Kerala saw its first 3D-printed building being inaugurated on Tuesday, October 10. The 380 sq ft one-room structure, named ‘AMAZE-28’, was built within a span of 28 days using the 3D printing technology inside the campus of Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra (Kesnik) located at PTP Nagar in Thiruvananthapuram. The building was inaugurated by Minister for Revenue and Housing K Rajan.

The structure costing Rs 11 lakh was built with help from a Chennai-based start-up Tvasta, run by IIT-Madras alumni. Kesnik had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tvasta for the 3D printing project. Director of Kesnik Febi Varghese said that while the 3D printing of the structure took only 28 hours of time, the roof was done in a conventional manner. “The setting up of the roof, floor, doors, windows and other works had to be carried out. In entirety it took only 28 days, with minimal labour,” he said.

Febi said there are three stages of processing in the construction of a building. “Data processing, in which we design a building and convert it into a 3D model on a computer; material processing, in which a patented concrete mixture by Tvesta is prepared; and then robotic printing,” he said and added that the wastage in this process is almost zero.

Chief Technical Officer R Jayan said one of the major advantages of using the technology is that it generates less wastage. “Even the environmentally-friendly options are costly. However, this technology is an alternate environment friendly method developed with the technical support of IIT-Madras. Another advantage of this technology is that we can complete any complicated design, in a very simple way and with minimal manpower which is required for operating the robotic arm,” he added.

Awareness about the technology is being created in different districts of the state and there are plans to commercialise it slowly.