Posted on 04/14/2014 9:05:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
From Oreos to body parts, 3D printers have been cranking out some pretty unbelievable stuff lately.
But in Shanghai, WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. has been using a monstrous printing device to build homes at a breakneck pace 10 homes in 24 hours.
Measuring out at roughly 105 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 21 feet tall, this clearly isnt your average retail printer.
Unlike most 3D printers, this printing giant is fed with cement rather than plastic, making it especially well-suited for home construction.
The best part is the houses are super cheap to make and theyre made almost entirely of construction and other industrial waste.
When its all said and done, the houses are roughly 650 square feet and cost only $4,800 to make, which is why theyre being considered as a housing solution for Chinas poor.
Its not the first crack at 3D home building, but it is definitely the fastest, most economical, and environmentally friendly way weve seen to date.
Check out the finished product below:
(PHOTOS-AT-LINK)
Imagine if you could come up with a surveying strategy for quickly laying in water and sewage, and then put these type of houses over top of them for disaster relief. It could be pretty cool.
It can’t compete with a FEMA trailer.
It will never pass the California Building Code.
I’ve said for years that glue and Luna/Mars dirt could make nice habitats. All you need is a functional airlock to get in and out.
Great minds think alike...lol :-)
Wonder if this concrete is infused with air bubbles like the “liteblock” concrete products.
http://www.lowcostgreenhome.com/liteblok.htm
Good R value if has same qualities.
Exactly!
An accurate headline would have read, “3D printer built FRAMES for 10 homes in 24 hours...Some Assembly REQUIRED!”
This is a good idea, but not quite what the article advertized.
Not what I’d call a home...
That looks cozy. Sort of like a drainage culvert, with windows on the end.
I think 3D sprayed domes would be a bit more structurally sound. It would use a lot more material than these.
Welcome to your Agenda-21 Compliant NewHome, serf. You must show adequate obeisance and gratitude to Dear Leader for allowing you to share it with 10 other people.
Thomas Edison Also Invented the Concrete House, Says NJIT Researcher
“Edison’s one-of-a-kind system was patented for the purpose of building a single, repeatable structure without any parts, with a single act of construction,” said Burgermaster, “And, remarkably, 100 years later many of these houses remain standing.”
http://www.njit.edu/news/2011/2011-215.php
Have also seen an experimental project of domes (igloo?).
Full size poured in place.
IIRC they had forms for the openings; windows, doors,vents...You want the window about here?... OK...
The equipment was set on the center of the slab and swung in continuous slow circles.
Oh great. I'm looking for a nice case of pancreatic cancer. Sign me right up!
Plumbing, water supply, HVAC,gas, electric... Can all be in the slab; just like here in the USA.
Plumbing vents can be on the exterior; as sometimes used in Europe.
One combo squat toilet/shower, one kitchen sink, a few electric receptacles in the floor and propane tanks delivered by motor scooter; good to go!
Add your own insulation and subdivide for the inlaws!
Compared to a mud hut or shanty made of cola flats or tin cans, which is probably what the new owner was living in the day before, it probably looks like Gracie Mansion. Try not to look at it through first-world eyes. These are aimed at poor Chinese peasant families, not your sub-development. When 3-D printed homes come to America (and they will) they probably won't look like these.
Add receptacles every six feet and purchase a union card for all workers.
Build a bunch of them for the children.
No problems with compliance.
The equipment was set on the center of the slab and swung in continuous slow circles."
There is a company based in Texas that has been building concrete domes for many years using a different technique. Visit: http://www.monolithic.org/
I have visited their headquarters and was impressed by what they do.
Do you have a link for the concrete domes? I gave a local TED Talk last year about "3D Printing Domes Homes", but am unfamiliar with the method you mentioned.
I use the inflatable "AirForm" from Monolithic Dome Institute. Right now the concrete is applied to the outside of the AirForm by hand, by a shotcrete gun or by the low-tech Mortar Sprayer. This version is the EcoShell. The insulated version, called the "Monolithic dome", first has foam insulation sprayed INSIDE" the airform, then the concrete sprayed on the foam insulation.
I'm working on a Polar Scaffold which will be the frame for the rotating "printer" which will spray the concrete automatically (CNC). Since the inflated AirForm acts like the paper in a conventional printer, this method is really 2D, but with dome shaped "paper".
"A Liteblok is a lightweight concrete block that interlocks so that it can be assembled into walls without need for mortar between blocks. Tiny trapped air bubbles make the Liteblok effective thermal insulation, yet the concrete remains strong enough to act as the unsupported structure of a house wall. Liteblok is non-toxic, fireproof, and inhospitable to termites, rodents, and molds."
Legos for adults!
http://www.monolithic.org/topics/domes
That was fun!
Looks like they have moved far beyond storage tanks!
IIRC the dome homes were put up by a west coast U and H.P.
They all had a lumpy appearance... too much slump?
emergency shelters,
barracks
so much potential...
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