What a 3D printed school in Ukraine looks like

Self-described “futurist” Jean-Christophe Bony has built his career as a tech entrepreneur and advocates for the use of artificial intelligence and robotics in sustainable projects.

A week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Frenchman founded Team4UA, a charity to provide technological solutions to alleviate the huge humanitarian crisis facing the country.

said Mr Bones, speaking to RTÉ News from Lviv, western Ukraine.

In the first months of the war, 75,000 to 100,000 displaced refugees were constantly passing through Lviv, many of whom stayed for longer periods.

Mr. Bonis proposed a new solution to the mayor of Lviv for hosting refugees.

“My immediate reaction was to the mayor: Why don’t you print the buildings so you can house these people?”

‘Look,’ said Mr Bones, ‘I said, give me a piece of land where I can print a school and I’ll show you that it’s possible, and my foundation will give a school to the City Council.

The site was located next to school 23 in Lviv. Before the war, the school taught nearly 800 students. Today, Bonis said, 1,200 students attend the school, many of whom have been displaced from other parts of Ukraine due to the war.

Mr. Bonis has contacted Danish 3D printing developers COBOD, who have introduced the BOD2 printer, a 15 meter long and 12 meter wide robot that prints using concrete.

Three trucks were used to transport the 3D printer from Denmark to Ukraine.

Printing work on the 506-square-meter school, the largest of its kind in the world according to Bonnis, began in mid-May with construction expected to be complete by the end of next week.

It will be the first 3D printed building in Ukraine. Designed by kyiv-based architecture studio Balbek Bureau, it will accommodate 100 students.

“I want to use local materials, local operators and concrete,” Mr. Bones said.

On site, three engineers from 3DCP Group, a Danish 3D printing company, oversee the printing and train 10 local Ukrainian employees to use the printer.

“It’s a project that’s hard to say no to when someone asks if you’d like to build a school in a war-torn country,” said Mikkel Brech, CEO of 3DCP Group.

Speaking from the print site, Breish said it takes the robot three days to print 10-foot-high walls for a 1,500-square-foot section of the building.

“We have no architectural limitations. It is the same cost for a printer to make a straight wall, a circular wall or a zigzag wall. The construction team will not have the opportunity to keep up with the technology. «

The robot used in Lviv can print structures up to three stories high, as well as walls and ceilings.

However, the human builders will still need to install doors, heating systems, paint walls, and complete other fine details.

Bonnis said the next phase will take another two months to complete with the school expected to open in January 2024.

Team4UA put the total cost of the project at $800,000 and Bones said he is trying to raise funds to complete the job.

The French entrepreneur believes that artificial intelligence and robotics can provide a solution to Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts, and has already set his sights on his next project: 3D printing a bridge in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Ukraine.

Kherson was occupied by Russian forces for the first nine months of the war, and Russia still shells it daily.

“These two pilots help me show that we can print infrastructure, solve the construction problem and speed up the rebuilding in Ukraine right now,” Mr. Bones said.