It’s inevitable that technology changes all aspects of our lives. One interesting project, a collaboration between WASP (Italian 3D printing experts) and Mario Cucinella Architects, recently printed a home using all local dirt. The results are pretty beautiful and can probably scratch that itch if you’ve ever longed to live inside of a sea urchin carapace.
It’s claimed that the house took 200 hours to print only using 6KW of energy and 60 cubic meters of dirt! I noticed that they were using a backhoe to keep the printer filled. This will add some embodied energy to the total but that’s still pretty impressive.
Immediately my mind went to ways that the design could be altered to make it a more sustainable for different areas. Of course allowing more passive solar in would be good for colder climates. That being said, I think this indicates some of the possibilities that 3D printing technology is opening up and I look forward to seeing how this idea develops.
