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Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

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Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#141

Post by cameronh90 »

bumby wrote: post #131
cameronh90 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would I let my pets run around in the garden? Where do I put my wood fired pizza oven? How do I teach my kids how to grow potatoes and build things? Where do I put the koi pond? There is perhaps some platonic ideal of an apartment where you can live a similar quality of life to a house. But in the reality that we actually live in currently, living in a house usually has a much better quality of life so it's natur…

There are places that do many of those things, but in a community format. My SO and still think back to how great it was to have an apartment with a park next door where we could let our dogs run. They had more space there than our current home. I've never seen a public wood fired pizza oven but community bbq's were pretty standard at our apartments in the past. We have a community projects place that gives us the op…

So I'm actually British, not American, but I think we largely have similar attitudes towards desiring a house here. I think most European countries do too, really, once you get past a certain age. I'm not sure about how Asians are on average, but most Asians I know would certainly prefer to live in a house if they're past their mid 30s.

There are a few European countries where >50% of people live in flats: Spain for example. In Spain, however, the reason most people say they live in a flat isn't out of preference, it's because houses are too expensive. The other thing to note is that the European countries where flat habitation is popular tend to have interesting reasons behind it. In many cases, it's because they were built during the Soviet era.

I do think those community amenities are valuable, whether people live in houses or flats. I live in London, in an area with quite a good sense of community. I have an allotment, help at the community garden, live next to a very well maintained park, etc. but it really isn't the same as having your own private space. For example with the building stuff, I used to go to a Hackerspace, but I'm getting a lot more done now that I have a bunch of equipment at home. Simply getting things to and from my old Hackerspace was a nightmare without a car. Shared spaces also have rules which may not be compatible with what you're trying to do. My allotment doesn't allow irrigation systems, for example, so my little automated irrigation project in my garden wouldn't go down too well there!

Plus there are all these small things like talking to my neighbours over the wall, being able to easily get my bicycle in and out, not having to walk up 12 flights of stairs because someone is moving in and has the lift blocked, etc. One of my favourite things to do in this past warm summer was to just work outside in my garden, in the breeze, with my laptop plugged into my outdoor sockets, fast WiFi and the ability to just pop into the kitchen for drinks.

I'm not saying flats shouldn't be made more tolerable - but aside from density meaning you can live closer to the centre, is there any case where a flat is really a better quality of life?

Also an interesting thing to consider is: how different is building vertically with elevators, versus building horizontally with trains, anyway?

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#142

Post by cameronh90 »

jrockway wrote: post #133
cameronh90 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would I let my pets run around in the garden? Where do I put my wood fired pizza oven? How do I teach my kids how to grow potatoes and build things? Where do I put the koi pond? There is perhaps some platonic ideal of an apartment where you can live a similar quality of life to a house. But in the reality that we actually live in currently, living in a house usually has a much better quality of life so it's natur…

There are plenty of high density apartments that have public and private gardens available. But yeah, not something that will ever be available to everyone simply because there is only one ground floor. In general, though, density doesn't mean that you can't have yards. Do you need a front yard, back yard, and two side yards to set up a wood fired pizza oven, grow potatoes, and build things? Nope. Just a backyard cou…

My house is actually semi-detached with a driveway and flower beds, rather than detached, but there is one huge disadvantage to town houses: it's practically impossible to get equipment into your garden, which makes a lot of landscaping really, really difficult. Even just getting forks and soil into your garden is bound to make a mess of your house. Terraces (like town houses but with front gardens or driveways) are very popular in the UK, but most people will ultimately prefer a semi-detached for that reason.

An interesting approach we used to have was where rather than adjoining gardens at the back, we'd put an path down the back of the townhouses between the gardens, with a door into each garden, so you could easily walk/cycle and, if needed, get equipment into your back garden. Apparently we stopped doing that because those alleys turned into major crime and antisocial behaviour hot spots, and people stopped buying houses with alley access due to people constantly jumping your fence and nicking anything in your garden that wasn't tied down.

Where I grew up was like a townhouse/semi-detached hybrid - the upper two floors were terraced, but at ground level there was a car garage that connected the street and back garden. A lot of people don't like that design because it's associated with council homes (mine was a council home), but I actually thought it was a best of both worlds.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#143

Post by biomcgary »

ben_w wrote: post #118
bilsbie wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I’ve lived in an apartment or condo the whole building smelled like trash. They need a better solution for managing waste disposal instead of a stinky room on every floor.

Not faced that problem here in Berlin, neither in the the place I'm renting long term now nor in the series of AirBnBs I was in back in 2017 while starting to look for a place. Whatever Germany is doing, copy it.

I don't think you can copy culture very easily, which is the primary source of the problem being described.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#144

Post by sheepybloke »

cameronh90 wrote: post #110
badpun wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Americans regard living in anything other than a detached house as a failure.

How would I let my pets run around in the garden? Where do I put my wood fired pizza oven? How do I teach my kids how to grow potatoes and build things? Where do I put the koi pond? There is perhaps some platonic ideal of an apartment where you can live a similar quality of life to a house. But in the reality that we actually live in currently, living in a house usually has a much better quality of life so it's natur…

This! Honestly, this is the reason that I want a house. In reality, I don't want the house, but a bit more space that isn't just in my apartment. A little space out back for if I want to dabble with grilling. A basement or garage if want to start a larger project. These are things you can't easily do in a standard apartment. That's also why I think the next stage of development will be more townhome focused. Think UK row houses, where you have a little backyard and maybe a garage, but not detached.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#145

Post by subderisorious »

cameronh90 wrote: post #110
badpun wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Americans regard living in anything other than a detached house as a failure.

How would I let my pets run around in the garden? Where do I put my wood fired pizza oven? How do I teach my kids how to grow potatoes and build things? Where do I put the koi pond? There is perhaps some platonic ideal of an apartment where you can live a similar quality of life to a house. But in the reality that we actually live in currently, living in a house usually has a much better quality of life so it's natur…

Your conception of quality of life is not universal.

Assume I have a detached home in the suburbs. How am I going to walk to the grocery store when it's miles away? How do I live without a car when there's no public transit? How do I get access to job opportunities, cultural experiences, dining options, and other amenities that come with close proximity to an urban core?

If your answer is "But my detached home is near the urban core!" then you're fortunate, but as large American cities have shown us that doesn't scale.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#146

Post by [deleted] »

ksec wrote: post #57
Animats wrote: post #16

There have been many variations on building houses with prefab forms, going all the way back to Edison. Works fine, but the result is a concrete box. The shell is not the big cost item in homes. If you want a small, low-cost box structure, there are companies that will sell you one. Concrete.[1] Metal.[2] Steel frame with wood siding.[3] [1] https://precastbuildings.com [2] https://www.butlermfg.com/ [3] https://www.…

I still dont understand why people keep talking about " House ". When 90% of area that needs urgent "housing" are in needs of Tower Blocks / High Rise Residential Buildings. We Need to find a way to quickly and cost effectively build a lot of mid to high quality apartments. Better heat isolation. Network Pipes ready rather than relying on WiFi. Note: Yes, I know zoning and planning etc are still the biggest hurdle.

[deleted]

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#147

Post by toast0 »

pjerem wrote: post #105
inglor_cz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Czech Republic. I have seen this in all homes under construction that I saw, except for wooden ones. Granted, it is a small set, N < 10.

I didnt noticed that it was a picture of your inner walls. In France, we only use bricks/concrete for the structural walls. The inner walls are almost always "placo" mounted on steel rails. It looks like this : https://www.monsieurpeinture.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/... or https://www.monsieurpeinture.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/...

It looks like 'placo' is what USians call drywall or sheetrock. (pressed gypsum with a paper backing). We'd call those rails studs; low density residential construction is usually wood studs, but I've got a project going with metal studs because with current pricing trends it makes more sense; metal studs also require armoring electrical though, and there's some other issues depending on use case.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#148

Post by skyyler »

sholladay wrote: post #137
ksec wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still dont understand why people keep talking about " House ". When 90% of area that needs urgent "housing" are in needs of Tower Blocks / High Rise Residential Buildings. We Need to find a way to quickly and cost effectively build a lot of mid to high quality apartments. Better heat isolation. Network Pipes ready rather than relying on WiFi. Note: Yes, I know zoning and planning etc are still the biggest hurdle.

I’ve had some pretty bad experiences living in mid size apartment buildings. Everything from a drugged out neighbor causing a fire, to bed bugs coming through the wall from a slob next door, to someone nearly stealing my car until I shouted at them from four floors up, to landlords who wouldn’t fix leaks for weeks/months after I left a voicemail on their high priority line, to dreadful indoor temperatures because the…

I think the general idea is that living in a high rise is better than sleeping in your car or on the street...

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#149

Post by cameronh90 »

subderisorious wrote: post #145
cameronh90 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would I let my pets run around in the garden? Where do I put my wood fired pizza oven? How do I teach my kids how to grow potatoes and build things? Where do I put the koi pond? There is perhaps some platonic ideal of an apartment where you can live a similar quality of life to a house. But in the reality that we actually live in currently, living in a house usually has a much better quality of life so it's natur…

Your conception of quality of life is not universal. Assume I have a detached home in the suburbs. How am I going to walk to the grocery store when it's miles away? How do I live without a car when there's no public transit? How do I get access to job opportunities, cultural experiences, dining options, and other amenities that come with close proximity to an urban core? If your answer is "But my detached home is nea…

In the UK, we don't often to have miles of suburbs without a grocery store. That's a separate choice around car centricity that the US has made.

I live in London, in a suburb, but within a 10 minute walk, I have multiple pubs, doctors, dentists, restaurants, small supermarkets, library, community garden and - most importantly - a train station that takes me into central London in about 10 minutes.

The way we structure housing here tends to be arranged around lots of smaller satellite town and villages connected to a large city centre. Big cities like London will provide trains for commuters and going "out out", but in a smaller town you often live a lot of your social life more locally and might commute to work by car.

The other thing in the UK is our houses aren't particularly large. A terrace home might not be more than 50% bigger than an apartment, but you get a garden, driveway and actually own some real land.

Re: Startup Builds Houses by Pumping Concrete into Inflatable Forms

#150

Post by badpun »

cameronh90 wrote: post #149
subderisorious wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your conception of quality of life is not universal. Assume I have a detached home in the suburbs. How am I going to walk to the grocery store when it's miles away? How do I live without a car when there's no public transit? How do I get access to job opportunities, cultural experiences, dining options, and other amenities that come with close proximity to an urban core? If your answer is "But my detached home is nea…

In the UK, we don't often to have miles of suburbs without a grocery store. That's a separate choice around car centricity that the US has made. I live in London, in a suburb, but within a 10 minute walk, I have multiple pubs, doctors, dentists, restaurants, small supermarkets, library, community garden and - most importantly - a train station that takes me into central London in about 10 minutes. The way we structur…

> I live in London, in a suburb, but within a 10 minute walk

I would dispute that "in London" actually counts as a suburbs. The real suburbs (the ones we'd need to build if everyone lived in a detached house) would be way out.

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