Happy new year to all.
This year 2019 has been eventful for me @The_Icelandic_Architect moved from Copenhagen where I was working at BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) to Iceland where I have been designing houses to finally start working in close up to my projects here. I am very much looking forward to 2020 a year of build-up in Iceland and make your dreams come true.
I want to start this year with amazing news from the 3D print industry. This is something that many architects (including myself) think of through their career, "how can I with my skills help where there is more need".
Since I started learning about digital fabrication and 3D printing I have thought about this, that one day we can with all the technology that we have help in the countries that need it the most. Build cheaper and more sustainable houses to increase the quality of life for those that really need it.
THE FIRST HOMES HAVE BEEN BUILT IN NEW STORY’S 3D PRINTED COMMUNITY FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES IN MEXICO.
New Story, a non-profit organization fighting homelessness, has announced that construction of the ‘world’s first’ 3D printed community is officially underway. As part of a collaborative project with ICON, a Texas-based construction technologies company, the first set of homes have already been 3D printed in Tabasco, Mexico. They feature final construction build-out by ÉCHALE, New Story’s nonprofit partner in Mexico.
“Conventional construction methods have many baked-in drawbacks and problems that we’ve taken for granted for so long that we forgot how to imagine any alternative,” explains Jason Ballard, Co-founder, ICON.
“WITH 3D PRINTING, YOU NOT ONLY HAVE A CONTINUOUS THERMAL ENVELOPE, HIGH THERMAL MASS, AND NEAR ZERO-WASTE, BUT YOU ALSO HAVE SPEED, A MUCH BROADER DESIGN PALETTE, NEXT-LEVEL RESILIENCY, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A QUANTUM LEAP IN AFFORDABILITY.”
This project is to provide low-cost housing for low-income communities in Latin America. The new homes that have been successfully 3D printed will be granted to local families in Mexico currently living in extreme poverty and makeshift, unsafe shelter.
3D printing homes for low-income families
Co-designed with feedback from the families, the 3D printed homes feature two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bath. They are situated within a seismic zone, and have been engineered above the standard safety requirements including robust foundations to ensure the homes will last for generations.
The families that will be allocated to the 50 homes in the 3D printed community have been preselected, and they will begin moving in once all the homes are complete. The selection process for the families that get to live in the 3D printed homes is based on a survey of over 500 families, conducted in partnership with local government officials. In the community in Tabasco, the median family income per month is $76.50, some of the lowest-income families in Mexico as a whole. When surveyed, 74 percent of families stated they do not feel safe in their current living conditions and that this greatly affects their quality of life.
Versus
“I think it’s important to remember what makes this project different, what makes it matter: we’re not an R&D company just for the sake of innovation, and we’re not here to turn a profit. These homes are for real people, with real needs, and everything we do is for them, and includes them in the process,” concludes Lafci, co-founder and COO of NewStory.
Link to the original article HERE
I am very happy to see that there are people out there with this skill and finance to support it and think the same way. I would love to be a part of a project like this in the future to come. Love to start the year with some goodness in the world.