Skip to main content

Contour Crafting

Housing and shelter remains the most important of human needs, and a majority of the urban population in developing countries is in desperate need for this very fundamental of human needs. Despite this we do not see significant advancement in technologies that address this critical issue. Recently, a friend shared this video about this new technology that could be the beginning of an answer.

3D printing is fast gaining popularity in the field of product prototyping. Now, we can print an entire 2,500 sqft house in 20 hours. In manufacturing we use a process called CAD/CAM (computer-aided design / computer-aided manufacturing). 3D models are designed on a computer and then manufactured using CNC Machines or 3D printers. The design is manufactured into a physical object automatically, with instruction from 3D computer model to physical object without human interface. Automated construction basically scales up this process. The size of the 3D printer is large enough to construct walls by depositing concrete based material layer upon layer to build a wall.

We all know that the way towards affordability is:
1. Modularity
2. Standardization
3. Mass production

In the past, these have given rise to the post WW-II housing in Europe and tract housing in the US. The reason behind this was that the available technology produced similar-looking, homogeneous places. But this technology has the potential to address that, allowing us to produce unique houses, as was demonstrated using Nader Khalili's vaulted mud houses.

By integrating BIM/ BAM with CAD/ CAM will take Computational/ Parametric Design to a whole new level. This is a new frontier for architectural design and impact potential on urban environments.

 In the TED Talk video below, Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), demonstrates automated construction, using 3D printers to build an entire house in 20 hours.


For further information: http://www.contourcrafting.org/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Architecture for the Poor - Hassan Fathy

Hassan Fathy was a remarkable man: artist, antiquarian and social reformer to the world's poor. He was slightly built and enveloped by an air of virtuousness, projecting the intellectual vigour, tranquillity and inner calm reserved for the elect. These qualities, accompanied by a twinkle in his eye and a willingness to listen, made him a favourite of students, who responded to him with warmth and humour, and vied for his attention. Fathy's architectural and social ideas were based at first upon his colonial education, and only later moulded by a deep knowledge of his country's long history and in particular its architecture, which had often been controlled by mathematics and mystical geometries. Six general principles guided him throughout his career: the primacy of human values in architecture; the importance of a universal approach; the use of appropriate technology; the need for socially oriented, co-operative construction techniques; the essential role of tradition; and
Post a Comment
Read more

Low Cost Housing in Sri Lanka

Currently I am involved in a project, with Hidaya Foundation , for designing and constructing low-cost housing for the victims of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. As a non-profit organization founded in 1999, Hidaya Foundation has undertaken a mission to implement educational, social welfare, and charitable projects in economically depressed areas of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, USA and Canada. The project involves designing, training and construction of houses for widows and orphans in the regions affected by the disaster. The idea is not only to build structures, but to build communities that are self-sufficient and sustainable. The main principles will be: 1. Use of local materials 2. Use of local labor 3. Training of locals in sustainable building technologies 4. Constructing communities that the people living there can associate themselves with 5. Managing within a very low budget The idea is to involve dedicated and willing volunteers who will learn the technology and train the l
Post a Comment
Read more