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Seven innovative technologies and materials for housing construction – in the collection Trends
Now more and more approaches are emerging and spreading, allowing not only to simplify the process of building houses, but also to significantly improve the quality of materials, as well as reduce our negative impact on the environment. Trends have collected the most interesting of them.
1. 3D printed at home
Building houses, as we know it, is expensive, time consuming, and unsustainable. Cheap and beautiful housing can be created in just a day using a 3D printer. The technology is rapidly gaining popularity and, quite possibly, will soon be used not in isolated cases, but in the construction of entire neighborhoods. For example, in Mexico, by the end of this year, they planned to print an entire village.
2. Houses made from recycled waste
Another promising method of building and at the same time ridding the planet of accumulated rubbish is the use of bottles, paper, cigarette butts, plastic, aluminum cans of wood, glass and other similar materials in the construction of various structures.
For example, the facade of the Ningbo Historical Museum, which is a building with an area of 30 thousand square meters. m, consists mainly of garbage collected in the vicinity of 30 destroyed Chinese villages.
3. Self-build home
Another amazing technology that could greatly simplify the process of building a home. With the push of a button, these incredible homes of the future can self-build themselves in less than ten minutes, going from a box to a building eight to ten times its original size.
4. Bamboo houses
In countries with favorable weather conditions, it is possible to build houses from bamboo. They consist of innovative modular structures that are interconnected. As the population increases, the structure can expand, making it possible to build entire cities out of bamboo. This material is environmentally friendly, very durable and more elastic than concrete. An added bonus is that these houses are not so afraid of earthquakes due to the high flexibility of the material.
5 Glow In The Dark Cement
This technology can save a lot of energy and looks very aesthetically pleasing. Such highly energy efficient material is expected to be used in bathrooms, swimming pools, façades, parking lots and kitchens. The luminous element can give light in the evening for about 8-12 hours. The strength of the emitted light can be adjusted so as not to cause discomfort to the residents.
Now the technology is used, for example, for road lighting in the Netherlands.
6. Hemp houses
Industrial hemp concrete not only eliminates the toxicity of the traditional production process, but also has high thermal insulation performance. More porous than traditional, it allows better control of indoor humidity. The plant also absorbs carbon, helping to offset carbon emissions from traditional concrete production. This material is inexpensive and flexible – the latter allows it to withstand vibrations from earthquakes. The problem is in the legalization of production and a small number of producers of raw materials.
7. Paper houses
The very concept of paper building material is not new: it was patented back in 1928, but was not popular. However, now the task of recycling paper has again become a concern for people, and the number of such houses has begun to gradually increase. The material, usually consisting of cellulose raw materials, sand and cement, is quite cheap in itself, but its production is still more expensive than conventional cement.
Alternatives to traditional housing may seem futuristic. But according to a BCG study, in 2019, new home types already accounted for between 4% and 6% of all new residential units. And the company believes that the popularity of futuristic forms of housing will continue to grow until at least 2030.
See also:
- “Live” concrete and bricks from the sewer: eco-technologies in construction
- Real estate for the price of an iPhone: what the cheapest printed house looks like
- Houses of the future and the present: five “green” projects in architecture
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