Posted on 01/08/2014 9:51:31 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The University of Southern California is testing a giant 3D printer that could be used to build a whole house in under 24 hours.
Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis has designed the giant robot that replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, this squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home according to a computer pattern. It is “basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building,” says Khoshnevis. The technology, known as Contour Crafting, could revolutionise the construction industry.
The affordable home?
Contour Crafting could slash the cost of home-owning, making it possible for millions of displaced people to get on the property ladder. It could even be used in disaster relief areas to build emergency and replacement housing. For example, after an event such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, which has displaced almost 600,000 people, Contour Crafting could be used to build replacement homes quickly.
It could be used to create high-quality shelter for people currently living in desperate conditions. “At the dawn of the 21st century [slums] are the condition of shelter for nearly one billion people in our world,” says Khoshnevis, “These buildings are breeding grounds for disease a problem of conventional construction which is slow, labour intensive and inefficient.”
As Khoshnevis points out, if you look around you pretty much everything is made automatically these days – “your shoes, your clothes, home appliances, your car. The only thing that is still built by hand are these buildings.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at innovation.uk.msn.com ...
The concrete walls are hollow with an insulating filler. It would probably be possible to put the wiring and plumbing in there during construction. You simply put an aluminium utility run, with an access panel, in the wall, and and the printer prints over it.
The technology is not mature, but it is interesting and has a lot of potential. The houses in the pictures were butt-ugly, though.
Is it the cost and pace of construction that causes people to build slum shantytowns, or is it that they don’t have two dimes to rub together?
Would you buy a 3D house?
91 %...Yes 2,628 votes..
9 %..No....257 votes
Total Responses: 2,885
frpm the article!
Not scientifically valid. Results are updated every minute.
Neat. Seen another in Kali in a discussion about sending it to Mars ahead of explores...provided Mars has the correct soil.
“There is concern about people being put out of construction jobs...”
Not a problem. Just raise the minimum wage to $25/hour.
Thanks! Bookmarked!
This is one step above adobe, essentially. Not sure you could install rebar by deposition.
While I agree that deposition construction is great, not everything can be built by deposition.
I lived in an adobe house once. It was great. Warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Very energy efficient.
Molds: that’s a good idea.
It’s a question of materials. It doesn’t have to be concrete, or the same concrete we have now. Some sort of composite, or combination of materials from cements, to plastics, cellulose, metals... Carbon, glass... Who knows? All sorts of thinks might make for an excellent structure.
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