Printing a Home: The Case For Contour Crafting 253
ambermichelle wrote in with a link to a story about the possibility that the home of the future might be printed instead of built. "It can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to build a 2,800-square-foot, two-story house in the U.S., mostly because human beings do all the work. Within the next five years, chances are that 3D printing (also known by the less catchy but more inclusive term additive manufacturing) will have become so advanced that we will be able to upload design specifications to a massive robot, press print, and watch as it spits out a concrete house in less than a day. Plenty of humans will be there, but just to ogle. Minimizing the time and cost that goes into creating shelters will enable aid workers to address the needs of people in desperate situations. This, at least, is what Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of engineering and director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies, or CRAFT, at the University of Southern California, hopes will come of his inventions."
Re:Cookie Cutter Concrete (Score:5, Interesting)
Edison tried it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Concrete houses was Edison's great dream a hundred years ago; cheap and mass producable.
They never caught on then. Why would we think they'd catch on now?
-some of the Edison houses are still around.
http://www.google.com/search?q=edison+concrete+houses [google.com]
Re:Why bother printing a home? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's old world thinking. I doubt there's been a house built in the last 20 years that is going to last even 50 years. (Aside from the guys that like the monolithic domes). As fast and as cheap as possible. You're just going to live in it for 10 years and flip it when it starts having major problems, that's the American way.
Hell you guys have pubs that are older than some of our city halls and in much better condition.
Re:Prefab home... (Score:4, Interesting)
Check out Broad Air, a Chinese construction company. They can put up a 30 story office building exactly that way: http://www.broad.com:8089/english/product/bsb/bsb.asp [broad.com]
The modules are what fits on a tractor-trailer, and most of the work is done in the factory. The modules bolt together, and the supplies for the finish work are delivered shrink wrapped to the module, so it's all right there without having to haul it up a construction elevator.
Re:Cookie Cutter Concrete (Score:5, Interesting)
To be fair, the article says mods to install plumbing and wiring are possible. I don't see why not, either. Actually, as concrete can be made waterproof, you could just design the sewer pipes as part of the structure, only the inbound pressurized pipes would need to be something else.
I can also see this being programmed to produce mounting points for exterior insulation - put the insulation panels on the outside then add your siding to cover it up. This would make the concrete part of the thermal mass of the house, helping keep the temperature steady.
You'd also add similar interior points for hanging drywall, no stud walls necessary. That's IF you feel the need. Why not design the walls with channels for central air and wiring, and just paint directly on the concrete?
It's a potential game changer if you can get an architect to embrace it and produce something useful, desirable, and for less than a traditional home.
Re:Cookie Cutter Concrete (Score:5, Interesting)
Makes me glad I live in New Orleans, with all the great old architecture, where no two houses look the same, and best of all...no fucking Homeowners Association to put up with...
If you like a purple house (and we have them here), feel free to customize.
As much as slash dotters like to customize things, I'm sometimes surprised more people here aren't against stupid HA rules, and such keeping people from individualizing their homes they are supposed to own.
Re:impractical (Score:4, Interesting)
You've never lived in country where steel, brick or concrete houses were the norm have you?
Personally I can get over how flimsy the American system of timber frames, pitch and felt waterproofing, and shingles/sidings seems. By comparison, external brick or tilt-up concrete will last for hundreds or years with no maintenance, corrugated zincalume steel or clay tiled rooves last 20 years without any maintenance. Steel frames are termite proof. None of them are expensive.
If you need a way out a a fire I suggest there's better alterntives than cutting holes out of your wall. Maybe like windows?
In Germany they'll put a house up in 8 hours (Score:5, Interesting)
Have a look at "fertighaus" builds on youtube.
8 hours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vexbKmmPw8M [youtube.com]
All designed, manufactured, tested in a factory. Built on site on a standard base with facilities in place. This particular one is a passivhause, which means the level of insulation is such that it doesn't need any heating, or cooling.