Science

Building houses with a computer

It is a lot more constructive than the 3D printed gun with which an American anarchist recently made the headlines. Ir Pieter Stoutjesdijk, who graduated cum laude at the faculty of architecture earlier this year, made a house (a model that is to say) come out of the computer.


He designed it especially for earthquake struck Haiti. A house like that, could according to him be built in a few days only, offering quick relief.Stoutjesdijk used a computer controlled milling machine to cut 2484 parts out of Medium-Density Fibreboard (MDF). These parts were like Lego bricks which he assembled the house with through friction fit. No nails nor screws were used.


If it were up to Stoutjesdijk, future relief aid for areas where people became homeless would consist not only of tents, food and medicine, but also of milling machines.


The house for Haiti is just a model and part of a design exercise. The researcher however has big plans. He is going to Rwanda this year to help build 25 thousand houses using the same technology. The walls of these houses will be made out of brick. “People there find that fancier than wood unfortunately”, Stoutjesdijk explains. But for most other parts, the computer aided technology will be used. The young Delft architect will work together with, amongst others, a Dutch company called Ecoboards which patented a technology to produce a water resistant board material from agricultural waste.

Editor Redactie

Do you have a question or comment about this article?

delta@tudelft.nl

Comments are closed.