The printing process starts with a thin layer of sand. The printer then sprays the sand with magnesium-based glue from hundreds of nozzles, which binds the sand into rock.

That rock is then built up layer by layer, eventually taking shape of whatever object it is destined to become, be it a curvy sculpture or an entire cathedral. Dini has even been talking with La Scuola Normale Superiore, Alta Space and Norman Foster to design a printer that would work with moon dust, essentially creating a machine that can make an almost-instant moonbase!

The D-Shape 3D Printer

A new method of decentralized desert water vapor capture using purely renewable resources is currently being refined by research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart and partner company, Logos Innovationen.

The method uses a series of towers containing a specialized salt brine that is capable of absorbing moisture in the air. The salt brine then flows into pressurized tanks where the solution is boiled, using solar energy, to extract the drinkable water.

The full story can be found over at Science Daily.

In a similar vein as the previously blogged about Fab@Home 3D printer, the hexapod robotic CNC router is capable of creating 3D forms out of high-density foam. It is conceivable that the same routing mechanism, shown in minature below, could route clay, stone or concrete as it is scaled up for production.

Hybrids between 3D printers and walking 3D routers could ensure more elaborate shapes when building structures such as homes, public artwork and other types of indoor spaces.

Ratan Tata, head of one of India's largest conglomerates, has said that he plans to build over 1,200 small apartments outside of Mumbia, India.

The apartments, pictured above, will start at $7,800 USD and may go as high as $13,400. Deposits for the apartments will be $200. The housing is geared towards India's booming middle class, earning roughly $6,400/year.

The story in BusinessWeek.com can be found here. Floor plans are also available for the units.

While largely a marketing video, we're starting to see second and third generation approaches to small-scale construction. Of particular note are the moving walls, flexible armatures and glass-fibre control mechanism for the 3D printer that Festo is working on:

You can find out more at their website.

There is a new video explanation of what the Commons Design Initiative is all about available on YouTube. Please share the link with your friends:

A couple of stories hit the Web this week related to addressing the problem of getting clean drinking water to communities that don't have access to this basic human necessity.

The first is a $1,200 device called the WaterMill that creates up to 12 liters (roughly, 3 gallons) of drinking water per day. The story is over at the Guardian.

The other is a Dean Kamen, of Segway fame, invention called the Vapor Compression Distiller. It combines a stirling engine with a vapor distiller to produce a machine that is capable of turning salt-water, swamp water, liquid waste, or anything containing water into drink-able water. The power to run the compression cycle comes from a fully-sealed stirling engine. A video of the device in action was shown back in March of 2008.

These two devices demonstrate that portable devices, such as the ones mentioned above, could be used in areas that currently do not have access to clean drinking water. The technology exists, but will have to drop in price in order to make its way to the people that need it the most.

There were two stories released today that had some relevance to the Commons Design Initiative. The first was the story of a housing concept for low-income individuals near flood plains. A bit sensationalist, this housing concept could literally walk its inhabitants out of danger:

The other piece is a longer article on the emergence of open source hardware. The "Open Source" concept is one where the details of the inner workings of a piece of software, hardware or design are published in a manner such that others are allowed to build upon the original work. The software industry has partially operated under this principle since the mid-1980s. The core concept being that a rising tide lifts all boats.

The same concept is being applied to the computer hardware manufacturing industry, with some interesting results. Note that Printable Designer Homes, a Commons Design project, utilizes open source hardware:

Build It. Share It. Profit. Can Open Source Hardware Work?

The Commons Design Initiative wiki is now online and open to the public. If you have a project that you would like to work on with the community, please place it on the wiki. You don't need permission from anybody to add your work to the wiki.

The CDI wiki started with stubs for two projects that we're interested in pursuing for the 2008-2009 year:

Visualizing Remote Disaster Sites

Using only 2D images taken via digital cameras, a remote team can explore a 3D world via desktop-based software. Useful for disaster-relief, remote engineering pre-project briefings, and increasing pre-situational awareness.

Printable Designer Homes

Expanding upon the simple and open design of the Fab@Home project, the Printable Designer Homes project focuses on providing affordable housing for low-income families in the United States and abroad.

The Commons Design Initiative is a project founded by Dr. Andrew P. McCoy, a professor in the College of Architecture at Virginia Tech, and Manu Sporny, Founder and CEO of Digital Bazaar, Inc.

The goal of the initiative is to create a community of designers, architects, mechanical engineers, material scientists, software developers, hardware developers, construction engineers, students, teachers and regular everyday folks across the web that have come together to improve the quality of housing available to the world.

This site is dedicated to the collaborative design, planning, construction and implementation of housing for disaster relief, low income, and low resource clients through cost effective, energy conscious and green movement methodologies.

We believe in open source designs and implementations. All of the designs, methods and tools generated through the site are available under Creative Commons, Open Source or other licensing methods that promote group learning, collaboration and implementation across the globe.