One of the challenges in addressing the U.S. housing shortage is whether the real estate industry can build new homes efficiently and at low cost. To that end, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development held its fourth annual Innovative Housing Show last week on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Among the 40 exhibitors were companies like Azure Printed Homes, Mighty Buildings, and Reframe Systems, all of which are building or 3D printing homes with the assistance of robots.
Also participating is NASA, which has a prototype for a Lunar Base Habitat that would allow astronauts to stay on the lunar surface for short periods.
The prototype unveiled in DC last week resembled more of a bouncy castle than ICON's original design, but it evokes thought-provoking questions about the role of government research and development dollars that led to the birth of barcodes, LED lights, the internet and touchscreens (i.e. the modern smartphone).
Some might argue that the last great financial innovation in the housing industry was the expansion of the 30-year mortgage after World War II, while others might say that the widespread adoption of prefabricated roof trusses in the 1960s was the last major construction innovation. But wherever large government funds flow, innovation often follows. While NASA’s budget is nowhere near the size of other government departments, the housing, infrastructure, and environmental challenges they must design for (that is, no challenges at all, temperatures ranging from -208 degrees Fahrenheit to 250 degrees Fahrenheit) will severely test the limits of building materials and design. I am confident that this next era of space exploration, and dare I say space living, will bring much-needed new thinking on materials and design that will shape the housing industry everywhere, from Earth to infinity and beyond.