Building sustainable homes is one of the most pressing challenges of our times. The global population is still rising, even as people have fewer children, and the resources we use for construction and consumption are slowly but surely being drained.
In order to preserve our environment for future generations, it is absolutely essential that we start producing buildings and goods that are eco-friendly. One firm in Italy thinks they have the answer and have produced an environmentally friendly house that was entirely 3D printed.
Using 3D printing technology WASP and Mario Cucinella Architects are now building an entire village of these unique homes and they hope the new builds will be a catalyst for the world to start approaching construction in a new way. All the homes are made using recyclable materials, which are sourced from the local area, cutting down on the carbon-emissions that come from transportation. Amazingly, if the houses are left abandoned, in time, they will biodegrade into the Earth.
The homes are fully functional and have a pod-like structure that some have compared to a wasp’s nest. Unlike normal construction projects which involve a huge-amount of labour power, the printed nature of these homes means that a machine can be set up and begins printing the homes straight away, cutting down on costs.
The Italian School of Sustainability, which was involved in the project, state on their website:
"TECLA was developed using in-depth research undertaken by the SOS – School of Sustainability – a professional school founded by Mario Cucinella that combines education, research and practice. The research, conducted with the support of MA students from the Sustainable Environmental Design programme at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, explored the cause and effects of homelessness. It interrogated the use of technological advances to enable a solution, based on case studies in locations with different climates. The result is a highly flexible envelope, designed to be resilient to any climate and energy-efficient in a way that traditional housing models are not."
"The model was named TECLA after an imaginary city described by Italo Calvino in The Invisible Cities as a ‘continuous urban evolution’. It is representative of both companies’ efforts to combine technological innovation with respect for the environment and an understanding of natural processes."
It is now hoped that many other firms around the world will now adopt the 3D printing technique and guide us towards a more sustainable future.
[h/t: Truth Theory]
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