3D Printing Just Built a Shelter in -30C Desert Heat - Yanko Design

"Picture this: you're a volunteer in the middle of Inner Mongolia's Tengger Desert, planting trees under a relentless sun in temperatures that can swing from 45 degrees Celsius in summer to minus 30 in winter. You're there to combat desertification, planting forests that will lock the desert in place and prevent sandstorms from spreading eastward. It's heroic work, but let's be real, the conditions are brutal."

"Enter Desert Ark, and suddenly this story gets a whole lot more interesting. Created by Chinese design studio designRESERVE, Desert Ark is China's first 3D-printed concrete structure in an extreme desert environment, and it's basically a game changer for anyone working in hostile landscapes. The project is a modular shelter system consisting of nine separate units that include everything volunteers need: a shower room, dining area, and sleeping quarters."

"These structures weren't built in a traditional way. They were 3D-printed using robotic construction technology with a sand-based concrete material. The walls feature a distinctive wavy external shape that's not just aesthetic, it's engineered to better withstand the punishing desert winds. And that layered texture you see from the printing process? It actually helps the structures blend seamlessly into the sandy landscape, like they were always meant to be there."

Desert Ark is a modular shelter system of nine 3D-printed concrete units totaling 150 square meters, arranged around a central communal space to combine private functional areas with a shared hub. The system includes shower, dining and sleeping modules to support volunteers planting forests against desertification in Inner Mongolia's Tengger Desert. Robotic construction printed the structures with sand-based concrete, producing layered textures and wavy external walls engineered to resist strong desert winds. Built-in wall cavities provide insulation against temperature extremes. The design blends visually into the sandy landscape and supports operations in remote, hostile environments.

Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News