The new Beehives-inspired 3D printed school project in Madagascar is a mix of innovative technology and sustainable architecture while reaching new humanitarian work boundaries. The project implementers, Thinking Huts, are expecting to raise around $350,000 for its completion.
‘Thinking Huts’ is a Colorado-based non-profit organization, and it has joined hands with an architectural firm specializing in 3D technology. Their collective goal was to build the world’s first-ever 3D printed school in Madagascar.
Their mission is to blend the humanitarian work with sustainability and innovative new design to provide a setup for young children’s education. Madagascar’s school will exist using 3D printed walls and other construction materials that are locally sourced, such as roof, windows, and doors.
Board Member of Thinking Huts, Asif Khan, said, “Thinking Huts has the potential to transform education for millions globally, using 3D technology to design and develop schools will significantly improve access to quality education for underserved communities.”
Working in collaboration with Studio Mortazavi for the basic design layout and Hyperion Robotics for the 3D technology, Thinking Huts foresees the first school built in the ongoing year.
Details of the 3D-printed school
The team settled on Madagascar as its first-ever location to build a school as there is a significant lack of education. Other than this, it has potential for economic growth and given its political stability and solar energy possibilities make it a well-chosen location for such a project.
Nearly sixty percent of the primary school-aged Children in Madagascar are subject to lack of education due to lack of the required resources and overcrowding in its population.
The reason to use 3D technology in building these schools is to cut down the costs and time of construction, as it is far more efficient than traditional construction methods. Another benefit of 3D printing in construction includes that it minimizes carbon emissions at large.
Hyperion Robotics’, based in Finland, is hired for this task of building these schools.
Beehives inspire the design of the school in a form that allows for expansion. Able to be set up in different pod-like structures, the school’s buildings are easily placed together. These 3D printed pods are easily transportable and to put up. The school design is perfect to set up in remote areas of the world where schools’ construction is not an easy feat.
Thinking Huts’ idea is to see how its initial project in southern Madagascar goes before extending such developments within Madagascar, and for the next part, to the rest of the world.
