A vending machine for houses?

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A building that builds buildings? This skyscraper concept is an enormous 3D printer. Over time, the building itself grows in height as the demand for modular housing accumulates. This novel architectural approach generates affordable housing for the masses, customized with the click of a button.

Pod Vending Machine (dubbed the “House Dispensing Skyscraper”) is one part 3D printer and one part vending machine claw. At the very top of the skyscraper you have the production center - where new units are fabricated and parts are curated. Once assembled, the freshly printed pods are collected by a mechanical arm and delivered as a ready-made apartment to the home-buyer below. The design by - Haseef Rafiei - was inspired by the vending machine culture of Tokyo. This automated approach to real estate (if adopted) could radically change the way cities grow and perhaps address the increasing unaffordability of major cities around the world.

"The basic unit of a home is explored as tectonic objects. The house is broken down into basic amenities where users can select which amenities they need. The homeowner could determine what type of pods they wanted by combining multiple sub-pods to form their home. Unused pods will be disassembled or placed in storage to be re-used, thus creating a metabolic cycle within the skyscraper." - Haseef Rafiei

Customizing your "Pod" (above) and the 3D printing mechanism at work (below). Images via Haseef Rafiei website.

Vending machines are a fixture of the public realm in Japan. Sidewalks are frequently lined with options of ready-made food, beverage among hundreds of other non-perishables. Even though they represent a deep consumerist culture (which is good or bad, depending on who answers) I think they are actually kind of charming. All lined up, each machine tries to stand out from the next. They're like colorful billboards trying to impress you and catch your eye. At night, these brightly lit boxes glow like buildings on a skyline. Perhaps Tokyo will continue to build on the already thriving culture of the ready-made. One day, you may be able to order your very own apartment.

Vending machines lined up along a street in Japan.

A home in 24 hours

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3D printing will surely play a big role in affordable housing of the 21st century. Here's an example (below) of a 10,000 USD home printed and assembled in just 24 hours. These types of projects may open up new solutions for not only affordable housing, but also for disaster relief planning and refugee crisis around the globe. Minimizing construction waste could radically alter the way in which cities build and grow.

Fellow Steemians,

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What do you think about 3D printed architecture? Will this new era of fabrication-tech usher in affordable housing for the masses? Or perhaps, create a world where everything looks pretty much the same...

follow me @voronoi | design collective @hitheryon