
3D Printer Built 10 Homes in 24 Hours - triberian
http://www.ryot.org/3d-printer-home-shanghait/641445
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bri3d
This design actually seems pretty interesting - one of the advantages of
additive manufacturing by printing is that the resultant parts can be made
with a strong internal structure (triangles, honeycombs, etc.) while still
being made of mostly air, an outcome that's difficult to achieve using
molding/casting, forging, or subtractive manufacturing (milling).

I also suspect that the mostly-hollow walls have a decent R-value on their
own.

I do wonder how this competes with straw bale / rammed earth, shipping
containers, and other recycled, rapid prefab building manufacturing.

"Making cheap houses for the poor" seems to be a common design+architecture
firm/student theme - does anyone know of any success/failure stories where
these "cheap house" designs were applied in real life?

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toomuchtodo
> I do wonder how this competes with straw bale / rammed earth, shipping
> containers, and other recycled, rapid prefab building manufacturing.

On labor? Much cheaper. And labor is typically the greatest cost.

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Turing_Machine
In First World countries, sure. In Third World countries, maybe not so much.

A lot would depend on whether there was a local concrete industry.

Edit: I'm not so sure that this is all that "eco-friendly" either -- cement
production requires a _lot_ of energy.

That said, concrete is very durable (if made and poured properly) and might be
a win in the long term.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I should have said "skilled labor". Also, while cement production takes
energy, it can be made in a carbon-neutral way. I'd argue its a win with
regards to longevity vs energy input.

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carlosrt
The speed is what's impressive. One can build a structure in California for a
similar price.

It seems people often over estimate the hard costs of construction in the
first world. It's cheaper than people think.

In 2005, at the height of the building boom (labor was scarce) in Southern
California, I built a 400 sq ft detached garage: Stucco, rolled composite
roof, concrete slab, drywall, swiss coffee interior paint, garage door, and
30R insulation in the ceiling (well insulated).

Using all contracted labor.

Total cost: $5,500.

IOW, not much more than this 3D printed house. Building a house in 2.4 hours
is the impressive part.

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JoeAltmaier
Built on pre-existing foundation. No kitchen nor bathroom in evidence. So for
2nd-world poor housing, maybe.

~~~
bcoates
They're just ahead of the curve, a century from now people will be amazed that
20th century first-worlders went to so much expense and effort to bring filth
and vermin as close as possible to where they live.

Water isn't cleaning the fecal bacteria off the toothbrush you keep in the
same room as your toilet, your wall-to-wall carpeting is full of food crumbs
that roaches love, etc.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I think there's a market for shared-bathroom shared-kitchen housing. Look at
dorms, look at hotels in many countries.

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ChuckMcM
Not sure why this is currently front page. They could have built even better
houses had they used what is referred to around here as 'tilt-up'
construction. You pour a concrete foundation, You stake out four wall forms
around that foundation and pour in the walls, when they cure you tilt them up
and tie the tops together with steel. Boom, "instant" building with windows
and doors.

~~~
brenschluss
Uh, because it's a new / interesting / powerful way of creating buildings that
enables a vast degree of complexity and customization?

~~~
ChuckMcM
The previous discussion from Oct '13
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6628137](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6628137))
on these guys : [http://www.industrytap.com/the-printer-that-can-print-a-
hous...](http://www.industrytap.com/the-printer-that-can-print-a-house-
in-20-hours/9056) suggested an interesting powerful way of creating buildings.
Looking at the article it appears this guy prints a concrete tube and then
tilts it over on its side and puts windows/doors on either end. That seems to
me to greatly restrict his complexity choices.

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greesil
If only they could print something for me, the sophisticated urbanite. I will
be very impressed when a high-rise condo can get squirted out the business-end
of this thing.

Ah sweet: Future of Construction Process: 3D Concrete Printing

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro)

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lotsofmangos
This is cool, it does seem unfortunate that Behrokh Khoshnevis and the
University of Southern California haven't gone and done this already given how
long they have been developing contour crafting, moon bases are great and all,
but cheap housing is immediately practical and in dire need in California.

~~~
bkmartin
_California_ \- You mean Everywhere, right? Because no state, province,
country, etc is without a need for cheap housing.

~~~
lotsofmangos
No, I was just meaning that there was a need relatively locally to where
cement printing was under heavy development.

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antisocial
The Latest - Miley Cyrus tweets from hospital

Guess where you can find that on the front page?

RYOT is exactly what an ideal news site should be.Hope it succeeds.

~~~
chillingeffect
lol, did you also see "Check Out an Epic River Battle Between Hundreds of
Hippos and Crocodiles" [alpha]

[alpha][http://www.ryot.org/hippos-vs-
crocodiles/644425](http://www.ryot.org/hippos-vs-crocodiles/644425)

