Andrey Rudenko is a man with a vision. It is a unique and frankly beautiful vision that could quite easily remake the construction industry. Recently, he completed a pilot project that ignited the imaginations of the small, but rapidly expanding 3d printing enthusiast community when he built a very large version of an open source printer and modified it to print using concrete as its 'ink.' Using this printer, he then created a castle, large enough for an adult to walk through, for his backyard garden.
Neat, But What's The Next Step?As mentioned, this was but the first step in a much larger project. Once he puts the finishing touches on the castle, by next summer, Rudenko is hoping to print a two story house with his printer. It should be noted that he's not the first person to have done so. Earlier this year, a Chinese company printed ten homes using a giant 3d Printer. As Rudenko correctly points out though, the printer and materials used created homes of exceedingly poor quality, with rough edges and little in the way of detail. A home printed using Rudenko's printer has two key advantages over these. First, they are of much higher quality, and the concrete the homes are built with has an artistic look to it. Second, no drywall would need to be hung in the interior of a Rudenko-built home. This step would be absolutely necessary in the Chinese printed homes.
Based on the success of the castle prototype, there is little doubt that Rudenko will succeed in his quest to print a full sized, liveable home with his creation. When that happens, it completely redraws the map for home construction, both here, and the world over.
First, home building becomes a much less labor intensive process, requiring only a technician to monitor the printer, and a few supporting staff to keep its 'ink' reservoirs stocked. Second, homes can be constructed much more quickly using this technology than they can be using even the most modern and efficient construction methods in use in the industry today. Third, as a consequence of the above, the price of constructing a new home using this technology will plummet, meaning that home ownership becomes more widespread, and possible even for low income families.
Given that Rudenko's printer design was based on open source, readily available plans on the internet, and uses off the shelf components, any 3d printing enthusiast could create a comparable model. This is fantastic news, and is yet one more example of how the world is becoming increasingly decentralized. When anyone can build a printer like this, then anyone can begin printing their own homes, and of course, homes aren't going to the only things soon to be manufactured by home factories. The same basic technology can be used to make almost anything. In fact, there's an MIT class called “How To Make Almost Anything” that outlines a series of half a dozen or so machines including a 3d printer, laser cutter, milling machine and a few others, all networked together, and collectively capable of creating everything from fully liveable homes to plumbing supplies, to socket wrenches, and more.
The future is here. Embrace it, or be left behind.
