Eco Factor: Prototype printer creates buildings from natural materials.
Designer Enrico Dini has created a prototype D-Shape printer that can create buildings made of stone and eventually moon dust as well. The process that initially sounds like science fiction starts with a thin layer of sand. The printer then sprays the sand with magnesium-based glue from hundreds of nozzles that binds the sand into rock.
This rock is then built up layer by layer into any desired shape. The designers is also talking with La Scuola Normale Superiore, Alta Space and Norman Foster to design a printer that could be used to build an almost-instant moonbase using moon dust. On earth, the printer can be used to make building four times faster than conventional construction and costs one-third to one-half the price of Portland cement, without creating much waste.
Via: Inhabitat
