How can 3DPrinted Homes on Mars address Earths housing crisis
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the world’s population is growing and
urbanizing so fast
that we will need to build over the next
20 years
as many houses as we have built in the
past 2000 years
to overcome this challenge a variety of
innovative solutions are being proposed
most of them on earth but some may be on
mars
colonizing space is the next great leap
for humankind
of all the planets in our solar system
mars
is the most similar to earth and
considered the best option
for human colonization availability of
materials and energy
makes it possible to construct a
permanent habitat
a first step toward a human settlement
but before talking about living on mars
let me tell you about
my life on earth i grew up in a small
village near lisbon
in portugal while growing up it became
clear that some people still struggled
with poverty
and lacked proper housing perceiving
this reality
instilled in me the desire to change it
i also loved playing with legos
thus being an architect was something i
desired since a very young age
when i was 10 years old the country
changed
from dictatorship to democracy for a
period
things were a bit utopian for instance
students at an input regarding how
schools were run
this participatory exercise often led to
more effective and inclusive outcomes
something that has inspired my approach
until today
when i was 15 years old my family moved
to a small town
in high school a great science teacher
inspired me to be a scientist
i chose architecture because its human
side was more appealing
but my approach is very influenced by
science
i went to college in lisbon but one year
i decided to commute from home in this
daily journey
i crossed a variety of landscapes when
the countryside
started to fade there was illegal
housing
which looked chaotic in the outskirts
governmental housing was predominant and
dull
however the city center where the school
of architecture was located
was diverse and beautiful
this live experience prompted me to
think of ways
to provide for most customized
affordable housing
and create environments with the
qualities we value in historical
neighborhoods
my undergraduate thesis proposed the use
of computer control
design and production systems to achieve
this goal
the thesis was published as a book by
the national laboratory of civil
engineering
where i worked after graduation
the quest for knowledge to materialize
this vision led me to mit
where i met inspiring researchers who
eventually became my advisors
my master thesis was focused on
understanding
people’s perception of order and
diversity
the pg thesis addressed the development
of a design system
that allowed users to create their own
houses in the style of an award-winning
architect
who could not distinguish the output
designs from his own
the following years were dedicated to
teaching future architects
how to develop their own design systems
then
the focus gradually shifted to the
production system
two paradigms were identified the first
considered the fabrication
of standard components that could be
combined in different ways
to make up different houses the lego
approach
the second paradigm was the 3d printing
of houses at full scale
in 3d printing objects are made by
extruding to a nozzle
a material that hardens when deposited
thereby creating the object
layer by layer the process includes
generating the form of the object in the
computer
then slicing it to obtain the past
followed by the nozzle
during extrusion then generating the
instructions to control the machine
holding the nozzle and then printing
by moving to penn state five years ago i
found the means required to fully
explore 3d printing
penn state as a strong culture of
multidisciplinary collaboration
and financial resources i teamed up with
colleagues
from various scientific fields and
together
we participated in the nasa cd printed
mars habitat challenge
the goal was to develop the technology
to print shelters on mars
using local resources but eyeing its
future application on earth
the challenge had two parallel workflows
one was a virtual construction of a
shelter on mars
and the other was the actual printing on
earth
conditions on mars are inhospitable and
pose big challenge to human life
the expense and limitation of space
travel
make it necessary to use indigenous
materials and resources
our strategy followed our research to
develop
low-cost housing on earth using
pragmatic design
and 3d printing the construction process
involved like a robotic arm printing a
gel polymer concrete mixture
called mars crit which is made of
materials
found on the red planet this strategy
require modeling the relations between
three different but related subsystems
concerning materials printing system
and design we characterize
material behavior by checking its
printability
and its shape deformation during the
printing process
results were then considered in the
design of the tool path
compensating for material deformation we
also studied the affordances
of the printing process in terms of
printable forms and structure
an additional concern was the creation
of a statically placing surfaces
another aspect was the development of
seamless graded transition between
different materials
such as concrete and glass or cork
which could be recycled from spaceships
these materials
allow to optimize the structural thermal
and optical performance of the habitat
while decreasing the use of material
and energy resources
the design of the shelter was based on
constraints derived from our study of
materials behavior and the printing
system
these constraints were encoded into a
dramatic design
system that allowed to explore
different design configurations and
identify optimal ones
which were then fed into a construction
simulator
among multiple options we chose one to
illustrate our concept
the shelter is composed of modular units
each unit
consists of a protective shell made from
mars grids
and a lighter interior built from
recycled plastics
we manipulated the seamless transition
from concrete to glass
and to cork the glass gradient increases
towards the top
to provide for ambient light the core
gradient
increases towards the exterior to create
a protective layer
and chilly habitat from cosmic radiation
and low temperatures
there are four units for work living
sleeping and gardening anti-chambers on
each end of the habitat
enable access from the exterior and
emergency exits
the first unit includes a wet lab on the
first floor
and in individual work spaces on the
second floor
the second unit owes the dining area
kitchen and bathrooms on the first floor
and the leisure area on the second floor
the third unit
includes the sleeping quarters on the
first floor and a workout area
on the second floor the design was
conceived to enable visual communication
between the various units and floors
offering a spatially rich living
environment
the first unit contains life support and
hydroponic systems that produce food and
oxygen
each unit can be sealed and will have
life support capability
during repairs the printing system is
mounted on a rover
it includes silos where different
process materials are stored
for instance concrete mixtures with sand
cork or glass as
aggregates each of these silos is
connected to a conveyor
to a dual mixer and pump each pump mixes
the concrete with water
and then extrudes it by changing the
relative speed of
these pumps it’s possible to obtain
concretes
with different gradients these are
extrudes to a hose
connected to a nozzle mounted on a
robotic arm
a retractable dome guarantees a seal and
control environment
with proper conditions for printing
once at the desired location the robot
levels the ground
and digs a trench then the dome is
closed
and printing begins first the foundation
footing
then the ground slab then the walls
penetrating frames are placed where
required
as walls are printed when reaching the
proper level
the robot constructs the floors then it
prints the inclined walls
forming the roof enclosing the habitat
one model is constructed the rover moves
to print the next module
and so on until the whole habitat is
built
then the habitat is sealed by enclosing
the ports
and placing connectors between units
these connectors can also seal units
in the event of an emergency stairs
rails and furniture are then printed
using small printers and the
installations are mounted
the habitat is then ready to inhabit
supported by 3d printing technology and
advances in material science
our multi-disciplinary approach explores
various interrelated topics that inform
and transform design and construction
processes
and the language of architecture
the same parametric design system used
to generate optimized designs for mers
was also used for earth because of the
differences in
environmental conditions the generated
designs are different in the two
scenarios
the construction simulator allowed us to
design the printing setting with rigor
demonstrate its feasibility and qualify
for the finals of the challenge
at the competition we built for the
first time ever
a fully enclosed 3d printing structure
at construction scale
without any support structure
achievements like these can be
accomplished only in a research
environment
where teamwork elevates individual
efforts
where researchers from various
backgrounds and disciplines
united around the common goal
collaborate to develop the science
the technology and the design required
to succeed
innovative design and construction
technologies developed to overcome
the shortage of housing on earth were
used to design a habitat
to support the human exploration of mars
but the lessons learned from this effort
can impact
the way we design and build on earth
according to the united nations 900
million people worldwide
lived in slums in 2018 a number that is
expected to double
by 2025.
3d printing technology will allow us to
build more affordable homes in a short
time
helping to overcome homelessness the
houses will be customized to meet the
needs of their users
but also adapted to their environment
reducing the use of energy
and material resources and these will be
sourced locally
further reducing the impacts on the
environment
but not only houses we can even build
bridges
or playgrounds and our infrastructure as
needed
in short this technology will allow us
to build better
quicker cheaper and more sustainably
help preserve our planet and enable
an equal future for all thank you
you