Blog 1: BIM and 3D Printing

The future of the construction industry is BIM in some form. Continuously improving, and becoming more and more dominant as the go to tool in the construction industry, BIM has revolutionized the construction industry by improving visualization, productivity, and coordination, while reducing costs.

The use of BIM in designing high cost, large scale and complex projects has proven its effectiveness. On the opposite side of the cost spectrum, studies have been conducted to analyze the usefulness of BIM in designing low-cost buildings, like temporary housing [1].  According to Lachmi Khemlani, “...we could facilitate the process by exploring how advanced technologies such as BIM can be applied, not only towards improving buildings and processes that are already quite good to begin with, but also in tackling the challenges of housing for the lower half of society” [1].

A key property for effective temporary housing is modularity of the components (leading into prefabrication of elements) and quick construction times. One example of BIM application in low-cost, temporary housing is the Loblolly House, designed by KieranTimberlake Associates [1]. Kieran Timberlake Associates extensively used BIM for the design and development of the building, but also for the fabrication and assembly of the building. Using BIM, the components of the building were modeled in high levels of detail with assigned parameters and then fabricated offsite, to then be assembled physically after being virtually assembled with BIM.

However, the use of BIM in the low-cost housing professional practice is seldom. While it has great potential in its effectiveness to create efficient housing at a lower cost, the industry has a long way to go in actually implementing BIM for the purpose of low-cost temporary housing [1].

I found this article interesting, and I appreciate the research into alternative BIM use, it seems to me that the effectiveness of BIM in producing better designs at lower costs seems universally relevant to the entire construction industry. I felt the answer to the author’s question of “Can BIM enable making low-cost housing easier to build, with more efficiency, lower cost, and improved quality?”, is an obvious yes.

Along with the further development and implementation of BIM in the industry, 3D printing is improving and finding notable purpose in the future of construction.

One innovative use, similar in purpose to BIM used for low-cost housing, is the use of 3D printing to build small, yet cheap and affordable housing, with extremely fast construction times. The construction firm, Icon, and New Story, a nonprofit for housing construction in the developing world, are collaborating to achieve, cheap and quick housing construction utilizing 3D printing. The current created dwelling is a single story, 380 square feet, structure made of concrete that was created in only 48 hours [2]. Similar to small scale 3D printing, the system functions by placing a mortar material, similar to concrete, layer by layer. To form the structure, the 3D printed mortar is held in place by a metal frame till it sets. The frame and construction is modular, and if desired, multiple homes can be placed back to back to create a larger home [2]. The 3D printer uses BIM created floor plans.

The concept is being taken to El Salvador to quickly produce simple, yet highly functional, homes for poor families. The cost for a family to build one works out about $30 a month. In association with the nonprofit, the cost is put towards a pay it forward system, to pay for more homes as well as maintenance for the entire community [2].

As described above, the humanitarian potential of BIM and 3D printed structures is remarkable. While cheap, effective, and quick, the use of 3D printing in the construction field will have a notable impact on the jobs market for construction workers. In the future when the use of 3D printing in construction becomes more widely adopted, I imagine a lot of construction jobs will be rendered obsolete, and the jobs created by the new system will not match the number of jobs lost. I think the transition will be similar to the transition into CAD that rendered a lot of drafters jobs obsolete since Engineers could now draft their own drawings.

Sources:

[1] Khemlani, Lachmi. “BIM in Low Cost and Temporary HousingAECbytes Feature (March 16, 2016).” Technology Toolkit for Sustainable Design at Orcutt Winslow Partnership: AECbytes Feature, www.aecbytes.com/feature/2016/BIM-LowCostHousing.html.

[2] Lee, Dave. “3D-Printed Homes Turn Sludge into Shelter.” BBC News, BBC, 15 Mar. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-43411581.

Comments:

1) Richard,

I agree that while AI provides great convenience and its connectivity has clear benefits, the security threat AI presents needs to be thoroughly investigated and protected against exploitation. AI presents a very dangerous relationship between convenience and safety, and it is clear, especially with the notes on hackers fooling the AI used in self-driving cars to drive at higher speeds, that we must be careful that systems do not become so overly automated that safety is compromised. The idea that hacking and security breaches are becoming more popular due to the lucrative information that is stored online is alarming when considering all of the future tech that has interconnected communication systems. Edge computing is an interesting solution, but again, it becomes an issue of loss of privacy for security. The privacy is up to the developer to be benevolent and I imagine a lot of people will have a hard time trusting developers, especially with all of the Facebook privacy developments recently.

2) Nana,

The potential of 3D printing in construction is remarkable, especially considering all of the 3D printers being developed. In the future, it seems like the cost and duration of construction with almost any material will be greatly decreased. I agree that 3D printing structures in the future is a positive thing, but I think the jobs generated 3D printed construction will not match the jobs lost by it. However, I think the humanitarian potential possible for quick and cheap construction for third world countries is reason enough alone to pursue the implementation and use of 3D printing. Imagine the potential 3D printing could have for a refugee camp. If majority of building materials and components could be 3D printed, the overall construction length and footprint of impact for projects could be drastically reduced. These articles have definitely made me excited for the future of construction.