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“Timing in the apartment world is everything [...] The time of year we release a building and when we start putting tenants in it is critical for a project’s success.” — MFE
Behind every successful construction project lies a team of people working to complete a project deadline. However, with automation and building manufacturing on the rise, many question how these methods of construction will change the way buildings are designed and built in the future. Will these... View full entry
It is now almost 80 years since the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act enabled the construction of the post-war prefab, but controversies and concerns about building a home in a factory have run deep ever since. While practically every other item we buy rolls off a production line, housebuilding’s transition to the factory remains, for many reasons, problematic. — RIBA Journal
With the rise of automation and advances in building manufacturing, architects have considered if machines can replace the profession. However, makes the job so rewarding is thinking of new and creative ways to execute ideas. This level of creativity and design distinction is something architects... View full entry
Snøhetta's new Swarovski Manufaktur in Wattens, Austria brings creative design, rapid prototyping, and technical production under one porous roof. To enter the Manufaktur, visitors first walk through a bridge from Campus 311, a new office location in an old factory building that has an interior... View full entry
In just four years, the Silicon Valley start-up Katerra has grown from a sizable construction firm to one of the industry's biggest disrupters. Now, with support from one of the tech industry's biggest investors, the California-based construction company has announced plans for another investment... View full entry
Morphosis recently announced the opening of a new flagship research and design facility for The Kolon Group, a leading manufacturing company based in South Korea. The 820,000-square-foot facility is located in Magok, an emerging tech hub in Seoul. Kolon Group facility by Morphosis, located... View full entry
By creating a machine that extrudes shaped clay, Assemble have created a factory that places an emphasis on the physical creation of one's environment (as well as the spontaneous ideas that can develop from working with materials and processes). It's a throwback to the late 19th/early 20th century... View full entry
When production begins, SolarCity, already the leading installer of residential solar panels in the [U.S.] will become a vertically integrated manufacturer and provider...At a time when conventional silicon-based solar panels from China have never been cheaper, investing in a new type of solar technology is a risky undertaking. However, the potential benefits are huge. The new factory...could transform both SolarCity’s business...and the economics of residential solar power. — MIT Technology Review
The MIT Technology Review profiles the upcoming Buffalo-based SolarCity factory and their ambitious plans that could potentially make solar power technology more widely available to consumers.More news about alternative energy:Cloud-harvesting skyscraper: renderings of proposed new sustainable... View full entry
Most small manufacturers — a big chunk of the nation’s supply chain — are running older, pre-Internet equipment. “One of the issues we have to address,” said Harris, “is this legacy equipment.”
The digital thread can be hard to trace in an entrepreneur like Ellegiers’ plan to ship an app for making a desk, instead of a finished product.
“Most shops are definitely not ready for this,” Ellegiers said.
— marketplace.org
While many American manufacturing workshops may still be stuck with legacy equipment, you can learn more about fabricators at the very forefront of the industry—employing cutting-edge technology in creative ways—in Archinect's new Matters of Scale feature series. View full entry
A team of researchers at Michigan State University has developed a new type of solar concentrator that when placed over a window creates solar energy while allowing people to actually see through the window.
It is called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator and can be used on buildings, cell phones and any other device that has a clear surface.
— msutoday.msu.edu
The Palo Alto, Calif., company outlined plans for a factory that would employ up to 6,500 people and cover as many as 1,000 acres, including solar and wind farms to supply its power needs. It is evaluating sites in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, Tesla said in a regulatory filing.
The proposed 10 million-square-foot facility would make the powerful and pricey lithium-ion batteries that power its Model S and future vehicles.
— online.wsj.com
On its Tesla Blog, the company claims that "by the end of the first year of volume production of our mass market vehicle, we expect the Gigafactory will have driven down the per kWh cost of our battery pack by more than 30 percent."Is the electric car not so dead after all?See some slides from the... View full entry
This summer, the Design Museum in London will be offering a glimpse into the future of fabrication and manufacturing with The Future Is Here: A New Industrial Revolution, a major new exhibition about the sweeping changes in manufacturing that are transforming our world. — bustler.net
Related news on Archinect: The race to build the first 3D-printed building 3D printing expert lists the reasons why he thinks the technology is overhyped An Insider's View of the Myths and Truths of the 3-D Printing 'Phenomenon' View full entry
