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A startup is 3D printing houses in under a day at a cost of about $10,000 each, and hopes to get it down to $4,000 each:
ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions. "We have been building homes for communities in Haiti, El Salvador, and Bolivia," Alexandria Lafci, co-founder of New Story, tells The Verge.
[...] Using the Vulcan printer, ICON can print an entire home for $10,000 and plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. "It's much cheaper than the typical American home," Ballard says. It's capable of printing a home that's 800 square feet, a significantly bigger structure than properties pushed by the tiny home movement, which top out at about 400 square feet. In contrast, the average New York apartment is about 866 square feet.
The model has a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a curved porch. "There are a few other companies that have printed homes and structures," Ballard says. "But they are printed in a warehouse, or they look like Yoda huts. For this venture to succeed, they have to be the best houses." The use of cement as a common material will help normalize the process for potential tenants that question the sturdiness of the structure. "I think if we were printing in plastic we would encounter some issues."
Also at Fortune, Wired, and BGR.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday March 17 2018, @12:07AM (4 children)
Residential construction has fallen very badly behind, and been bloated with a ton of crap. Look at the world of difference between residential and commercial. Tiltwall, in which concrete panels are made beforehand, trucked in, and installed by placing flat with the base at the final location, then tilted up, has been used in commercial construction for decades. It works. But the public still thinks that and other methods of building "manufactured homes" are cheap and shoddy.
Further, need cranes for tiltwall, and often city ordinances forbid the use of cranes in residential zones. Cities tend to have many ordinances that keep residential manufacturing static, for political reasons. Like, the plumber's union of one city I know made sure that only metal pipes could be used in housing, no PVC allowed. They're just one of many entrenched interests who benefit from such restrictions. Wouldn't surprise me if a bricklaying organization supported the ban on cranes, if indeed they aren't the driving force behind it. Rooftop solar is another that's run afoul of city ordinances, but there, cities have had to loosen up. Cities can be incredibly controlling and fascist. Think oppressive Home Owners Association, just on a larger scale. What many do is work around the restrictions by simply building outside city limits.
On the other hand, builders are cheap bastards who will cut every corner they're allowed, even if that means the house is a fire trap waiting for one spark. For instance, wooden shingles was a very brief fad that ended when they were responsible for entire apartment complexes and neighborhoods going up in flames because one house caught fire. Another common mistake is building in an area subject to flooding or severe erosion. But hey, cheap land, you know? I would never move into a house below a dam or in a floodplain, but so many people are completely oblivious to such considerations.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday March 17 2018, @12:13AM (1 child)
https://www.chron.com/news/politics/houston/article/Who-exactly-will-stricter-floodplain-development-12750913.php [chron.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday March 17 2018, @12:32AM
In England upper classes live on the top of the hill, middle on the slopes, and low on the river banks. How come waterfronts are so trendy?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday March 17 2018, @01:26PM
You mean it has fallen behind the rate of intake of immigrants needing housing. If the West stopped taking in immigrants, it would not need to be spending half its effort on building more housing and infrastructure. Oh, of course, the immigrants are needed to build that infrastrucure to accommodate more immigrants to build more infrastructure to accommodate more immigrants to build ........
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 17 2018, @03:29PM
Not just city. In Florida, The Sunshine State, the electric power
monopolyservice provider is lobbying hard to try to keep solar power generation in their ownership, instead of letting it out to the residents of the state.🌻🌻 [google.com]