the construction of the house is a combination of sand and volcanic ash, which is said to be stronger than hollow blocks, and is also readily and abundantly available in the Philippines.
Affordable 3D printed housing for all
After this innovation at The Lewis Grand Hotel (hotel info), Yakich said that he is also planning to construct affordable 3D printed homes for the Filipino masses.
“I plan to roll over some of the cost savings of using a 3D printer to give a more quality house for the low income homes. It would be great if I could give them all mini mansions!” Yakich said.
Yakich said that his cost analysis on the construction of 3D printed houses reduced as much as 60% off the total amount of expenses needed to build a house. The 3D printing technology also wins over traditional constructing methods time-wise as well, as Yakich estimates that it will take just about one week to print a total of six houses simultaneously.
“I also locked down a memorandum of agreement to start preselling 200 low income homes. The goal would be to expand to 2000 homes within 2 years. The Philippines is in such need of low income housing that this technology is perfect for it,” Yakich said.
Sources
- Azzarello, Nina. 2014. “Andrey Rudenko constructs 3D printed concrete castle in Minnesota.” DesignBoom. Accessed September 12, 2015. http://www.designboom.com/technology/3d-printed-concrete-castle-minnesota-andrey-rudenko-08-28-2014/.
- Arce, Nicole. 2015. “This is the first 3D-printed hotel suite in the world: Yes, it has a 3D-printed Jacuzzi.” Tech Times. Accessed September 12, 2015. http://www.techtimes.com/articles/83508/20150910/this-is-the-first-3d-printed-hotel-suite-in-the-world-yes-it-has-a-3d-printed-jacuzzi.htm.
- Krassenstein, Eddie. 2015. “Exclusive: Lewis Grand Hotel erects world’s first 3D Printed hotel, plans to print thousands of homes in the Philippines next.” Accessed September 12, 2015. http://3dprint.com/94558/3d-printed-hotel-lewis-grand/.
