

Built for Speed: Printing Buildings - edw519
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/06/built-for-speed-printing-buildings.html

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procrastitron
Can someone with expertise in concrete construction clear up an issue for me?

I would think this type of construction was not safe because concrete needs
some sort of reinforcement to make up for its low tensile strength. The
wikipedia page on rebar (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebar>) seems to
support my concerns, so my question is am I missing something?

Is it possible to make up for a lack of steel reinforcement using special
concrete mixtures, or is it perhaps unnecessary for small scale construction?

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stcredzero
With the use of a few patterns and the use of specialized components, only the
structure of a building need be printed out. Wiring, upstream plumbing, and
ventilation can be handled using centralized units and robots that can crawl
passageways while stringing tubing or cabling. Already centralized units are
used with single family homes and the upstream plumbing. All hot and cold
water is distributed by directly from a central unit connected to all of the
taps by a single branchless synthetic hose.

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ivankirigin
I know a bit about this.

The hard part about construction is that there are around 300 semi-tiny tasks
involved in building a house. You either need a very general purpose robot or
many specialized bots. The former doesn't exist and the latter is too
expensive. Humans are just too good.

This technology makes sense, but doesn't do everything. You still need
plumbing, wiring, fixtures, flooring, etc.

This probably solves 100 of the 300 tasks. It's a really interesting problem
though.

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dkokelley
I wonder if machines like this will bring more exotic (and traditionally more
expensive) home designs to more people. I could really enjoy designing my own
home and then watching it being printed out.

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louislouis
yes it would be interesting to live in house shaped like a banana

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dkokelley
I was thinking more of the semi-circle rooms that are much more difficult to
make with traditional (and straight) wooden beams.

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stcredzero
The Monolithic Dome folks will manufacture a custom-designed 'airform' which
can then be sprayed with urethane insulation, hung with rebar, and then
sprayed with gunnite concrete.

<http://static.monolithic.com/>

The building's shell can be just about any shape that can be inflated.

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ardit33
American houses are crappy already. As a eruopean, where houses are actually
build with real brick and mortar, I find american houses extremely flimsy, yet
pretty expensive. I hope it wont be used to build even more cookie cutter
homes, that make communist style pre-fabs look good.

I hope somehow they solve the problem in current development where every house
looks the same. Maybe it will be cheap enough to have real variety on house
design, aided by computer simulations.

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edw519
Flamebait?

Now that Valleywag is banned and techcrunch is too easy, is bashing the U.S.
the latest thing? It might help if your argument made any sense.

