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Archive for the ‘habitats’ category: Page 110

Aug 10, 2016

NASA Awards 6 NextSTEP-2 Contracts for Deep Space Habitats

Posted by in categories: habitats, space

Space tourism … and much more.

Copyright ©2016 Parabolic Arc.

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Aug 8, 2016

DARPA’s new program engineers building materials with living systems

Posted by in categories: 4D printing, energy, habitats

Smart homes that repairs themselves. Why not since 4D-Printing enables self-assembly.


DARPA has unveiled the Engineered Living Materials program that combines living systems with traditional building materials for on-demand and self-repairing material that cuts cost and energy.

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Aug 3, 2016

Saudis look to Chinese 3D printing company to tackle housing shortage

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, government, habitats

China’s big win.


Last week a team from Chinese 3D printing construction company WinSun visited Saudi Arabia, meeting with department of housing official and others to discuss the kingdom’s housing shortfall.

According to 3ders.com and others, the Chinese firm’s chairman and vice president met officials from the housing department and investment authority, and were told the Saudi government believes WinSun’s technology could help meet a shortage in available housing. WinSun was invited to open a Saudi factory.

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Aug 3, 2016

Plastic brick houses

Posted by in category: habitats

This company is rebuilding communities using old plastic.

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Aug 2, 2016

Saudi Arabia plans to 3D print 1.5 million houses with WinSun’s construction 3D printing tech

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, engineering, habitats

WOW — now that’s an engineering feat.


While Dubai is keen to become a 3D printing world leader with their Dubai 3D Printing Strategy, they are by no means the only Middle Eastern nation to look into this technology. Last week a delegation of Chinese WinSun officials traveled to Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to discuss construction 3D printing. Among others, the Chinese construction 3D printing pioneers were invited to 3D print up to 1.5 million housing units over the next five years.

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Jul 30, 2016

Mars City Design wants to 3D-print prototypes of Martian habitats in the Mojave Desert

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, habitats, space

Growing up in Jakarta’s polluted slums, Vera Mulyani loved building things. As a child, she dreamed of becoming an architect.

More than two decades later, Mulyani is a self-proclaimed “Marschitect,” and spends her time brainstorming how human life might be sustained on the red planet. After studying at École d’Architecture de Nantes in France and at New York Film Academy, in January 2015 she founded Mars City Design, a think tank of sorts aimed at developing blueprints for the first self-sustaining city on Mars.

Earlier this month, Mars City Design raised $30,382 on Kickstarter to realize the next phase of its mission: Within the next three years, the group wants to 3D-print three to-scale habitat prototypes of Martian cities at Reaction Research Society’s test area in the Mojave Desert.

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Jul 29, 2016

Smart bricks would enable walls capable of generating electricity, clean water and oxygen

Posted by in categories: biological, habitats, robotics/AI

A lot of things are becoming “smart” these days, but bricks might not be something you’d expect to be added to the list. On the way to buildings that act like “large-scale living organisms,” scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) are developing smart bricks that would make use of microbes to recycle wastewater, generate electricity and produce oxygen.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which will be embedded in the bricks to give them their “smart” capabilities, have proven handy in the past, with researchers demonstrating how they can be used to generate electricity from human urine, dead flies or just plain old mud.

“Microbial fuel cells are energy transducers that exploit the metabolic activity of the constituent microbes to break down organic waste and generate electricity,” says Ioannis Ieropoulos, professor at UWE Bristol’s Robotics Laboratory. “This is a novel application for MFC modules to be made into actuating building blocks as part of wall structures. This will allow us to explore the possibility of treating household waste, generating useful levels of electricity, and have ‘active programmable’ walls within our living environments.”

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Jul 29, 2016

Smart bricks will transform how buildings work

Posted by in categories: computing, engineering, habitats, sustainability

Smart bricks capable of recycling wastewater and generating electricity from sunlight are being developed by a team of scientists from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). The bricks will be able to fit together and create ‘bioreactor walls’ which could then be incorporated in housing, public building and office spaces.

The UWE Bristol team is working on the smart technologies that will be integrated into the in this pan European ‘Living Architecture’ (LIAR) project led by Newcastle University. The LIAR project brings together living architecture, computing and engineering to find a new way to tackle global sustainability issues.

The smart living bricks will be made from bio-reactors filled with microbial cells and algae. Designed to self-adapt to changing environmental conditions the smart bricks will monitor and modify air in the building and recognise occupants.

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Jul 27, 2016

How eco-friendly communes could change the future of housing — By Autumn Spanne | The Guardian

Posted by in categories: business, complex systems, economics, energy, engineering, environmental, ethics, food, government, habitats

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“An increasing number of US landowners want to build commune-style villages that are completely self-sufficient and have a low carbon footprint”

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Jul 22, 2016

Let’s all move to Mars! The space architects shaping our future

Posted by in categories: food, habitats, space travel, sustainability

We’ve had starchitects. Now we’ve got space architects. Oliver Wainwright meets the people measuring up the red planet for inflatable homes and farms made of moondust concrete.

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