Project Description - A look into the future of 3-D Printed Buildings, particularly the printing of homes. I'll first familiarize the reader with 3-D printing and how people are currently trying to utilize printers on a larger scale. Then I will rationalize the idea of using 3-D printing to build a home and establish criteria for the materials and printing systems that would be necessary to accommodate such a large printing job. Using the criteria, I'll choose several key materials and one or two outstanding methods of printing and design 1-3 homes in Revit or SketchUp that could be constructed using house-sized 3-D printing.
Why Was This Topic Chosen? - I love designing houses because its fun to imagine living in them. 3-D printing seems like a really promising technology that could benefit many aspects of our lives, and the architectural and construction engineering industries have already begun thinking about how it could affect them. I've drawn a parallel between two interests of mine and established a relevant topic that I think is worth researching.
Relation to Intelligent Buildings - What's more intelligent than a building that builds itself? If an enormous 3-D printer or similar system can construct a home based on code and mechanical parts, construction costs would likely decrease significantly (especially if the system is used repeatedly). While workers will still have a part in the construction of 3-D printed houses, mechanizing dangerous jobs and limiting workers' time spent in high places is beneficial to overall construction safety. Printing systems that can be built in wealthier countries can be sent to poorer countries to help construct many cheap and safe homes for large populations.
My Outline:
The 3-D Printed Building
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What is 3-D Printing?
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Brief history
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Currently utilized materials
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Predicted future applications
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Utilizing 3-D Printing on a Larger Scale
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Existing Methods
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Current Limits
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Existing Construction Concepts
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3-D Printing a House
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Why would you want to?
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Where would you want them?
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Who would want to?
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Materials
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Criteria
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Printability
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Availability
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Strength
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Climate
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Current materials used in home construction
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Most promising candidates for 3-D printed homes
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Methods
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Criteria
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Recap existing large scale printing methods
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Most promising candidates for 3-D printed homes
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Design
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Description of my design(s)
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Materials & methods used
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Reasoning
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Conclusions
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What I took away from the project
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Look into future
