3d printing of homes is a reality. How can we do better? (www.alquist3d.com)

submitted 2 years ago by meyotch@slrpnk.net to c/open_source_ecology@slrpnk.net

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The technology is here now. This house is a boring square cracker box, which you would expect from Habitat for Humanity and a proof of concept. However, the freedom of 3-D printing allows you to make almost any shape that you can imagine that is physically possible.

Modern houses are shaped the way they are because of ease of construction and cost effectiveness, mostly.

How can we use the new freedom offered by the technology to make entirely new structures that take advantage of the freedom of form and reduced waste in construction?

I’m thinking of things like amazing windows and passive climate control structures inspired by how termites manage the climate in their mounds. Does anyone have any interesting forms or shapes they’d make?

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[-] meyotch@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 years ago

It’s not all about making blobby organic shapes that are hard to furnish though. You can make square interiors for rooms and in addition have voids strategically placed in the concrete to create chimneys and reduce solar gain, for instance, or your example of incorporating insulation.

This is the kind of discussion I’d like to have though. Sure, one of the reasons dome homes don’t catch on is the awkwardness of using circular spaces. But that’s no reason to think the exterior, wall-interiors and ceilings have to be orthogonal.

You can have a squared off room with an epic organic vaulted ceiling designed to create natural ventilation, for instance. Such things are currently expensive because they are custom construction, but what becomes economical when you don’t have to make concrete forms?

Some things are square (like the interior walls) because it’s just more usable, as you mention. Many other aspects of stick-built structures are square just to facilitate cost-effective construction, usually labor and material saving, not because it’s the best way when considering for the whole lifespan of the building.

this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023

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Open Source Ecology

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Open Source Ecology is Network of Farmers, Engineers, and Supporters Building the Global Village Construction Set.

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

The goal of Open Source Ecology is to create an open source economy – an efficient economy which increases innovation by open collaboration.

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Key Features of the GVCS

Open Source - we freely publish our 3d designs, schematics, instructional videos, budgets, and product manuals on our open source wiki and we harness open collaboration with technical contributors.
Low-Cost - The cost of making or buying our machines are, on average, 8x cheaper than buying from an Industrial Manufacturer, including an average labor cost of $15 hour for a GVCS fabricator.
Modular - Motors, parts, assemblies, and power units can interchange, where units can grouped together to diversify the functionality that is achievable from a small set of units.
User-Serviceable - Design-for-disassembly allows the user to take apart, maintain, and fix tools readily without the need to rely on expensive repairmen.
DIY - (do-it-yourself) The user gains control of designing, producing, and modifying the GVCS tool set.
Closed Loop Manufacturing - Metal is an essential component of advanced civilization, and our platform allows for recycling metal into virgin feedstock for producing further GVCS technologies - thereby allowing for cradle-to-cradle manufacturing cycles
High Performance - Performance standards must match or exceed those of industrial counterparts for the GVCS to be viable.
Flexible Fabrication - It has been demonstrated that the flexible use of generalized machinery in appropriate-scale production is a viable alternative to centralized production.
Distributive Economics - We encourage the replication of enterprises that derive from the GVCS platform as a route to truly free enterprise - along the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy.
Industrial Efficiency - In order to provide a viable choice for a resilient lifestyle, the GVCS platform matches or exceeds productivity standards of industrial counterparts.

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