This past weekend I visited TVFCU’s new Southside Branch, located at 125 West 20^th Street in Chattanooga which is about an hour from my home. This financial building represents the the first-ever 3D-printed building façade and uses a a patented 3D printing process called Cellular Fabrication (C-Fab®) by Branch Technology also of Chattanooga.

The branch is located just a few blocks from I-24 and the famous Chattanooga Choo Choo in a neighborhood you wouldn’t expect to house a groundbreaking building. On Sunday, February 21, 2021 the building was very much still under construction, but it was easy to pull into a neighboring parking lot for a good look. The façade is made from a series of prefabricated panels hung on the building with the “wave” design. Each individual panel appears simple (like the ones on the ground below), but they come together for a total effect greater than the sum of its parts.

Branch Technology’s Cellular Fabrication, C-Fab® is a unique printing method that allows polymer-based fiber-reinforced composite material to solidify in open space, creating a matrix of polymer in virtually any shape, Their 40,000-square foot manufacturing facility in Chattanooga is equipped with 15 robots. The video below offers some glimpses into the factory as well as video of the bank construction.

This is simply awesome on so many levels and sweetened by two local companies working together to do something groundbreaking in an unassuming place. Many customers and people who pass by will be oblivious to the technology that went into this building. If you’re ever in Chattanooga do a quick drive by and if you’re local then open an account to support forward looking companies like TVFCU.