Comments on: Print a house in 24 hours with robots!

By: Laura Haymond

Laura Haymond — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:08:28 +0000

Contour Crafting seems great for new construction, but how does one use it to make repairs on an existing structure? Even one previously made by the CC process? Also, embedding wires and pipes in the concrete as it goes up is also all well and good, but what do you do when something breaks? Tear down and rebuild the whole wall? In order for the CC process to be considered green life cycle costs should also be considered. I’m sure there is a way to do it, but these type of issues seem important before the CC process goes commercials.

By: Martin Baadsgaard

Martin Baadsgaard — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:54:22 +0000

Theoretically, you could put in at least the wires… directly into the concrete.

Imagine one of those toothpaste tubes, where the toothpaste comes out with stribes.
Using the same principle, a nozzle could drill into the still-wet concrete, and a syringe kind of tool could add a “wire” of conductive material, surrounded by an isolating/protecting kind of material, like some kind of silicone.

this is just a thought I had, but I bet these guys already thought of it :)

By: Jose Corujo

Jose Corujo — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:29:57 +0000

I wish it could not only print it in concrete, but also put in the wiring, plumming etc…. I guess it will leave the gaps for the manual installation of these. Any steel needed to reinforce the concrete?

By: Kurt Schwind

Kurt Schwind — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:50:04 +0000

Mark, what you say makes a lot of sense. However, I quick peek at http://www.contourcrafting.org/ answers several of the questions you raise. They do address the reinforcement of the concrete and electrical and plumbing. The short answer on the latter is that the countor machine makes conduit for all of the internal services you’d require.

So it’s true that you can’t just walk into a ‘complete house’ after this is done, but the internals become very simple to deal with because everything is ’studded’ out for you. And it does get reinforced. Take a peek at their website. It’s really interesting stuff.

By: james simms

james simms — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 12:03:00 +0000

please tell me if this constryction would be or could be made to survive a hurricane and or tornado thank you jim simms

By: Mark Kinsler

Mark Kinsler — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 07:40:00 +0000

The ‘four tons of waste’ generated by the ‘typical American house’ must include the earth excavated for the foundations; otherwise it’s nowhere near that. And a house doesn’t take six months to construct, unless you’re discussing those weird proto-mansions they build on California mountainsides.

Moreover, the house mentioned here is just a shell: no wiring, plumbing, window frames, HVAC, cabinets, doors, roofing, gutters, drainage, or foundation preparation. A shell is very quick to construct; a viable home takes intensive labor.

Unless there is some invisible reinforcement somewhere, this building would qualify as un-reinforced masonry and thus not qualify as earthquake-resistant. In areas where there’s expansive clay–e.g., the American southeast–foundation slabs must be reinforced.

While the idea of ‘rapid prototyping’ on an architectural scale is fascinating, I think the technology would be better used for the creation of concrete forms for shells as well as for the pre-fabrication of the details that make a shell into an inhabitable dwelling.

Mark Kinsler http://www.mkinsler.com

By: maria anna addicks

maria anna addicks — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 07:59:00 +0000

molto interessante, vorrei sapere i costi per l’italia. Io sono residente a palermo (sicilia)un cordiale saluto addicks maria anna.