Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
Here’s another “robots will replace workers” story that is so filled with bafflegarb it’s simply impossible to point out every fiction it contains. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of construction principles and techniques will immediately see through the lies, but the average reader would just accept the story as it is written and think, “Wow, amazing feat and with no humans involved.”
Aside from the fact that as a dwelling it is supremely unappealing visually- from the bizarre shape and huge expanses of wasted space to the creepy details like the overly complicated and aesthetically repulsive concrete ceilings (how much debris and dirt do you imagine all those ridges will accumulate and how’d you like to have to have to dust them?) to the ridiculous claim that the finished “house” needed “60% less cement”.
Cement, as anyone with a basic understanding of construction terms knows, is a binder for cured or fired masonry like bricks and block, not concrete. One glance at this monstrosity reveals an unusual reliance on concrete- far more than would be found in a dozen homes of similar size. In fact it would appear that every floor and ceiling system is made of concrete rather than wood and it more closely resembles a multi-story parking garage than a dwelling for human beings. While I have no doubt that such a structure would find a segment of the population that would find it attractive, there are probably more people who would prefer living in a yurt than stack of concrete planes with alien surfaces that look like the ship from the 1950’s classic sci-fi flick Invaders From Mars.
Brutalism in architecture has become very popular in corporate and industrial construction, but it has never made the transition to home building successfully because people have to live there rather than simply renew their driver’s license every four years. If trends continue, of course, just like learning to eat a diet based on cricket meal and human flesh, it will be the only offering from our overlords in the dystopian future where no one works.
A Swiss house built by robots promises to revolutionize the construction industry
Erecting a new building ranks among the most inefficient, polluting activities humans undertake. The construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of the world’s total energy consumption and CO2 emissions, according to a UN global survey (pdf).
A consortium of Swiss researchers has one answer to the problem: working with robots. The proof of concept comes in the form of the DFAB House, celebrated as the first habitable building designed and planned using a choreography of digital fabrication methods.
The three-level building near Zurich features 3D-printed ceilings, energy-efficient walls, timber beams assembled by robots on site, and an intelligent home system. Developed by a team of experts at ETH Zurich university and 30 industry partners over the course of four years, the DFAB House, measuring 2,370 square feet (220 square meters), needed 60% less cement and has passed the stringent Swiss building safety codes.
“This is a new way of seeing architecture,” says Matthias Kohler, a member of DFAB’s research team. The work of architects has long been presented in terms of designing inspiring building forms, while the technical specifics of construction has been relegated to the background. Kohler thinks this is quickly changing. “Suddenly how we use resources to build our habitats is at the center of architecture,” he argues. “How you build matters.”
DFAB isn’t the first building project to use digital fabrication techniques. In 2014, Chinese company WinSun demonstrated the architectural potential of 3D printing by manufacturing 10 single-story houses in one day. A year later, the Shanghai-based company also printed an apartment building and a neoclassical mansion, but these projects remain in the development phase.
Kohler explains that beating construction speed records wasn’t necessarily their goal. “Of course we’re interested in gaining breakthroughs in speed and economy, but we tried to hold to the idea of quality first,” he says. “You can do things very, very fast but that doesn’t mean that it’s actually sustainable.”
Man and machine
Any mention of automation necessarily conjures concerns about robots edging humans out of their jobs. But Kohler believes that embracing technology will actually augment human creativity and even foster a revival of craftsmanship. “Like a craftsman may have an iPhone in his pocket, I think that future machines will be less separated from human.”
How will this work? Kohler says that partnering with robots means letting the result of machine processes inform the design. Instead of forcing machines to fake handmade surfaces, he suggests that there’s a totally new aesthetic that results from working with digital fabrication. The DFAB House’s ornamental ceiling, created with a large-scale 3D sand printer, hints at these decorative possibilities.
Benjamin Dillenburger, the 3D printing specialist in DFAB’s team, adds that learning to work with robots may even safeguard the health of construction workers. “One should not romanticize the jobs on the construction sites,” he warns. “[It] really makes sense to have this kind of collaborative setups where robots and human work together.”
Beyond the experimental structure in Switzerland, Kohler and Dillenburger explain that they’re interested in fostering a dialogue with the global architecture and construction sectors. They’ve published their open-source data sets and have organized a traveling exhibition titled “How to Build a House: Architectural Research in the Digital Age,” opening at the Cooper Union in New York this week.
Nader Tehrani, the school’s dean of architecture, hopes to attract a broad audience to the free exhibition, which runs until Oct. 13. “We had imagined that it would be of interest not only to architects, but also to engineers, artists, and builders,” he says. “At once sober, rational, and thoughtful, the research in this project is also projective, unprecedented, and speculative.”
Dillenburger believes the DFAB House will be interesting even to those outside the architecture and construction sectors. “Architecture is always a public project,” he says. “It’s for anyone curious about how we’re building for the future.”
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I agree. When I first read the article–>ugly, who would want to live here?
In a word – Fugly.
Zoo animals live on concrete. It makes it easy to spray them with fire hoses and wash them down.
Works good in barns, too.
Sounds awful for humans. But, if enough people can be convinced living on and in concrete is good? Everyone will want to do it!
Sounds like a good way to sell this new construction material. I suppose it is waste from something else? It seems like more and more trash is being resold to us as treasure.
Not so good for hogs:
The vitamins most often deficient in swine rations are Vitamin A, B Complex, and … This is a necessity where swine are raised on concrete or in confinement.
Once a year, you can remove all of the furniture and hose down the entire house, but to do it in an environmentally safe manner, you will need to capture all of the runoff and recycle the water.
The polished concrete in my home is quite quiet – far less noisy than floorboards, or tile, for instance.
I hope the robots will be happy living in their creation. Not really.
“Cement, as anyone with a basic understanding of construction terms knows, is a binder for cured or fired masonry like bricks and block, not concrete.”
I disagree with the last part of that – “not concrete”. Cement is ground calcined limestone and clay, and is the necessary binder in concrete. You cannot have concrete without cement – it binds the sand and aggregate. It is not necessarily incorrect what was said in the article. But it is unclear exactly what was meant.
You are correct, but saying you’ve saved one component of a mix while excluding the other elements makes no sense. I have frequently read stories where the writer conflates cement and concrete and judging by the photographs linked there is- as they say in the business- a shit-ton of concrete in that structure. To say that they used 60% less, cement or concrete, is utterly ridiculous. Most homes only have footings and foundation walls of concrete, occasionally slab floors, but not every floor, the walls, and the ceilings. Aside from the glass and extrusions the rest of it appears to be almost entirely made out of concrete.
As I said, the meaning was unclear. Did they confuse concrete/cement? Likely. But not absolutely evident. And given it is cement is the great “climate change no no” it leaves some room for doubt. But I suspect your interpretation is correct.
BTW – given I am correct, why did I get any thumbs down? Maroons.
Never look at the thumbs.
I call this my rule of thumbs.
Hsf – as you well know, I could care less. But occasionally, as in this instance, the down votes reflects the fact that some folks are simply abjectly stupid, given what I posted was indeed correct.
We all know you could care less, but you won’t care less, which is why it’s always so easy.
I recently developed a new rule for replies.
Galations 5:23
Cement is one of the ingredients that goes into a concrete mix.
EDIT to ask: Why am I getting a ‘you must enter a valid email address’ notices under other posts I tried to reply to? It took me 10 minuets to get this one up & I had to go to another post for this reply. This one was meant to go to Lloph’s remark.
I did enter a valid EM addy. 12 or so times.
SamFox
Also, cement is a powder.
HSF, your introduction was great, especially the last sentence.
“Architecture is always a public project,”
That explains all of the ugly buildings.
Another thing that is obviously off is the size. No way that is only 2370 square feet.
“bafflegarb”, a nice choice of words, HF.
What came to my mind was ‘an interesting if not eclectic collection of sputum’. It’s the same old and tired collection of geometric configuration of Spartan lines and angles with a touch of unwelcome irregular curves. I can almost hear the self congratulating half-laughs as the ‘designer’ thinks “they’ll never see that one coming”.
One view showed the in-progress construction along with the gantry system of the robotic arms. I thought there was little difference between the two. Rigidly starched planes separated by slightly askew boxes of differing materials and stances to what end? Defiance Without a Cause or The Death of Symmetry should be its name.
“Architecture is always a public project,” he says.
So was the pedestrian bridge on Florida International University, I sez.
Can we be sure that it is not intended to be used for interior shots for the new Predator movie spaceship interior?
Many may not realize this, but “bafflegarb” is synonymous with “gobbledygook”.
Or barflegarb?
I believe you are correct.
The author talks about how environmentally friendly it is to work with cement, however it takes a tremendous amount of heat to make cement from the base ingredients calcium, silicon, aluminum, iron, etc. This heat does not happen magically, but comes from burning some form of carbon based material, usually natural gas. Cement manufacturing is also a primary method for disposal of hazardous materials, as the temperatures required to make cement are high enough to combust these materials and reduce them into inert compounds.
Which is why the writer may have used the term “cement”, which generates a huge “carbon” footprint which greenies just hate. He may have been virtue signalling.
Ugly modernist crap “starchitecture”- unfit for human habitation.
A soulless place…
And notice that building is completely devoid of architectural style.
Well besides the Brutalism on display..
Thousands of years of tradition all washed away in a click of a mouse today.
Soulless.
Spot on word choice.
Rins, was this built at a time when labor and human life were almost worthless?
This is the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic. It was created to make use of the skeletons of between forty to fifty thousand corpses which had been gathering since 1278. I post this because it is macabre and yet beautiful, and because no robot touched it.
As to Donkey’s question about labor and human life being worthless, the RiNS pic is of the Vezley Abbey in France and most likely the result of the labors of stone masons. The Masons of Freemason fame and infamy were highly skilled stone workers and craftsmen, they were highly regarded and had stringent standards for membership with a very long apprenticeship before they were allowed to work on their own. The Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland is one of the premier examples of Masonry and exquisite stonework.
The Egyptian pyramids and Mayan structures and others of that type were most likely created by slave labor. The medieval cathederals, castles and other similar structures were created by Masons.
That building proves the opposite of the premise that labor and human life were worthless, they were priceless.
Who paid for it? Where did the $$ come from?
I imagine that when that building was constructed there wasn’t such a cut and dry economic framework. Unlike public projects today, there was the soul satisfying demands of The Church and the deep faith of it’s adherents that applied themselves to these edifices. Maybe volunteer work-the labor of love-was the primary driver. Or maybe that’s how the people who in our era live off the public teat were able to obtain food and shelter in their day. I really don’t know, but I can see that whoever did it spared no human effort and care in their work. I don’t see the end result of forced labor or slavery in it, but then maybe I’m underestimating the artistic and craftsman-like efforts of medieval serfs.
Haha. It is beautiful for sure. And the effort and skill, I didn’t mean to disparage. It wasn’t until I took an Arts/literature and music class that I appreciated these works. This is during the times of kings and queens. Nobles and serfs, correct?
I mean, look at how much labor and skill is desired now…we’re doing everything we can to replace it.
I meant to say…look how much labor and skill are respected now…
Wow! That musta taken a LOT of concrete & an army of bots!
SamFox
One of the wonders of the modern world is the laser focus on business to eliminate every last job in the economy. If they would focus that attention to space travel they would make the starship Enterprise look like a Conestoga wagon.
The least efficient, most costly, least reliable, most risky part of any operation involving machinery is the human component.
But before any of this takes place the “crash” has to begin somewhere. . .
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/14/saudi-arabia-is-shutting-down-half-of-its-oil-production-after-drone-attack-wsj-says.html
I spent my entire career making concrete products: culverts, septic tanks, utility buried manholes, highway medium barriers, etc. the only concrete product I made for humans were prison cells modules. The walls had to be epoxy coated because concrete absorbs moisture and odors. The floors are bare concrete. Ever take a whiff of a damp cellar with no ventilation? A populated concrete prison cell on a hot day will make you retch. Also it’s weight is s major cost factor.
Parking garages? Retention tanks? Bridges? Sure. Housing? Only if you get sent up the the river.
We keep a dehumidifier going in our sealed room in the basement..about a quart of water a day from a 6 x 10 room with one vent.
I would not want to live in concrete.
This is ugly. I think in HSF’s story they are trying to use machines to do too much…for now. Robots don’t build cars yet, but they do perform more and more of the functions required to build a car for example.
I remember seeing this brick machine pop up in my reading a few years back. It doesn’t completely automate the building process but it does some of the job. As long as illegal immigrants are available I don’t think it is economically wise.
Video of bricklaying robot
Going to the website for the manufacturer they have a portfolio for projects the robot has worked on already. I have driven by the Shenandoah University project many times and seen that building.
Portfolio
the areas of the “house” pictured in the article remind me of the concourses at PNC Park or Heinz Field, though with less warmth.
i guess every style of architecture has to have a name (?), and if this is considered brutalism, that seems accurate/appropriate.
because they could build this doesn’t mean they should, though art and architecture are accurate signs or predictors of coming societal leanings/mind set.
so i guess i won’t be surprised when i see tiny houses in the near-future framed with dead men’s bones…
robots building robot habitats for robot occupants. getting paid in robo-coin to spend on robot entertainments. robots!
The floor of my home is polished concrete. It is beautiful, if I do say so myself. Black, btown, white, cream, grey colored aggregate polished into a high sheen, super-hard and damn near indestructible and nearly maintenance free, withthe look of terrazzo. The concrete used is very high mpa, and is polished oevr many passes with graduating fine polishers, and ends in a gloss finish without any sealer whatsoever. People always think it is urethaned or waxed, but no, nothing other than pure polished concrete.
We do have a lot of rugs down.
Concrete has some unusual, and positive, home building uses.
Agreed, but not so much in the case of the parking lot masquerading as a house above.
And the amount of steel required to facilitate all those cantilevered floors is not mentioned. I do not believe for one second robots did the iron hanging on that job. Not to mention the energy/environmental impact of turning ore into steel construction components.
Lay people use “cement” and “concrete” interchangeably. Early in my former career I was told “cement” comes in a bag. Mix it with water, sand, aggregate, or other additives and you get stucco, mortar and concrete. The Romans figured it out a few years ago. Your floor, similar to terrazzo, is fine for your climate, perhaps problematic elsewhere. I had a terrazzo floor in St. Pete FL, which was okay except in winter if we had a cold spell and condensation would turn the floor wet and slippery.
The house is designed so that in the summer, the sun cannot hit the floor, and is blocked by eaves, adding a cooling effect. In the winter, the sun angle is such that the sunlight hits the floor, and the floor absorbs the resultant heat. It is very efficient, at least here. Not sure at what latitudes this technique works, but there is a program the architect used and it was perfect in the way it worked and the way it set the building orientation and eaves. It is really good stuff.
It does but you are comparing apples and oranges here. Having some experience in concrete industry it should be obvious that your polished, and likely textured, concrete has far higher form than what is shown in pictures above.
To me those interior rooms harken to the lair where the Alien was laying eggs. And like that room the best thing that could happen would have that building, as with the lair, blasted from orbit by Sigourney Weaver…
I was going to say something about the moisture in my safe room being perfect for growing fungus and mushrooms according to my son.
A comment which caused me to throw out his “science experiment” buckets he told me he used for chemistry stuff.
I like my basement floor in the majority of our downstairs space… it does stay cool and is easy to clean (Nick put flooring on it; he is a perfectionist.) However, the “safe” room, which is 10 inches concrete around with an additional metal lid, gets really humid and musty. We did put ONE ventilation line in, but I added the dehumidifier when I saw the condensation on my stored goods.
And, one of our guns left outside the safe rusted. The AK had to be completely cleaned. Which we did.
However, it is interesting to realize out of that small room (10x6x7ht) we draw a quart of water every day, rain or shine.
These buildings are dehumanizing, demeaning and demoralizing. I get to look at one newly erected concrete monstrosity outside my window. And guess what…it’s for Luxury Senior Living. 20k per month. I am looking forward to seeing who moves in.
That is possibly one of the ugliest structures I have ever seen. I write with a smidgen of authority having spent 5 years earning a B. Arch and another 4 years working in the trade before hitting the trail. I learned a lot about design and creating really good floor plans and structures. This abomination appears to be a design by committee, where 5 or 9 people each got to do a part and none of it fits together.
Architecture has noble roots but somehow went bonkers with Miesian “Less is More”, Brutalism, Post- Modernism and now they are back to the austere flat roofed modernism of the 50s & 60s.
What’s needed right now in California is small mini-houses of about 800 sq ft or less.
Zoning should relax rules to allow development of the parks for them. For most middle-class kids, apartment rent is $1000 a month too much.
A lot of “cutting-edge” architectural and industrial design is based on “hoaxes”.. It’s like the car companies’ “concept cars”.. things that are just masturbatory splooge designed to wow the middlebrow. It impresses dumb clients who then hire these people to build their parking garages or Pizza Huts.
That cieling is awful. Remember, no one wants popcorn cielings. They will want this less. Looks like the ship i. The mist recent movie in the ‘aliens’ franchise.