newatlas.com: As 3D printing has matured from niche hobby to mainstream building technique over the past few years, Icon has positioned itself as a major player in the field. Shortly after unveiling plans to print a simulated Mars base with NASA and the Bjarke Ingels Group, the firm has now put the finishing touches to a development of 3D-printed homes in East Austin, Texas.
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I only learned about the existence of 3D-printing a few years ago, when my high school's robotics program got one. I thought the machine was fascinating, I would never have thought to create a printer that can manufacture objects based on a virtual rendering. Despite only being able to create small scale objects, I thought the possibilities for 3D printing as a tool in the future were endless. And with this article, my hypothesis is being proven. This article just described 3D-printed houses that have been built recently, but I would love to learn more about what the pros of 3D-printing a house is. Is it less money? Is it more environmentally friendly? Is it more time efficient? On the other end, I would love to research more about the cons of the industry. Is the only appeal being cheaper? Does it use an exorbitant amount of energy? Where and how are the materials used for the printing sourced?
I’ve always been fascinated by 3-D printing and the possibilities it presents for artists, but it seems I was severely underestimating the possibilities of medium regarding larger scale projects like construction. When I read the article’s title, I envisioned the roughed-edged plastic creations I know as 3-D printing but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the walls of the home they built were actually a sort of concrete rather than plastic and the rippled texture was cleverly worked into the design of the house. In general, the house was incredibly designed and worked the 3-D printing in so well that I would believe the walls were a conscious choice not a necessity. The only sort of unfortunate part I found was that the upstairs section was not printed. I'm not sure whether this was by necessity or to make the homeowners more comfortable, but I hope to see a more completely printed house in the future.
3D printing is a fascinating form of manufacturing. It astounds me how fast the technology has developed and become relatively affordable and mainstream. The scaling up of additive manufacturing from a working size of maybe a foot cubed up to a full house has also come about rather quickly, and I’ve seen it before this, but this specific example feels different to me. This one look more like a “normal” house than any of the other examples I have yet seen. Granted, as mentioned in the article, the upper floor is standard manual construction, but on first glance I was hardly able to tell at all that any of it was 3D printed. Visual aesthetics aside, I have always had several questions regarding the inner workings and utilities of the home. Seeing as the walls are created from concrete using the additive manufacturing process, I can’t help but wonder how electrical conduits, water lines, and gas lines are installed. Is the entire wall printed and the innards installed later? Or are the various conduits and lines installed as the wall is printed? Or are they installed prior to the printing and printed around? Each option seems to have its share of pros and cons, but I can’t seem to think of one way that would be the most ideal.
This article reminded me not only of how fast technology advances but how little of that progress that I see. I wonder how much there is out there that I don’t know about that I would find a way to use? Are there technologies that could change the standard processes in theatre that are simply not widespread? A lot of theatre that I am familiar with seems to stick to these very consistent rules in production and presentation and I’d like to familiarize myself with groups that are totally unfamiliar to me. To me, there is always something special about someone taking something and making it perfect for a situation it was not intended to be used for. I’ve never thought about innovation as art before but they both have that core similarity of taking something, for some art projects you can work with any material to form something new, designing new technology does the same it usually just takes a different form.
The amount of articles that have been written about 3D printing in the past three years that I have been reading articles is truly astonishing. I do not think I have ever seen a technology develop so quickly and become so user friendly, not to mention scalable like in this instance of 3D printing houses. I do recall, scrolling through facebook, and seeing short videos that spotlight this new ability to extrude concrete through a nozzle to print a whole house, but like the article said, those were traditionally only built in low income neighborhoods. Of course the mainstream society saw that and found a way to make it look fancy and upscale but this is the first instance I have seen using this technology for this high budget housing. Additionally, taking a hybrid approach to construction where the base of the house is 3D printed from concrete and the second story is built with traditional construction methods seems to be a really efficient way to build a modern house.
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