[kingsuper20]

Exactly. God knows how many concepts I've seen for mixing local soils with magic powder and (typically) forming up walls. I do like that these guys could make rather free-form structures, but building an envelope is straightforward and runs into the issues of actually using the thing (seismic&water issues, installation of utilities, insulation, HVAC, longevity, insurance).

It's pretty hard to beat traditional methods and anything new typically has to be measurably quite a lot better.

If a person wanted to drive down costs, I'd probably tend more towards larger prefab components.

Maybe it's not so different from software in these areas.

[Valgrim]

I'd like to see how these compare with other earth-based construction methods (still used in many parts of the world, including developed countries [1]). My guess is that the voids improve the insulation, but reduce the compressive and shearing strength, but this may be mitigated by the round shape and the internal "triangular" structure.

In any case, it's an interesting experiment that should provide good data and observations toward a more "complete" house prototype.

[1] https://www.lemoniteur.fr/photo/le-pise-ressort-de-terre-a-l...

[bilbo0s]

You bring up a good point. I have yet to see anyone construct some of these structures on a shake table and report the resultant data. I wouldn't look for unreasonably good performance, but I wonder how it would perform against, for instance, modern rammed earth structures?

If any engineers out there have links to tests or studies please do post them.