Softkill is a London based design studio that is at the forefront of 3D printed architecture. The company recently gave attendees of the 3D Printshow a glimpse of what the future holds for the industry. They showcased their concept which currently holds the working name ProtoHome in order to highlight a radical approach to utilizing 3D printing in the construction of homes. The firms intricate web like structure are incredibly unique and their ProtoHome is like no other 3D printed home scheme currently in the public view.
Softkill developed an algorithm that is based on human bone growth and how the incredible material reacts to stress. The system adds more material to a structure where the greatest amount of stress is being felt. These cause stronger bonds to be created in those areas and in turn give the structure a reinforced honeycomb effect.
ProtoHouse is a very cool concept because it takes the current structure of homes and turns them inside out. Traditionally, homes have an exterior structure that is rigid and houses all of the components within it. In the protype on display, everything is on the inside and no façade is available. Therefore, all the cladding, waterproofing, and insulation are inside and not running through the walls because there are technically no walls. All the “habitable space is nestled inside a cocoon of flexible waterproofing that’s also 3-D printed, thanks to a new type of laser sintering.” Softkill also showed prototypes for flexible membranes that can be used with the houses.
According to the proposed building design, the entire house would be divided into 30 discreet sections that would be printed at a facility and then shipped on a flatbed to the location. There the parts could be put together without any adhesive because they are designed to interlock naturally. The designers explain that, “The Softkill house moves away from heavy, compression-based 3-D printing of on-site buildings, instead proposing lightweight, high-resolution, optimized structures.”
Softkill’s Aaron Silver gave an interview to Dezeen in which he discussed the new technology and stated that, “One strategy that a lot of people have been experimenting with is constructing a very large 3-D printer on site. The printer is essentially the size of the structure that is being built. But we were interested in working within the constraints of the existing technologies.
I think at the moment, as you said, [3-D printing is a specialized, one-off, luxury, rich man’s thing]. But I think there really is an interesting future for architecture and 3-D printing; because you have great cost savings and material efficiency, which architects are really interested in. That’s where 3-D printing is really pushing the discipline.”
Source: Fast Company Design
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