What’s in world’s first 3D-printed school?

When Malawians in Mcheza Village woke up on November 26 last year, they were in awe of a new structure that had sprouted in the schoolyard in the middle of the night.

“The night before, men were setting up equipment and, in the morning, a whole new school block was standing on the ground reserved for a school,” Senior Chief Kalonga told Zenger News during the handover the classroom on June 18.

The classroom is the world’s first 3D-printed school, according to Swiss firm 14Trees that constructed the block within 15 hours.

Mcheza in Salima District along the shoreline of Lake Malawi mirrors a typical Malawian village: a few sparse homesteads surrounded by dry crop fields. Schools are few and far apart, forcing children to walk long distances.

Marita Feliati’s eight-year-old daughter Triza, one of the first pupils to register at the yet-to-be-named new school, gleams with excitement at the prospect.

Triza, a Standard Two learner, was born with a disability on her left foot. She struggles to walk long distances on days when her leg hurts.

“Her last school was over five kilometres away and it was challenging for her to attend classes on some days,” Faliati says. “So, with [the new] school in our village, I am delighted because my daughter will now be able to attend classes every day.”

According to the UK charity Classrooms for Malawi, the country needs to build more than 40 000 classrooms to cater for demand.

“Based on our calculations, if we rely on conventional methods, it would take about 70 years to clear that backlog,” says 14Trees managing director François Perrot.

“To remove that backlog faster, we need to constructively disrupt the way we build and apply a cutting-edge approach that can bring speed, efficiency, and environmental performance at scale. This is what 3D printing technology achieves.”

During the handover, primary education adviser Juliana Kuphanga-Chikandila, representing the director of education in the Ministry of Education in Malawi, said she was impressed with the new building.

She stated: “It’s durability and design provide the space and facilities that pupils did not have before; teaching and learning can now happen inside and outside.

“This school will attract more pupils and the learners who had left will return.”

14Trees was co-founded by LafargeHolcim and CDC Group, the UK development finance institution and impact investor. Both have invested in the 3D printing technology and are bringing it to Malawi, where it is most needed.

“We believe the school infrastructure gap could be bridged in just ten years using 3D printing,” says Perrot.

He explained that with 3D printing, the classroom walls could be built in less than 15 hours, while the walls could be raised in less than 12 hours.

He explains: “This method reduces the number of materials needed and decreases the carbon footprint of those buildings by up to 70 percent compared to conventional methods.

“Considering the volume of the units required to print, we believe that 3D printed buildings can be 10 to 20 percent more cost-effective than conventional methods soon.”

Catherine Sani, the recently-elected president of the Malawi Institute of Architects, noted that while it seems fair and reasonable to say that Malawi will benefit from the technology given its lack of critical infrastructure, benefits will also be felt from the skills transfer.

She argues: “It is difficult to comment whether the Swiss firm has considered any local skills transfer and made any efforts to embark on the transference of skill.

“The speed of production by this method is beneficial, but one cannot look at speed alone from costs related with printing machines, technology transfer, and ensuring good design.”

But Perrot said that 3D printing is still a nascent technology and 14Trees is working to make it more affordable by 10-20 percent than the conventional methods in the next 12-18 months.

“We had to import the pilot school, but the ink we used to print the walls is now manufactured in Malawi,” he says.

Manufacturing the ink on the ground will dramatically reduce the cost of the building for buyers and create local jobs in manufacturing, Perrot states.

“In addition, we now have an indigenous-Malawian team fully trained to operate the printer. We are confident that we can build schools that are more superior and improve on construction time, quality, environmental footprint, and affordability,” he says.

Perrot notes that 3D printing will help to unlock the potential for affordable housing and schools in Africa.

The partners are working on 3D-printed home projects in Kenya and Zimbabwe. They plan to build more schools in Malawi, Madagascar and Ethiopia.