World's first 3D printed temple to come up in Telangana

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The world's first 3D printed Hindu temple is being built in Telangana. Situated within Charvitha Meadows, a gated villa community at Burugupally in Siddipet, the 3D printed temple is a three-part structure being built in an area of 3,800 square feet by city-based Apsuja Infratech.

Apsuja Infratech has tied up with Simpliforge Creations, a 3D-printed construction company, for the project.

"The three sanctums, or garbhas, within the structure represent a 'modak', dedicated to Lord Ganesha; a Shivalay, a square abode devoted to Lord Shankar; and a Lotus shaped home for Goddess Parvati," said Hari Krishna Jeedipalli, MD, Apsuja Infratech.

Incidentally in March, Simpliforge Creations had together with Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad built India's first prototype bridge in a little under two hours.

"This was also assembled on site at Charvitha Meadows, Siddipet. The concept and design were developed and evaluated by Prof K V L Subramaniam and his research group from the civil engineering department of IIT Hyderabad. After undergoing load testing and evaluation for functional use, it is now being used as pedestrian bridge in the garden around the temple," said Dhruv Gandhi, CEO of Simpliforge Creations.

The team is now working on the lotus shaped temple dedicated to Goddess Parvati.

With the Shivalay and the modak completed, phase II comprising the Lotus and the tall spires (gopurams) are underway," Jeedipalli added.

Despite being a challenge, the dome-shaped modak, which required the team to get innovative, took the team only about six hours to print it over a span of 10 days, Gandhi said.

"We are hoping that what we learned from the 'modak' will let us finish the 'lotus' earlier than that," said Gandhi.

"But we have already proved with our Ganesha temple that shapes that are almost impossible to attain with conventional techniques can be done easily using 3D technology. Now, lotus will prove again to the world the edge that 3D-printing will offer to the construction industry when it comes to free-form structures," Gandhi added.