First 3D-Printed Building Facade Coming to Tennessee

A Chattanooga-based credit union will feature the “world’s first” 3D-printed building facade on its newest branch. The facade comes from 3D-printed building specialist Branch Technology, with the help of the credit union’s contractor, Construction Consultants. The facade will engulf the building in a wavy design, which serves almost like a pathway to guide visitors. It’s also a nod to the credit union’s wave logo. Branch Technology calls the facade a “staple of design freedom offering a one-of-a-kind product outside the literal box of repetitive, conventional construction and facade manufacturing.”

After more than a year of planning and design, Branch Technology printed dozens of the panels at its 40,000-square- foot design and manufacturing center using its patented cellular fabrication process, or C-Fab, before using cranes to hang them in place at the building.

The firm claims the system is a unique printing method that allows material to solidify in open space, creating a matrix of polymer in virtually any shape. That brings “unprecedented design freedom and resource stewardship to next-generation wall systems,” according to Branch Technology.

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