Innovator Puts 3-D Model Technology Toward Full-Scale Buildings

3-D printers is a hot and exciting technology whose use has inspired imagination in diverse fields. Retired engineer Brian Korsedal saw an application to housing construction and, about a year ago, began putting 3-D modeling to use with full-sized buildings. Observing, “Everyone wants to do 3-D-print houses,” the founder of Arcology Now! Inc. says, “The algorithms and physics dictated the solution.”

The structure must first be planned as for a 3-D model, to scale, and then that information is input to Korsedal’s “universal constructor.” Working exactly like a 3-D printer, according to Korsedal, the program figures out the steel bars needed to frame the structure, which can be electrical conduit, a building material Korsedal says is cheaper than 2x4s and can even be reused. It also generates manufacturing and assembly instructions as well as a price quote for the materials. Connected to a laser printer, it produces stickers that a person can “slap on the conduit” and have a “techno version of a barn-raiser.”

Arcology is currently doing temporary structures such as for festivals and shade structures for bars while Korsedal works out programming for floors. His target market is people who want to build their own home. Korsedal, who moved to Phoenix after the real estate crash because of the lower housing prices, feels his business might do better in a “more tech-savvy city,” but sees a lot of potential in Phoenix because it “has a lot of room.”