MARFA, Texas, Sept 26 (Reuters) - It looks like any other 3D printer - except it’s the size of a crane and is, layer by layer, building a hotel in the Texan desert.

El Cosmico, an existing hotel and campground on the outskirts of the city of Marfa, is expanding. It is building 43 new hotel units and 18 residential homes over 40 acres (16 hectares) - all with a 3D printer.

It is the world’s first 3D-printed hotel, says El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert and the partners behind the project - Austin, Texas-based 3D printing company ICON and architects Bjarke Ingels Group.

Lambert said the technology allows for unprecedented creativity.

“Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again,” Lambert said. “I’ve never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity … just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It’s a crazy way to build.”