Applying 3D Printing as a New Building Technology: Potentials and Challenges in the Egyptian Context

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the world of architecture and construction is being changed by new technologies with opportunities and limitations. Large-scale 3D printing (3DP) technology has recently been introduced as a new building technology to improve productivity and quality. Recently, worldwide stakeholders started experimenting with the technology substitute of traditional. This is due to achieve potentials benefits, such as increased accuracy, customisation, and design flexibility. Additionally, it reduces wasted material, costs, manpower, and printing time. However, these initial investigations are very fragmented at the time of the study. There are different views on where technology can be directed and a large gap between ideas and their applications. 3D printers will be used primarily to print buildings for low-income housing and emergency housing in developing countries such as Egypt, while most of the buildings that have been built were executed in developed countries. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the international applications and challenges of 3D printing. This paper was set out to give insight into applying 3D printing as a new building technology on an international scale and assessing the applicability potentials and challenges in the Egyptian context; through 1. gathering and analysis of documents and references of opportunities and limitations of 3D printing factors(design, environmental, social, and economical); 2. qualitative data analysis.The descriptive study of international examples outlines the factors used to assess the international examples with anassessment matrix and analysethem within the Egyptian context. It shows that projects divide internationally into projects which invest in optimising the performance and others which are optimising the production according to different characterisations. There are greatpotentials of using 3D printing in Egypt, but it needs to be adapted to numerous challenges in achievingits maximum potential