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posted by janrinok on Wednesday September 18 2019, @03:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the no-accounting-for-taste dept.

https://qz.com/1705386/the-dfab-house-exhibit-opens-in-new-york-city/

-- submitted from IRC

Erecting a new building ranks among the most inefficient, polluting activities humans undertake. The construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of the world’s total energy consumption and CO2 emissions, according to a UN global survey (pdf).

A consortium of Swiss researchers has one answer to the problem: working with robots. The proof of concept comes in the form of the DFAB House, celebrated as the first habitable building designed and planned using a choreography of digital fabrication methods.

The three-level building near Zurich features 3D-printed ceilings, energy-efficient walls, timber beams assembled by robots on site, and an intelligent home system. Developed by a team of experts at ETH Zurich university and 30 industry partners over the course of four years, the DFAB House, measuring 2,370 square feet (220 square meters), needed 60% less cement and has passed the stringent Swiss building safety codes.

“This is a new way of seeing architecture,” says Matthias Kohler, a member of DFAB’s research team. The work of architects has long been presented in terms of designing inspiring building forms, while the technical specifics of construction has been relegated to the background. Kohler thinks this is quickly changing. “Suddenly how we use resources to build our habitats is at the center of architecture,” he argues. “How you build matters.”

DFAB isn’t the first building project to use digital fabrication techniques. In 2014, Chinese company WinSun demonstrated the architectural potential of 3D printing by manufacturing 10 single-story houses in one day. A year later, the Shanghai-based company also printed an apartment building and a neoclassical mansion, but these projects remain in the development phase.

Kohler explains that beating construction speed records wasn’t necessarily their goal. “Of course we’re interested in gaining breakthroughs in speed and economy, but we tried to hold to the idea of quality first,” he says. “You can do things very, very fast but that doesn’t mean that it’s actually sustainable.”


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday September 18 2019, @04:54AM (4 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 18 2019, @04:54AM (#895498) Journal

    From TFA

    How will this work? Kohler says that partnering with robots means letting the result of machine processes inform the design. Instead of forcing machines to fake handmade surfaces, he suggests that there’s a totally new aesthetic that results from working with digital fabrication.

    And the photos in TFA absolutely proves it!
    Really, go RTFA.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 18 2019, @07:31AM (3 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @07:31AM (#895529) Journal

    Curves only a robot could love.

    passed the stringent Swiss building safety codes.

    And yet it looks like it would blow away in a deecent storm.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 18 2019, @08:36AM (2 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 18 2019, @08:36AM (#895539) Journal

      Curves only a robot could love.

      Don't tell me, tell Bot [soylentnews.org]

      And yet it looks like it would blow away in a deecent storm.

      Looks can be deceiving.
      Besides, I reckon a dee is quite a large unit of measure for storms, if a cent of it is required to blow that building away.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 18 2019, @09:17AM (1 child)

        by MostCynical (2589) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @09:17AM (#895543) Journal

        Stopp moocking my brooken keyboardpoopopo

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 18 2019, @10:06AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 18 2019, @10:06AM (#895553) Journal

          Ah, sorry, I thought it was your autocorrect.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford