Dear Lars Albinsson,
Thank you for your kind comments for others who may not familiar with this kind of technologies.
As sprayed concrete is doing very well in specific applications, our process may focus on niche applications (or market) for now. Although it is still early to say anything about commercialisation, we expect something will happen within five years in terms of practical use.
By the way, I agree with you. Technology does not guarantee a good business. :0)
Kind regards,
Sungwoo
--------------------------------
Dr Sungwoo Lim
Research Associate / Project Co-ordinator
Project Title: Freeform Construction (Concrete Printing)
Project PR video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro
Official web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/staff/profile/220.html
Personal web: http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/~cvsl3/Site/Welcome.html
Department of Civil & Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Leics, UK, LE11 3TU
Tel: +44 (0)1509 223782
Fax: +44 (0)1509 223981
On 3 Jun 2010, at 09:12, Lars Albinsson wrote:
> Dear Sungwoo Lim
>
> This is a very interesting technique and I can see several reasons for it having a great potential. (I will make these from the view of practice, it would be interesting to get an update from others on the list on these.)
>
> * New shapes
> The possibility to produce new and individual shapes for elements or at least drastically lowering the cost and increasing production speed is definitely having a market. Today the unique and extreme shapes are often restricted to signature buildings. Your (and other) technologies will drastically increase the possibilities for unique and individual architecture. Although arguments can be made that extreme architecture is too much and even can destroy the coherence of an area, in general the lack of variation in urban landscape is not necessarily a good thing.
>
> * More functions
> There is a lot of work going into adding for functions to buildings. In particular energy related. For instance using the sun energy flow on the surface to produce heat/electrical power. This will be simplified by the possibilities of making more and controlled cavities in structures. (Which may also save building material).
>
> * New design techniques
> It is well-known that Frank Gehry is using CATIA rather than traditional architecture software. The reason is not the complexity of the shapes itself, but more importantly it allows them to plan and calculate the construction to a great detail, which they consider a key element in actually getting the projects both accepted and done. The production technique you are working on suits this type of thinking well as it resembles for instance production techniques in the aircraft industry, which allows for custom designs that are reusing major elements. Together developments in direction you are working can allow for rework of the entire design and construction process, which at least I can see many benefits with.
>
> In the re-planing of Gellivare/Malmberget that I am helping to organize and lead we have actually been looking at some of machines that spray ultra-fast drying/hardening concrete in the roofs of the mine, to explore if they could allow us to build some unique buildings. We are working with the design of a dense canal city along the arctic river, which opens for and requires unique approaches. (A tiny Venice 100 km north of the polar circle, up to 5 meter yearly snowfall)
>
> At least in Scandinavia however, you have to regard the construction industry as very conservative, which is sadly visible in for instance the Swedish average construction cost being 22% above EU average. So you marketing strategy may have to be even more brilliant than your technology.
>
> What are the timeframes for practical use?
>
> B.R.
>
> Lars
>
> You can find info in Gehry's process in:
> Friedman, M. (1999). Gehry talks: architecture + process. New York: Rizzoli International Publications.
>
>
> .........................................................................
> LARS ALBINSSON
> +46 (0) 70 592 70 45
> [log in to unmask]
>
> AFFILIATIONS:
> MAESTRO MANAGEMENT AB
> CALISTOGA SPRINGS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
> UNIVERSITY OF BORÅS
> LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY
> .........................................................................
>
>
>
>
>
> 31 maj 2010 kl. 21.37 skrev Sungwoo Lim:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am a research associate at Loughborough University in the UK, and I would like to introduce and share our current research project 'Concrete Printing'. The Concrete Printing Process is capable of producing building components with a degree of customisation that has not yet been seen. It could create a new era of architecture that is adapted to the environment and fully integrated with engineering function. You can find clear ideas of what this research is about in the below link.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro
>
> Your comments about the technology is more than welcome.
>
> Kind regards,
> Sungwoo Lim
> --------------------------------
> Dr Sungwoo Lim
>
> Research Associate / Project Co-ordinator
> Project Title: Freeform Construction (Concrete Printing)
> Project PR video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro
> Official web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/staff/profile/220.html
> Personal web: http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/~cvsl3/Site/Welcome.html
> Department of Civil & Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Leics, UK, LE11 3TU
> Tel: +44 (0)1509 223782
> Fax: +44 (0)1509 223981
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