Sunday, March 05, 2017
Nonsense 123
ZH features a supposedly INNOVATIVE DISRUPTIVE concrete house produced by 3d printing.
Nonsense 1: This is just good old slip-form construction, used on grain elevators for a century. Computer control is new, but mechanical control via cams and gears would have served better.
Computer control has a strong advantage for UNIQUE objects adapted to fit a UNIQUE situation, like prosthetic limbs or dental crowns. You can't afford to go UNIQUE on a prefab house, because the wrong pattern of windows and doors won't work. The design must be done and tested ONCE for the whole batch.
Nonsense 2: The INNOVATIVE DISRUPTERS claim that the house will last 100 years. It might if you added a cone-shaped roof, but the concave 'dog-bowl' roof on this design won't last. It will hold water and snow and leaves, resulting in mold, spalling, mosquitoes, ice expansion, and possible collapse.
Nonsense 3: Circular houses don't work. They are a maximally INEFFICIENT use of space, as I explained here.
¶ 1:55 AM 
