A house 3D printed from raw earth • Hacker News Board

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#211

Post by brudgers » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:38 AM UTC

Fern_Blossom wrote: post #207

nanna wrote: post #86

Lots of unfair negativity here. I think this is wonderful. HN is full of random hacked-up tech that will never solve the worlds problems but nonetheless give a glimpse at what alternatives could look like. Experiments. This is what this is, and in my opinion it's stunning and I would move into one in an instant.

You are both right and wrong. Yes, experiments are good. Never will I disagree with that. However, it's the manner these experiments, proof of concepts and prototypes are presented. If you go onto the various engineering and construction subreddits, along with subscribe to various construction trade magazines, these "experiments" pop up all the time. "New" methods. "New" materials. They're "new" if you've never seen…

Oh hell, you’ve got Chris Alexander’s shotcrete spayed on chicken wire all the way back in the 1960’s...it’s the methodology of A Pattern Language and the book has pictures.

The difference is that Alexander’s method was rooted in self-sufficiency. Do-it-yourself without an architect or contractor.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#212

Post by Aunche » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:44 AM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #141

nanna wrote: post #86

Lots of unfair negativity here. I think this is wonderful. HN is full of random hacked-up tech that will never solve the worlds problems but nonetheless give a glimpse at what alternatives could look like. Experiments. This is what this is, and in my opinion it's stunning and I would move into one in an instant.

There are better ways to build affordable housing already. You make a factory that builds prefabricated panels then deliver them onsite. With prefab, you don’t need to transport an expensive piece of equipment to remote parts of the world and have onsite experts there to supervise and repair it. You don’t have to deal with tear down and setup of the equipment at every site and installers have predictable channels to…

From what I understand, prefab homes are only economical in remote areas, like if you want to give off the grid. If you just want a new regular house in the suburbs, traditional construction is going to be cheaper. To be clear, I'm talking about the US. China is successful with prefab, but they also have millions of people moving away from the countryside every year, so economies of scale work in their favor.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#213

Post by titzer » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:47 AM UTC

cheschire wrote: post #40

I hope 3D printing homes will take off now that lumber prices are so ridiculous. The sudden cost increases in other materials will now hopefully give 3d printing space to achieve economies of scale. Imagine homes that are printed with a 20 year life expectancy. Especially in America where I don't know many families that remain in the same house for 20 years. We could start going to the Japanese model of razing the ho…

I really don't like America's throwaway culture. Leastwise for homes. It is wasteful and short-sighted. We should be thinking of how to maintain and preserve the existing homes we do have. There are thousands of homes in the US that are over 200 years old. What jewels they are. I don't mean to be rude, but I really hope your idea does not catch on, especially after seeing half of my childhood town's cornfields get torn up for cookie-cutter subdivisions over the past few decades. Homes are no longer built by the people that will live in them. They're built by development corporations. Just imagine that development corporation, what was cranking out identical clones for the past decade now literally printing them out from a robot factory, and all of them going to fall down in 20 years. Mmm, that yummy profit, though. There's tornados here, by the way.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#214

Post by maliker » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:48 AM UTC

This brought to mind opensourceecology.org, which was going some work with compressed earth brick buildings. They were getting a lot of attention five or so years ago. Good to see they’re still working towards their goal and are in good company.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#215

Post by Tiereven » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:53 AM UTC

From a housing aspect, the actual project is a nice, architecturally interesting piece of art. But conceptually it could be a remarkable milestone. Has this project any relation to similar off-earth construction research? Could the methods here be extended to lunar regolith or martian soil? What development is still needed before this can become fully autonomous and able to build many structures before requiring service or additional additives?

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#216

Post by turtlebits » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:54 AM UTC

frankbreetz wrote: post #10

Cool idea, the lack of discussion of longevity seems pretty glaring. While we would all love to not cause any stress on the environment, we also have to live though heavy rains, snow, and wind. Maybe this structure is designed for dry environment and can with stand a couple of rains a year. >>The architect studied how a building’s shape could impact its efficiency, in relation to its climate and latitude. hopefully s…

Theres no reason why existing materials couldn't be use to handle that issue. WRBs, siding, stucco, etc.

You could say the same thing for houses now, which are built out of wood...

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#217

Post by turtlebits » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 1:57 AM UTC

flatline wrote: post #70

mbgerring wrote: post #66

Every one of these obnoxious mud huts I’ve ever seen are single story, on like 10 acres of land, in a car-dependent rural area. More people living like this would worsen every current issue we face with environmental sustainability.

Good luck trying to get permits to build anything the slightest bit unconventional in any populated area. I looked at building a geodesic dome, and was going to end up in the boonies and likely still paying off the inspector to pull permits. You could get it done in town and it would have to be over-built, completely ruining the whole efficiency angle of the dome to begin with, and taking months or years to work thro…

Have you tried? I'm pretty sure if you get it engineered w/structural calcuations and it passes residential building code, I see no reason why they'd reject it.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#218

Post by brudgers » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 2:08 AM UTC

Aunche wrote: post #212

ogre_codes wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are better ways to build affordable housing already. You make a factory that builds prefabricated panels then deliver them onsite. With prefab, you don’t need to transport an expensive piece of equipment to remote parts of the world and have onsite experts there to supervise and repair it. You don’t have to deal with tear down and setup of the equipment at every site and installers have predictable channels to…

From what I understand, prefab homes are only economical in remote areas, like if you want to give off the grid. If you just want a new regular house in the suburbs, traditional construction is going to be cheaper. To be clear, I'm talking about the US. China is successful with prefab, but they also have millions of people moving away from the countryside every year, so economies of scale work in their favor.

Lots of people in the US live in trailers and mobile homes. Cars too.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#219

Post by brudgers » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 2:18 AM UTC

romwell wrote: post #193

ogre_codes wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are better ways to build affordable housing already. You make a factory that builds prefabricated panels then deliver them onsite. With prefab, you don’t need to transport an expensive piece of equipment to remote parts of the world and have onsite experts there to supervise and repair it. You don’t have to deal with tear down and setup of the equipment at every site and installers have predictable channels to…

>There are better ways to build affordable housing already. Who'd think that a proof-of-concept doesn't yet compete with existing solutions? >I suspect the reason this is popular is more because they are aesthetically pleasing We are talking about places people can live in . Aesthetics matter. The ability to produce something aesthetically pleasing on the cheap and at scale matters. There is a reason Soviet architect…

Consider what the Soviets replaced in terms of housing. The people who moved in weren’t giving up a dacha life.

Same holds for US housing projects. People came from cold water tenaments, share cropper shacks with an outhouse out back, and migrant farm labor camps.

They represent a huge improvement in shelter despite their lack of appeal to people of means

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#220

Post by brudgers » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 2:19 AM UTC

romwell wrote: post #192

brudgers wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The negativity is no more unwarranted than positivity. Each depends on what problem a person values. In terms of housing the unhoused this doesn’t do anything. In terms of aesthetic possibilities for people with money it provides another option where a wide array of options already exist. In HN terms, this is a “rewritten in Haskell.” It demonstrates someone understands a bit about 3D printing. It demonstrates some i…

Something tells me the same things were said about early automobiles: * People have been solving transportation for millenia * Horses and trains are real breakthroughs * The complexity of logistical chain (gas, mechanics, paved roads) precludes widespread application where transportation is a basic need * You need a fleet of other machines to keep it full of fuel. Oats won't do. * It does not demonstrate a better sol…

What is the thing that tells you?