Traditional construction is often marked by inefficiencies like material waste, labor intensity, and long project timelines that push up the final cost per square foot. In contrast, 3D printing, or Additive Manufacturing in Construction (AMC), introduces a fundamentally different approach, shifting from subtractive to additive building processes. Its central ambition is to make housing more accessible by lowering material and labor costs while enabling faster delivery of structurally sound, architecturally considered homes.
According to the outlet SlashGear, the neighborhood encompasses five 1,000-square-foot houses just north of Sacramento. Each domicile is produced by a hulking concrete printer worth about $1.5 million, which took about 24 days to spit out the first house. In the future, 4Dify expects the whole process to take about 10 days, but that isn't what's astonishing about the Yuba County neighborhood - it's the price tag.
That's today's project. In this article, I'll show you how I started with a picture of me, used some intermediate AI, and turned it into a physical 3D plastic me figurine. Do I need a me figurine? No. Is it cool? Yeah. Does it show off another AI capability? Yep. I'll be honest. I didn't expect my editor to sign off on this pitch.
Mexico's construction sector faces significant environmental and social challenges. The widespread use of carbon-intensive materials has positioned the industry as a major contributor to national CO₂ emissions. At the same time, construction labor conditions remain unstable, with limited access to technical training and high occupational risk. CORNCRETL, developed by MANUFACTURA, proposes a circular material strategy that addresses both environmental impact and production models within the building industry.
When I work on something, whether it's at Interfere or my personal projects, I like to experiment a lot. Design engineering is a lot about trial and error, and I often spend hours trying to find the "this feels right" moment. This is where AI helps. Instead of spending hours on a concept that I'm unsure of, I try that concept out in a matter of minutes, and throw it away if it doesn't feel right.
The normative form for interacting with what we think of as "AI" is something like this: there's a chat you type a question you wait for a few seconds you start seeing an answer. you start reading it you read or scan some more tens of seconds longer, while the rest of the response appears you maybe study the response in more detail you respond the loop continues
Before printing, the Bambu also sweeps and levels the bed in a grid, and warns you if it hits any obstructions like leftover supports or an errant bed scraper. I've checked out several printers with an auto-level before, but they were slower, and usually required a second check by hand before actually hitting go. I haven't had to adjust anything on the P1S in the month or so I've been using it, with the printer handling the initial setup, regular re-leveling, and nozzle cleaning.
