"40 hours of active printing." How a school was built with a 3D printer in Lviv

In December 2025, children in Lviv will sit at desks in a school printed on a 3D printer for the first time. This is the only building in Europe constructed using this technology. The school's facade was built in 40 hours, costing $400,000 for a total area of 500 sq.m.

What are the features of the technology? What material was used, what is the cost per square meter, and what should be considered for similar projects? Lesia Solovchuk discussed this with an architect from balbek bureau, which developed the architectural concept for the project, as well as with representatives from the Danish companies Cobod, which invented the technology, and 3DCP Group, which operated the 3D printer.

Printing a school: how a futuristic project came to be

The idea of using 3D printing to build a school in Lviv emerged at the beginning of the full-scale war from Jean-Christophe Bonis, a French expert in artificial intelligence and a futurologist. He has repeatedly emphasized that he considers it his mission to bring technology to humanitarian projects so that innovations can help people.

The project started in November 2022. Lviv was not chosen by chance; the city was considered safe and hosted tens of thousands of displaced people, they explained. LIGA.net at the Team4UA charitable foundation. Boni founded this organization in the first months of the war to help refugees and solve social problems. It was Team4UA that initiated and implemented 3D construction in such an innovative way, with the support of the international technological humanitarian fund Humanitarian Innovative Technologies (HIT).

The city identified a plot of land at 126 Varshavska Street, where school No. 23 had 1,000 children instead of the intended 700. It was decided to build a single-story academic building for 100 first-graders.

According to Team4UA, the facade printing cost $400,000. The funding was provided by Ukrsibbank and the TED foundation, a corporate foundation that supports education.

3D printing as a construction technology

The 3D printing construction process took three days, with the direct printing of the facade lasting 40 hours without interruption. There was also additional work, as the 3D-printed walls are not load-bearing.

It was printed using a concrete mixture, 99% of which was made from local raw materials – gravel, sand, and cement.

1% is a high-tech additive called D.fab, developed by the Danish company Cobod. The additive helps transform local concrete ingredients into a durable, high-performance material for 3D printing. The optimized concrete mix hardens quickly but remains sufficiently plastic during printing. This allows the printer to create a monolithic wall system.

Cobod, the developer of 3D printing technology, provided the printer and concrete material supply system. Another technological partner was the construction company 3DCP Group, which managed the operation of the device. Both companies are from Denmark.

"The strength of 3D-printed walls is fully comparable, and in some cases stronger, than conventional brick or block walls," he explains in a comment. LIGA.net Henrik Lund-Nielsen, CEO of Cobod.

The printed walls have frames for columns – they were built using the classical method, explain the initiators of the construction, Team4UA. So all the weight that will press from above rests on the columns, not on the walls, say Team4UA.

The BOD2 3D printer, which was used to build the school, belongs to the class of gantry systems, they explained. LIGA.net at Cobod. (These are structures with parallel-sliding sashes, similar to sliding windows or doors). A steel frame was assembled around the construction site – this is the skeleton and muscles of the printer.

In this frame, the print head moves along three axes. "This allows it to place concrete anywhere within the defined printing area," the company says. In this way, the printer can print buildings of various sizes.

For example, using the same technology, a year ago the company built Europe's first social housing project printed with a 3D printer. The three-apartment house in Grange-Clones, Ireland, has a total area of 330 m², and the building fully complies with the international standard ISO/ASTM 52939:2023.

The technology provides high printing accuracy, which allows architects to use organic shapes without increasing costs, says Mikkel Brygge, co-founder of the construction company 3DCP Group. Automation and repeatability reduce working time and construction waste.

"40 hours of active printing is a typical time for erecting a building of this size. In general, construction using 3D printing takes between 24 and 72 hours, depending on the size, wall height, and complexity of the geometry," adds Bricht.

The first pancake of Ukrainian 3D printing

However, 3D printing doesn't mean the entire project is completed in 40 hours — that's just the net printing time for the concrete wall system. Next, windows, the roof, utility systems, and finishing had to be installed, just like in standard construction.

At this stage, the project stalled for two years after the building was transferred to the balance sheet of Lviv.

The city had to look for a new investor. Construction resumed thanks to the family of Volodymyr and Natalia Shved, owners of the Riel Estate Group company.

"We started building this school with a grant project with an international organization. Then they ran out of money and the school remained unfinished. After that, a Lviv developer volunteered to finish building it at his own expense," – stated Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

In general, a 3D-printed school cannot be cheaper than a conventional brick one, explains Dmytro Vasyliev, CEO, co-founder, and chief architect of Archimatika. He notes that this involves high-tech, expensive equipment.

Therefore, $800 per square meter – the cost of one square meter of the school's "shell" – is comparable to the same part of traditional construction.

"It's the same as building a concrete or brick shell. The difference is that you need fewer people and the equipment is automatic and ready-made, so it's faster," explains Vasiliev. Building a "shell" with traditional construction takes one and a half to two months with a very well-organized process.

How is a 3D school different from a regular one?

In addition to the advantages of time, the number of people, and the strength of the walls, 3D printing provides control over the shape, mass, and reinforcement.

For example, walls can be designed to have higher seismic resistance, explains Borys Dorohov, co-founder and COO of balbek bureau. This architectural interior design studio developed the architectural concept for the project.

However, the technology also has its drawbacks. Installing the printer is a complex process. "To print a hall with an area of 100 m"²"It would have to be moved eight times, and each move requires the construction of a foundation and a heavy horizontal support," the architect emphasizes.

There are also physical limitations regarding the direction of printing – it is impossible to build horizontal planes directly on the site using this technology due to gravity. Therefore, if ceilings are needed, they must either be printed separately or classic reinforced concrete ones must be used.

In addition, there is a problem with the equipment. Such 3D printers are not freely available – they are not easy to find for rent. Moreover, operating such equipment requires highly qualified and highly specialized specialists – so you need to rent not only the printer, but also the team that will service it.

Another limitation is the high requirements for the composition and quality of the printing mixture. If the consistency is incorrect, the nozzle will clog, which will stop the work.

Features of 3D design

Balbek Bureau designed the building so that the 3D school would be as different as possible from a traditional one in terms of design.

The building, which was designed to accommodate four classrooms and additional facilities (restrooms, a cloakroom, a teachers' lounge, and a play area), was given an unconventional shape by the architects. The focal point became the voluminous, undulating texture of the walls – a characteristic feature of 3D technology.

Inside, there is well-thought-out zoning, comfortable restrooms, a separate teachers' room, and a large hall with a climbing wall. The building is fully inclusive. However, there is no canteen or shelter – they are in the adjacent building.

Last week, the children had their first trial lesson. By the end of December, the city plans to launch a full-fledged educational process.

There are currently no plans to scale this experience, either at the local level or at Team4UA.

The organization focused on assisting Ukrainians evacuated from the occupied territories.

"Since we have a positive result, it can be scaled up, but I am against typical solutions," said Lyubomyr Zubach, Lviv's deputy mayor for urban planning, in a comment to LIGA.net.

However, according to the architects we spoke with, it would be worthwhile to continue mass production for a specific function.

For a single-story building of 500 sq.m, the use of 3D printing was a successful solution, emphasizes Dmytro Vasyliev. If you build a production chain, prepare all the necessary working documentation, the foundation for these objects, and plan to rent one printer for a year, you can erect 12 objects with dimensions similar to this school, believes Borys Dorohov, co-founder and COO of balbek bureau.

Scaling this technology for typical projects would also reduce construction costs: most of the project documentation would not need to be created from scratch – only adapted to each site and local conditions, he concludes.