Madagascar has a serious shortage of schools. According to the nonprofit think house, the country needs about 22000 new schools to solve the current problems of overcrowding and long distance travel To try to solve this problem, the organization has built the first of a series of 3D printing schools
The original 3D printing school is called bougainvillea, which is located in Fianarantsoa, South Central Madagascar. The project has undergone some changes. It no longer has the function of solar panels or rainwater collection, and its planned corrugated metal roof has been replaced with a roof made of wood. However, its basic honeycomb form still exists. The building consists of a simple single storey interior, with an area of about 700 square feet (65 square meters), and can accommodate about 30 students.
Bougainvillea's construction process involved a 3D printer that extruded a cement like mixture from the nozzle to build a basic wall, which took 18 hours. Construction workers in Madagascar then completed it by adding roofs, doors and windows, which were made locally and installed any necessary furniture. Including the work of human construction workers, the project took three weeks to complete.
Looking to the future, the "thinking cabin" aims to expand the scale of this school and build more schools in places needed throughout Madagascar, and may eventually be built in other parts of the world. A scaled honeycomb campus with multiple connected cabins is the next roadmap. It draws inspiration from the beehive and symbolizes bringing people together to form a community.