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A house 3D printed from raw earth

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Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called "Google". Here's the first hit for "early criticism of automobiles": https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/01/get-horse-americ... I am leaving it as an exercise to the reader to verify the extent to which your concerns mirror those of people 100 years ago.

I think the difference is that “concrete/lumber housing” to “3d printed housing” is not like “horses and carriages” to “cars.” Not saying it couldn’t be, but I think the point is that this experiment, although very interesting and cool, does not come close to demonstrating an analogous transformation (yet.)

Arguably, neither did the automobiles when they first appeared.

Nearly 30 years passed from the introduction of Benz's Motorcar (first automobile) to conveyor-belt assembled Ford's Model T (first mass-produced automobile).

It took about the same time from The Mother Of All Demos till the Internet became widespread.

So, let's check back in 30 years

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#242
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.

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…

> 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.

Hey, that's me! I want one! I'm here to know if plumbing is included and if the exterior can look better, but I love this style on the inside. Its a mixture of Pierre Cardin's bubble palace and another aesthetic I've seen where the rockface of a mountain makes up the backwall of a contemporary home! I love it!

This seems like a cheaper way to do that, and I love the hue lights.

Its obvious that there is some metal and other materials that did not come from the earth at that site, and that therefore it cannot have zero waste as the company claims

but who cares, this guy (me) that can easily exchange earned resources for shelter does not care! I like the pictures and read it can be done in 200 hours. Uh, hello!

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#243
Building a house was never a problem and the huge costs are mostly artificial. The biggest problem is regulation and that you need to have a lot of money to convince local authority to grant a permission to build. It is out of reach for a regular citizen. You can't even build a mud hut without a blessing of a civil servant, and they hate when regular people want to build something as they don't have means to grease their hands.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. HN worries (enjoys, rather) problems that appeal to them. Linux running on a pen. A new programming framework demonstrates an abstract point. Etc. What HN is doing here is internalizing cliches, responding to hyperbole/tropes they (we) assume is in the article. Also, the artsy-philosphical terms used by architects pisses off nerds. "Humane Architecture" and whatnot. This is HN being silly, not HN being smar…

Yes HN is great for championing useless projects, all the while crapping on the ideas that turn out to be huge; Dropbox, Gitlab, Coinbase etc. Oh well, it is entertaining!

Yes, true. Picking winners is a hard game though... so I have sympathy for that part.

The part that bothers me is crapping on other fields for things we would tolerate, even respect in our own. If a tech company was messing with 3d printing experimentally, released some esoteric and impractical new database alternative or somesuch... We might criticise, but this reaction to experimental architecture is extreme.

I think a lot of it is the artsy language used by architects. It triggers HNers. Meanwhile, we appreciate abstract takes by pg, Stallman, or whatnot.

Consider: "Free software is software that respects your freedom and the social solidarity of your community" - Stallman. This is OK to us, even though it probably sounds like meaningless ideological rambling to the uninitiated.

Meanwhile: "The aesthetics of this house are the result of a technical and material effort, it was not an aesthetic approach only. It is an honest form, a sincere form.” is intolerable to many the HN community. The base assumption is that the emperor has no clothes and regicide is the only solution.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes HN is great for championing useless projects, all the while crapping on the ideas that turn out to be huge; Dropbox, Gitlab, Coinbase etc. Oh well, it is entertaining!

Yes, true. Picking winners is a hard game though... so I have sympathy for that part. The part that bothers me is crapping on other fields for things we would tolerate, even respect in our own. If a tech company was messing with 3d printing experimentally, released some esoteric and impractical new database alternative or somesuch... We might criticise, but this reaction to experimental architecture is extreme. I thi…

I see your point (although I am allergic to Architect-speak myself!)

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#246
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not using an architect” can have benefits. Among them not having to deal with an architect. However, improved aesthetics is often not among them. Same for functionality. The advantage of an architect is that you won’t get what you think you want.

In the comment you're replying to, I was thinking of the "architect" being basically replaced by a software package that designs the whole house based on the required criteria. Any aesthetic judgments are encoded in the software's heuristics, and the range of available styles are basically part of the brand of the company responsible for this house-designing-and-building service. Allowing people to directly design th…

This is as misguided as every iteration of no-code through programming history. All such tools promised to allow people without coding knowledge to create software. The result is the tools are used by disgruntled programmers who are now faced with a tool that is not friendly to other tools like version control. It has happened several times before and it is happening again now.

You can not automate problem solving until someone creates GAI. Thinking that all a programmer does is write code or all an architect does is draw walls is an insult to each profession. The primary attribution of both is to decipher what the client actually wants from limited descriptions and to problem solve.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#247
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not using an architect” can have benefits. Among them not having to deal with an architect. However, improved aesthetics is often not among them. Same for functionality. The advantage of an architect is that you won’t get what you think you want.

In the comment you're replying to, I was thinking of the "architect" being basically replaced by a software package that designs the whole house based on the required criteria. Any aesthetic judgments are encoded in the software's heuristics, and the range of available styles are basically part of the brand of the company responsible for this house-designing-and-building service. Allowing people to directly design th…

What you propose is a recipe for cookie-cutter buildings. But we already have those with no software and no effort needed.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#248
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Not using an architect” can have benefits. Among them not having to deal with an architect. However, improved aesthetics is often not among them. Same for functionality. The advantage of an architect is that you won’t get what you think you want.

In the comment you're replying to, I was thinking of the "architect" being basically replaced by a software package that designs the whole house based on the required criteria. Any aesthetic judgments are encoded in the software's heuristics, and the range of available styles are basically part of the brand of the company responsible for this house-designing-and-building service. Allowing people to directly design th…

There's a subplot of that in Kirk Vonnegut's novel Timequake...though it involves a parking garage in the style of Thomas Jefferson.

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes they are. My house is single story and has sewage pipes in the walls. Regardless of whether that is a requirement, the pipes have to go through some part of the structure to get to the outside, regardless of whether that's a wall, floor, foundation, etc.

Your toilet pipes are inside a wall? That’s pretty strange, toilet drain pipe is usually 3” dia. Are there 90 degree bends? I don’t understand how or why you’d put a toilet drain pipe in a wall when the drain pipe is in the middle of a bathroom floor, not in a wall. Are you sure you aren’t thinking of sink drains?

[deleted]

Re: A house 3D printed from raw earth

#250

Building a house was never a problem and the huge costs are mostly artificial. The biggest problem is regulation and that you need to have a lot of money to convince local authority to grant a permission to build. It is out of reach for a regular citizen. You can't even build a mud hut without a blessing of a civil servant, and they hate when regular people want to build something as they don't have means to grease t…

Unless you live in parts of Tennessee or Idaho where codes are not enforced.
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