A nonprofit building 3D-printed schools finished its first $300,000 build in Madagascar in 3 weeks

BOTO Friddet

• An increasing number of home construction startups are using 3D printers to create homes.
• Thinking Huts is taking a similar approach by using the tech to build schools in developing countries.

Homes made using 3D printers now exist around the world, from a luxury house in Austin, Texas …

Brittany Chang/Insider

Source: Insider

… to a popular tiny home in Denmark.

3DCP Group

Source: Insider

And now, a nonprofit is taking a slightly different approach by using this emerging construction tech to build schools in countries where children don't have access to robust education.

BOTO Friddet

Both homebuilding startups and established companies have turned to 3D printing as a possible solution to our ongoing housing crisis.

Thinking Huts

But when Thinking Huts' 22-year-old founder Maggie Grout first came across the tech almost seven years ago, she saw a potential application in another crisis: the lack of proper schools in some developing nations.

Thinking Huts

In 2015, she founded Thinking Huts with the long-term goal of giving every child convenient access to schools.

Mattea LinAe

And in April, the nonprofit — run by 17 volunteers — finally unveiled its first prototype build: Hut v1.0 or "Bougainvillea," a single building on a university campus in Madagascar …

Thinking Huts

… a country where 1.3 million students aren't in school because of distance and overflowing classes, according to the nonprofit.

Thinking Huts

Source: Thinking Huts

The Thinking Huts team spent three weeks building the prototype. This timeline included 18 hours of print time to create the walls …

Mattea LinAe

… and 12 days to complete the rest of the school.

Andry Niaina

Like many well-known 3D-printed buildings, the walls were made using a cement mix and African 3D printing construction company 14 Trees' COBOD printer …

Mattea LinAe

… the same printer 3DCP Group used to build its tiny home in Denmark …

Mattea LinAe

… and Habitat for Humanity for its family home in Virginia.

Alquist

Final touches like the roof and windows were then constructed using local materials.

Andry Niaina

A three-week timeline is relatively fast compared to traditional construction methods, but Grout hopes this build time will be cut even shorter once Thinking Huts' processes are more efficient.

Mattea LinAe

However, the nonprofit is still seeing one major "hurdle" that many 3D printing construction companies have lamented as well: cost.

Thinking Huts

The new construction tech can create buildings more efficiently compared to longstanding construction methods.

Thinking Huts

And in the next five to 10 years, the printing system could cut the price of homes by 50%, Mikkel Brich, the cofounder and CEO of 3DCP Group, told Insider.

Thinking Huts

Source: Insider

But for now, the cost to print a building is still pretty high.

Thinking Huts

Source: Insider

The team spent about $300,000 building the Madagascar school.

Mattea LinAe

But over half of this cost stemmed from the COBOD printer rental and the transportation of the equipment …

Thinking Huts

… which is why the team is now looking to buy its own printer.

Thinking Huts

The next five schools will probably still be more expensive to print than to build traditionally, primarily because of the high costs associated with transporting printer equipment, Grout said.

Thinking Huts

Despite this, she doesn't see the nonprofit's deployment of 3D printers as a risk, but instead as an opportunity to both increase access to education and help the local economy.

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"A lot of time technology gets a bad reputation," Grout said. "People want to believe in an idea without seeing how it will play out in reality. But with this, it is proven and it has actual societal benefits."

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The single 3D printed unit is just the start of Thinking Huts' work.

Thinking Huts

In 2023, the nonprofit will use what Grout calls a "honeycomb" design to build a school campus with multiple connected 3D-printed huts.

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These huts will still be in Madagascar, but the nonprofit is considering projects in other locations like Kenya and India …

Thinking Huts

… although it'll still be a while before Thinking Huts is ready to build in other countries.

Thinking Huts

"If we are thoughtful about how we implement this solution and we work with people on the ground and get feedback and the local buy-in, I think [3D-printing schools] will be a successful solution," Grout said.

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