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Dive brief:
- Retail giant Walmart is jumping on the 3D printing bandwagon, after partnering with Greeley, Colorado-based Alquist 3D to build an addition to its Athens, Tennessee retail location.
- Alquist created a nearly 8,000-square-foot, 20-foot-tall expansion of the retailer’s online pickup and delivery space in the store, according to a News release of September 10. This is the first time Walmart has used 3D printing technology on this scale, and the addition is one of the largest freestanding 3D-printed concrete commercial structures in the United States, according to the release.
- Walmart says its decision to use 3D construction printing in its expansion aligns with its broader goals of being more environmentally friendly, leveraging cutting-edge technology to attract customers and speed up the process of construction, according to the statement.
Diving knowledge:
Walmart chose Alquist because of his experience with 3D materials and robotics and his desire to take on a project of this scale, Mike Neill, Walmart’s vice president of new construction, said in the statement.
“Walmart is always looking to innovate and take advantage of developing technologies, and we looked at several new construction methods and companies for this project,” Neill said.
Commercial properties that take advantage of 3D printing are few and far between. Patti Harburg-Petrich, director of the Los Angeles office of UK engineering firm Buro Happold, told Construction Dive last year that building codes made progress difficult about the technique.
However, some space builders are betting on technology. Last September, Canadian builder WSP announced that it did search for new applications for 3D printed concrete, including infrastructure and clean energy projects.
“Technology is impacting the housing sector and its reach is expected to extend to heavy infrastructure,” Markus Wernli, vice president of WSP’s marine division in the US, said in a press release announcing the transfer. “The use of 3DPC will grow first in less challenging structural and non-structural components before finding application in components for large infrastructures.”
Outside of terrestrial construction, 3D printing is also finding use: a team at Turner, based in New York City, is working with AI SpaceFactory to test the capabilities of 3D printing outside the world here on Earth.
