BIM is fast becoming one of the most widely used software's in the engineering sector. It provides a solid, unified platform on which to organize, design and discuss. The most recent development in BIM has been the integration with the internet of things producing smart thermostats and talking fridges.
These innovative technologies, when used effectively, can save money and energy, amongst other things, making our planet safer and more sustainable. These technologies are predicted to increase further, using BIM to develop motion sensors and heat sensors.
3-D Printing
3-D printing is talked about a lot in current media, its progression in recent years has been vast and it is predicted to keep advancing. The future for 3-D printing seems clear and has already begun; can we 3D print a building, one which can be lived in comfortably and shows elements of style and design features.
3-D printing has the ability to, if designed right, eliminate human errors hence reducing amounts of quality control which need to be undertaken.
NASA is currently using 3-D printing to print identical parts for new space crafts due to its accuracy, efficiency and reliability. At present, its use in NASA's space craft development is for producing parts of a bigger structure, but in time, 3-D printing could have the ability to print an entire space craft.
The article above talks about the current uses and possibilities of 3-D printing but it fails to talk about the major problems and downfalls associated with 3-D printing. Architects finishes is one of the main downfalls; when observed building a concrete wall it is not smooth but bumpy. Another issue is the problem of height, in Philadelphia especially we need the ability for the 3-D printer to reach at least 50 floors otherwise it simply would not be a desirable solution.
Structures
https://www.evernote.com/pub/aengineer/ae-510#st=p&x=house%2520structures%2520future&n=e609fb0b-28eb-4452-9b0a-b4c0d5d3c701
In the last 30 years,
what we perceive as a house has changed dramatically, very few masonry detached cottages are being built and instead we are leaning towards taller
sleeker reinforced concrete structures. Thanks to the growing population, we have
more people to fit in a smaller space, meaning space saving solutions such as
taller buildings are being utilized.
W appear to be using less books, tapes, CD's and newspapers instead spending money on the development of apps which enable us to carry out the above; listening to music, reading newspaper articles etc. In this same way, 3-D printing is predicted to replace hand construction and BIM may eliminate hand drawing.
Future
It appears as if we are aiming for a future with less human interaction. 'General Motor' have already designed and are starting to mass produce fully automatic cars, there will be no foot pedals or steering wheel. The Amazon Alexa is also being developed to control the temperature of your bath. Despite being a fully automatic car, there is still a stop switch and the car will safely stop at the side of the road at a convenient point and for the Alexa, it can still be overridden by manually altering which taps are switched on. In my opinion, no machine can fully perceive information in the same way that a human can; this will always be the downfall of such mechanical power.
In terms of the 3D printing prediction of structures, I believe it would take some time to be achieved properly, because so far all the 3D printers for building are designed to build stuff with a small scale and even though I agree with you about how over the past 30 years buildings have changed dramatically, I think this would take some time to replace labors, while I believe it would be easy to use 3D printer in spaces that doesn’t have other buildings closely occupying as these machines will require space to work. So, the challenges that will come with 3D printing for building will be more than having it take over soon
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