March 31, 2021
NOT JUST SPOONS?:
This company is 3D-printing houses in North America. Next stop? The moon (TALIB VISRAM, 3/31/21, Fast Company)
On this week's edition of our World Changing Ideas podcast, I spoke to Ballard about the mind-boggling construction process and Icon's larger goals. Ballard was dismayed with early renderings of 3D-printed objects, "plastic octopuses and spoons" that were not addressing real issues. "3D printing would be best on things that are big, slow, and bespoke," he thought.The 10-by-35-foot printer, called the Vulcan, extrudes layers of concrete--or "Lavacrete"--from the concrete-maker, dubbed the "Magma." (You may sense a theme.) Ballard claims that the concrete-based houses are sturdier than timber, that the process is speedier (you can print a house in 24 hours), and that cheaper materials and labor cut overall costs by 10% to 30% compared to our current construction model.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 31, 2021 12:00 AM