Tech | February 18, 2013 | 17 comments

3D printed plastic house will be assembled "in a day"

source: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/02/13/protohouse-2-3d-printed-house-by-softkill-design/

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ampersand
London architecture collective Softkill Design has joined the race to build the world's first 3D printed house, announcing plans for a plastic dwelling that could be built off-site in three weeks and assembled in a single day.

"It will hopefully be the first actual 3D printed house on site," said Gilles Retsin of Softkill Design. "We are hoping to have the first prototype out in the summer."

The single-storey Protohouse 2.0 will be eight metres wide and four metres long and will be printed in sections in a factory. The parts will be small enough to be transported in vans and then snapped together on site.

"It would take up to three weeks to have all the pieces fabricated," said Retsin. "Assembly on site is a one-day job, if the site is prepared before hand."

"You don't need any bolting, screwing, or welding on site," he added. "Imagine a Velcro or button-like connection. The pieces are extremely light, and they just kind of click together so you don't need any other material.

"http://www.dezeen.com/2013/02/13/protohouse-2-3d-printed-house-by-softkill-desig...
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    Community,   Tech,   Co-Evolution,   Architecture
  2. tags:
    3-D House Construction,  Softkill Design
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17 comments // 3D printed plastic house will be assembled "in a day"

  • PressCore
    • 0
      PressCore  

    • Our community member Kelly Balthrop would be gratified to hear of this.
      The Star Trek envisioned Resource Based Economy will arrive at the
      same time that robotic androids will do all the jobs of Walmart employees.
      God knows they'll make more lawful decisions than any Walmart drones
      who routinely practice criminal Harassment, criminal Discrimination, criminal
      Assaults, and open violence in the workplace, threats of violence, illegal
      drug use-all permitted in direct violation of their Corporate policy, much
      worse in their disgrace.As a citizen Journalist I've had a chance to eye
      witness their criminal corruption.

    • 3 months ago
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  
    • PressCore:

      Humans are a messy lot, it's true.
      Although humans love to served by humans, the obsolescence of WalMart employees (and millions of others in similar jobs) is likely something we, or our children, we see.
      Of course it's a lot easier to have that resource based economy when you have a significant surplus of resources and a relatively small number of beneficiaries to enjoy it.

      "Ah, the Edenic golden age---perhaps out of our reach personally, but something devoutly to be wished..."

    • 3 months ago
  • PressCore
  • s_peak
  • PressCore
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • ampersand
    • +2
      ampersand  
    • artemis6:

      My sense is that with a 3-D printer one could use anything pliable enough to be layered to construct the forms.
      One could either go in the direction of materials that harden after layering, or create a layered form out of something as fragile as paper and then coat it, (as we do now with cardboard to make it more waterproof, but in this case also much stronger.)
      Trees use cellulose to make some incredible powerful materials.
      I'd imagine that we could use cellulose itself to create forms this way.

      Imagine if we had the ability to form small needed parts at home without having to drive 50 mile round trips to the store to get a replacement part for the dishwasher or toilet.

      Being in architecture, I wonder about the cost of material to fabricate interlocking forms as building blocks.
      The Frank Lloyd Wright houses he built out of his own design for what he called "textile blocks" have been much admired, (and often used for movie backdrops) but not duplicated because of cost.
      If the economics were right with this you could construct your own Mayan temple (without the altar for human sacrifice, one hopes) in your backyard.

    • 3 months ago
  • artemis6
  • PressCore
    • +1
      PressCore  
    • ampersand:

      Awwwwwww....Yes, a Mayan sacrificial altar is a bit over the top for todays
      non messy standards, it's true. But think of the drama the mobilized vulgar
      bipeds could have with sacrificing eg someone like Bush jr's Paulson on it !
      It could be the next thing in TV reality shows man. Lol.

    • 3 months ago
  • circlesquared
  • kennymotown
  • ampersand
    • +4
      ampersand  
    • kennymotown:

      I understand the cost of 3-D printers is going down from $10,000 to $1,000. Some say this will be one of the most powerfully transformative technologies in the US economy and in our lives in the next few years. It would be great to free one self from (for example) a hammer and nails and be limited only by one's imagination in building shelter; that would be startling and welcome change.

    • 3 months ago
  • kennymotown
  • YourTaxes_MyPaycheck
  • ampersand
  • Dagum
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