Hyundai E&C creates world's first children's playground using 3D printing

Hyundai Engineering & Construction said on Thursday it has installed children's playground equipment it made using 3D printing technology at Hillstate Hongeun Forest, an apartment complex in Seoul's Hongeun-dong neighborhood slated to be move-in ready at the end of this month.

Simple equipment such as benches have been made before with 3D printing, but Hyundai E&C is the industry's first to use the technology to create larger, more sophisticated structures such as playground equipment. A variety of play equipment including a slide are set up at the Hongeun-dong Rabbit Playground, so named because it is shaped like a rabbit.

The playground earned the Q mark of quality certification after passing various performance and stability tests. Under the Special Act on Children's Product Safety, the playground met strict standards for children's safety stipulating standards on materials, design and manufacturing methods.

Hyundai E&C will also use 3D printing to make sculptures to be installed at other apartment complexes. A playground in the shape of the moon is slated to be installed at Illumistate, an apartment complex in the Seoul suburb of Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which is scheduled to be completed in February.

Write to Jong-Pil Park at jp@hankyung.com