New member? Post here.

[Alastair]

If you're joining the group (or even if you have been around a while!), please feel free to click reply below to just introduce yourself, what you're interested in, your background / skills, what you'd like to work on etc, with any files, links you want.

[Pedro Bittencourt]

Hi!

My name is Pedro, I´m a control and automation engineer with a M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering and now pursuing a PhD  on electronic engineering. My main interest is in energy efficiency, mainly electricity. I have some knowledge on manufacturing systems (CAM) and control of automatic machines (robotics and CNC).
I´m really impressed with the wikihouse project and believe that this kind of collaborative venture is the kind of solution that will shape our future.
I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I´ve just saw on the website that we have some members here, that´s wonderful and I will be glad to help.

By now I´m still learning a lot, and soon will try to put some work on implementing one of the projects that I´ve seen and contribute asap.

Thank you all for this great project!

Cheers

--Pedro Bittencourt

[Hal-Luke Savas]

HI, this is Hal-Luke from London, I am interested in your group as I am a proponent of self-build housing. To date I have been concentrating on light gauge steel frame (including building my own house) but would like to discuss with member other ideas also. Hope to contribute accordingly.  Greetings from rainy and cold London ;-(

[nick]

Hello Pedro and thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself. I personally looking forward to learning about your project and your electrical engineering expertise.

Take care,
Nicholas C. Godfrey

[nick]

Hal-Luke, welcome to the group. I am interested to hear about some of your light steel construction. In a lot of ways, steel is very advantageous to current and conventional construction.

[Adil Bari]

Hey... Good eveing everyone... :)

I am Adil Bari, doing my masters in Advance computational and Civil engineering from TU Dresden, I joined this group to further get know-how about the latest hardware and other devices in use for the shaping design into more energy efficient and cost effective... I would have like to share some of experience about construction industry, if I found later on any topic concern to my field of interest in civil engineering... 

Thanks

[H Savas (Richmond-London/UK)]

Hi Nick,
Thanks... Currently my problem is the fastening system.. I don't want to use bolts, nor spot welds etc. I just want to come up with a simple fastening system, possibly a twist&turn friction fasteners type of thing!!
That's why I joined the group, to pick up and give ideas to..
Hope to contribute somehow.
Kind regards
Hal

Tel: +44 7770 302 822 England
Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Europe

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[Clayton Prest]

Hi All

Not exactly a new member, but been working with Danny Squires and Martin Luff at the WikiHouse NZ lab and Space Craft Systems on and off for a year now. I'm a recent Architectural Graduate now based in post-quake Christchurch and have been getting progressively more involved with the WikiHouse project here. I'm part of the design and project delivery team that is developing the box-beam WikiHouse structural system which we recently prototyped and exhibited in full scale at the Makertorium exhibition at the national museum (Te Papa) in Wellington. We're working towards funding, community projects, and strategies to deliver a fully clad WikiHouse here by the end of the year, hopefully, and go on from there in terms of raising building standards and accessibility locally and abroad.

I'm very interested in socially-focused architecture and user-driven design, and passionate about timber construction. I have accumulated experience in architectural and graphic design, product assembly, web development, and education. Also acquired some exchange experience studying at the Technical University of Munich, Germany in terms of knowledge in digital prototyping and manufacturing. Also engaged in the unique situation (politically, socially and culturally) and opportunity for architectural experimentation in the current transitional city of Christchurch, as it rebuilds from the series of the earthquakes two years ago.

Looking forward to continuing this momentum and collaboration with the global WikiHouse project!

Cheers,

Clayton Prest

[Adam Baudelaire]

Hi everyone,

Got very excited about this tech and ran it past my best mate who owns a pretty sophisticated CNC. He raised several points:

Plywood is really hard to get a cnc to 'grab', meaning the suction required to hold down the board, making the job difficult.

To cut out one of the example rooms on here would take I think he said, 19 sheets of material, almost 1000kgs, much of which would be waste.

The COST of this compared to a simple-as-pie stick frame is about $1700 compared to about $400. Plus the extra cost of engineering and getting something unusual through council.

So of course the question is, how does this tech democratise design in a way that literally anyone can take up?

[Alastair]

Hi All, Thought Adam's challenge was really crucial (though in the Open Challenge doc this is covered a little bit), so just thought I'd start a new thread on the subject of CNC production, copy it across and open that discussion for all the CNC makers, testers and experts.

A

[Danny Squires]

Hi to all!

Having been around a few days (we picked up the WikiHouse and started running with it in August 2011) its fantastic to see the surge in collaboration activity in the past 6 months and especially the past couple of weeks.

Our big highlight recently at WikiHouseNZ has been the cutting of our first full scale prototype of our second iteration design for the first maker exhibition at the NZ national Museum (see www.spacecraft.co.nz). Due to the size of the build and time constraints we only cut a part of the overall building frame (10 sq.m in total) but we are back up to the FabLab at Massey University, Wellington to cut the rest in a couple of weeks. 

Then we are shipping it back down in the 'Makercrate' to earthquake ravaged Christchurch (80% of central business district building now demolished!) From there we aim to develop a cladding panel system and create our office to go onone of the empty sites along with the other pop-up building appearing to form a grassroots village based around the Pallet Pavilion https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/1064

My background is in Architecture graduating 1996 which I left in 2004 sick of trying to effect environmental & social in a narrow corporate system. After stumbling into digital fabrication and running a 1500w industrial laser cutting factory for four years i quit my job at the end of last year to follow my dreams about creating a better world! That's what WikiHouse can do to you once the amazing power of the concept gets inside your thinking.

Welcome to all the newcomers and look forward to ongoing collaboration - what a journey so far, this has been the best two years of my life!

Danny Squires

[Kara Rosemeier]

Hi,

I am an architect, educator and Passive House expert based in Auckland, New Zealand. I am also on the board of the Passive House Institute New Zealand (PHINZ). I am writing this on a Linux machine, and I am using Open Source software for pretty much everything. I have provided software tools for the design of Passive Houses in the past under open source licences. You could say: I am sold to the idea.
I believe it is possible to extend the Open Source approach to building design and manufacturing - with the right organisation.

My vision slightly deviates from the current WikiHouse approach. As pointed out in the forum already, I believe that cutting skeleton members from plywood is far too costly and wasteful - although I recognise the appeal and playfulness of this approach. I like the IKEA metaphor, but not skeleton construction, and rather use modular, structural building elements, utilising full sheets, which are cut as little as possible (being lazy like a fox). Full sheets are used as structurally effective cladding, spaced apart by home-made I-beams. I'd like to see modules for walls, floor and roof come as flat-packs from a local, not-for-profit factory. Factories are part of an international organisation that shares methods and experience (and possibly buying power) in Open Source fashion. Modules are assembled on site (invite all our friends for some assembly fun), and joined with easy, but structurally sound systems; joints air-tightened, and cavities filled on site with loose-fill insulation (some ingenuity required to make it aesthetically possible to use the ply without needing further interior liners with this). Insulation could also be made in said not-for-profit factory, e.g from cellulose or wood shavings.
The raster is determined by the sheet dimensions, with openings following suit. 4-5 standard designs are available with sets of services/windows/doors optimised for the design, but variations are possible. Standard designs come with all documentation needed for relevant code compliance. Bulk buy of additional hardware (plumbing, ventilation, windows, white-ware) keeps cost down.

My interest is in developing such an Open Source construction system.

[Adam]

This is great stuff. We also should look at the biomimicry gurus for structural inspiration.

Message sent while mobile.
Adam Baudelaire

[Matthew Gardner]

Hello,

My name is Matt.

By day I write code at Google, and by night I build crazy contraptions/machines/.

A group of us at Google have recently become very excited about the wikihouse project. It occurred to us though, that very few people have access to a CNC capable of cutting full sheets of plywood. Looking at the cost of current options and kits, we determined that this is an area that can use some innovation. I recruited a team of Googlers with maker type experience with knowledge of building 3d printers and CNC's, and we formed a 20% project at Google to build an open source, CNC machine that is self replicating, and slots together like wikihouses do. We hope to buy the parts in bulk, and sell kits in the $300-400 range, made almost entirely of plywood. Once the kit is assembled it can actually cut out a copy of itself. We have taken great effort to focus our innovation on cost cutting measures. 

We know there are many CNC projects out there made out of MDF/plywood, which is not that different from our own. The things that are different about our design is  the cost, and the software. Our CNC will also be specifically designed for cutting wikihouses.

I actually grew up in a bearing shop, and can get most of the parts needed at retailer cost. We plan to roll our own arduino shield to drive the stepper motors to save money. We are doing many innovative cost saving techniques things like driving the axis's with spectra line instead of buying chains/sprockets or belts/pulleys or threaded rod.

The initial kits will have 3d printed/injection molded parts but we will have designs for fully plywood versions of those parts for replicating reasons.

We also are not happy with the current state of CNC software. The software is not up to par with what the 3d printing industry has. We hope to work with Alistair to integrate very closely with wikihouses, and take the skill out of operating the CNC in order to make it accessible to third world countries, and people in disaster zones.

Everything will be posted on github under creative commons license.

We have done the math, and we believe it is plausible to build a machine capable of cutting wikihouses in the $300-400 range. It may not have the precision or life span of a $3000 machine, but it is designed to have the parts replaced by common things people could source in a scrap yard.

Our goal is to make it feasible to send off a kit and a few pallets of plywood to 3rd world countries/disaster zones. 

We also have much to learn.

[Kate Walker]

Hello everyone,

My name is Kate and I'm a fresh grad in a small office in Wellington, New Zealand. I heard about Wikihouse through TED, but after asking around found that many of my peers throughout NZ have been working with this for a while from Christchurch. Clayton, who introduced himself above, and I have had some brief conversations about how this kind of approach could feed into better retrofit solutions and earthquake recovery - but also the wider opportunities for a renewed interest in improved design solutions for everyday situations. 

I have a passion for socially-engaged architecture - in affordable housing, alternative housing solutions and shared dwellings particularly. We have experimented with many sorts of prefab solutions at the studio for a wide range of applications - from container-builds to X-LAM testing. 

For me, it seems the approach that the Wikihouse team have taken offers ways to combine the knowledge and approaches from a range of prefab technologies - and I'm excited to see the opportunities and outcomes arise. 

Looking forward to learning more and, hopefully, helping with prototyping at some point. 

Cheers,

K

On Sunday, May 26, 2013 9:59:50 AM UTC+12, Alastair wrote:

[Pedro Caetano]

Hi, my name is Pedro Caetano. Im an industrial design student and, as my final project, im designing an open source/do it yourself urban furniture for poor regions in Brazil, where I live. Actually I joined the group because of wiki house Rio, which I could try to help, as I live in Rio. I dont have any knowlege of CNC technology, but I could try to help you with the design part and contacting local stakeholders here. Im really interested on open source and social design. I really appreciate your idea, but I believe there would be some aspects to be though and discussed to apply Wiki House in Rios context Do you have already a specific group for Wiki House Rio? I would love to join it. Thanks

[Karl Von Richter]

Hi All,

I became interested in the project since seeing a TED video and have also been talking with people about creating cheep and cost efficient buildings for both desarsted effected community and even temporary accommodation out at mine sites. I am currently Studying a Mechanical Engineering degree at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane , Australia and have been doing alot of things with 3D Printer design with a couple of other people who are keen in a design of a CNC router that can do aluminium and hardwood. I am willing to share information and designs or even contribute to other peoples designs.

On Sunday, May 26, 2013 7:59:50 AM UTC+10, Alastair wrote:

[Matthew Gardner]

Hey Karl,

Perhaps you would be interested in contributing to our open source CNC project specifically designed for building wikihouses. We are trying to follow the wikihouse design paradigms to create a self replicating CNC, that is as much plywood as possible, slots together as wikihouses do, require no power tools, require no former CNC knowledge, and best of all at a price point of $300 for a CNC that can cut full sheets of plywood. We are close to a working prototype, but are still in very early stages and would love to have some contributors join the project. We could really use a mechanical engineer (or 2 or 3 : ). Any help would be awesome from, consultation, cad, or fabrication. 

Our team is small and currently consists of 4 people with extensive 3d printer and maker experience. We have several 3d printers, laser cutters, and CNC's at our disposal. Our team is skilled in Cad, fabrication, software, and hardware. However this is a big project and we are under-manned.

Our github repository is a bit of a mess right now, as we are in pre-prototype stages of assembly and many files need to be updated, and we have a lot of documentation to do, but feel free to check it out https://github.com/soundidea/von-neumann-cnc

We would absolutely love any help from anyone interested. 

My email is gm...@google.com feel free to email me directly if your interested in helping us.

[carmel...@gmail.com]

Hi! 

Thank you for adding me up to the group. I am Arch. Carmello from the Philippines. I'm a member of a youth group giving seminars for the uplifting of lives of the youth. We are currently planning to build our own seminar hall and it's very timely to have known about Wikihouse. I personally believe in its ideas and hope to contribute in any way that I can. We wish to adopt Wikihouse system for the hall. And hopefully this project materialize with the help of the system.

[Raul Eduardo Martinez-Campos]

Hi. 

My name is Raul Martinez, and i put on hold the construction of some apartmentsin south texas when i saw your presentation on TED, your ideas where a paradigm shift for me and this project. Your ideas have great potential and the open source movement is the entelechy needed to make headway! i'm already envisioning how to adjust it to the "IBCs' so as to go through obtaining the occupancy certificates. 

Thank you all for making way and taking the responsibility of encouraging these ideas

[nick]

Welcome Raul,

are you thinking Simpson Ties?

[Raul Eduardo Martinez-Campos]

i had't thanks for the post, i really have a hard time following the 'lazy as a fox'. i have the bad habit of starting to imagine my own solutions to everything, which i cannot highlight enough how inefficient that attitude is, but at the same time that is what i most enjoy in tackling new problems. i know i will learn much in this group i really hope i can also dispense some insight

[Adam]

Hi everyone,

Saw an episode of grand designs last night. It's early in season 12. These guys took a CnC onsite and built a house from uniform box sections. The material usage was pretty efficient and the boxes had holes into which insulation is blown. These guys need to enter the conversation here me thinks :)

Message sent while mobile. 

Adam Baudelaire

[nick]

Facit Homes. They are mentioned in the group thread about different systems By Alastair.  they are also part of the group CNC workshop on Fabhub. Their SIP design is great especially the way they chase the electrical and mechanicals through the home.
  Entileen in Denmark has built a few homes with their platform as well. The best part about it, is that they are out there doing it and passing code.
  The Wisa website (the plywood manufacturer) has an article on their homepage about this.

Its states build a 1320 sq/ft home with 2 guys, a CNC router, 800 sheets of fin plywood in 4 weeks.

I loved that episode, by the way. I think everyone here should watch it.

Nicholas

[Dante-Gabryell Monson]

Thanks Adam and Nick for these references.

Really interesting.

I wish to invite us to share direct links to the various interesting references you are mentioning.

I guess you mean this episode ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDAnBFxFWN8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Designs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Grand_Designs_episodes

[Dante-Gabryell Monson]

and regarding Nick's mention of Entileen

http://inhabitat.com/eentileens-villa-asserbo-is-a-sustainable-printed-house-in-denmark/

http://www.eentileen.dk/projekt/pilotprojekt-villa-asserbo/2

[nick]

Full episode for Facit right here

Wisa Plywood Eentileen story going back to 2011.

Eentileen photostream cataloging their current build as well as their previous ones.

Round Facit House  very cool indeed. My personal favorite from their website gallery.

[David Galve]

Hi all!

I´m David Galve, professor of Woodworking and Carpentry Department of Vocational Training School (In Spanish Centro Integrado de Formación Profesional) Pico Frentes, from Soria, Spain.

During this year we have been working with different building systems inspired by the model WikiHouse. And finally we built a basic model (pics soon)

For the next course, we try to make a  60 m2 Wikihouse, but step by step.

Best regards and sorry for my poor english. :-(

 

[nick]

Hola David!

gracias por publicar. Qué trabajo tan interesante y emocionante que debe tener. Me encantaría ver las fotos de su construcción. Es una empresa seria que embarcarse en una estructura de 60m2. Tengo muchas ganas de ver algunos datos de que también. Por ejemplo, ¿cómo te la elaboración de las particiones interiores si hay alguno?

Tenga cuidado,

Nicholas

Hi David!

thanks for posting. What so interesting and exciting job to have. I love to see pictures of its construction. It is a serious company to embark on a 60m2 structure. I have really wanted to see some evidence that too. For example, how did the development of interior partitions if any?

Take care,

Nicholas

[l...@autobusesaga.com]

Hello

I'm Leonardo Gutierrez, I have a green bull machine from buildyourcnc.com designed by Patrick Hood-Daniel in Colombia South America  and assembled by us here.

I'm very interested in the WikiHouse project, I worked for over a year on this machine knowing its functioning and tricks.

I am available to assist in the construction of machines and the management of these excellent tools related to CNC

[David Galve]

Hi Nick, thanks for reply.

Add some pics (phone quality); its a first evaluation of the system wikihouse, and we love it :-)

Our next step it´s crack many diferents joints, to find the best system (wikihouse-style, of course) to build greats dimensions. When we have the results, we will desing the interior partitions, because we have many options.

Best regards and sorry for.... etc etc

[Brian Korsedal]

Hey,

I'm a retired computer chip engineer / physicists.  I've been working on computer generated architecture for about five years.  I'm doing a startup based around a structure printer which calculates out a steel spaceframe to match any input shape.  We think we can do warehouse sized objects right now.  We just got the frames figured out in the last few days.... I think.... it's a work in progress.  I really hope to collaborate with you guys.  My company is for profit because I feel that if I can't feed myself, I can't feed the world.  But I'm pro-singularity and post scarcity era.  So when things start to pick up I'll probably open source it all.  That's the eventual goal.  I have a lot of pictures to describe my journey here so I put them together in a PDF along with a bunch of text.  It's a good read if you are interested. 

I think I can lend a lot of experience with compiling shapes into parts and then autogenerating the g-code to cut those parts out of plywood.  I've done three compilers to do this type of work so far.  One for a 3-axis plywood CNC machine, one for a CNC plasma cutter and I'm working on one for a plasma tube cutter.  One place I'd love to collaborate is computer generated shelves, cabinetry and other accessories.  Perhaps even interior walls.  I haven't figured out a good solution for interior walls yet.  I have the outside shells figured out and coded.  I have the floors figured out and not coded.  Interior walls I'm drawing a blank.

[nick]

Hey Brian,

Thank you for the backgrounder.  I did not know that you had previously worked with a Shopbot and it certainly is a relevant skill to have in being proficient with the G code.  I had been a bit curious as to what your plans were for subdividing  the interior space.  Or for mechanical, electrical, data, thermal properties etc.  Aside from the superstructure, maybe that is where Wikihouse will be conducive to your strategy in being able to help you create defined spaces for the interior. Just like fitting a room with cabinetry that are wood carcass construction from a CNC  you could out fit the space with giant room sized cabinetry. Just some thoughts I was having.  I hope all is well and that you are finding some reprieve from the blistering heat out there.

Take care,

Nicholas

[WikiHouse Team]

Hi David

Thank you for uploading the photographs, your models look fantastic. Glad to hear that you like using the system! Alastair and I wonder if you could share these in the Open Library (just upload via the SketchUp plugin)? It would be super to see your models in more detail.

Best

Sarah

[Paul Larson]

Hello,

My name is Paul.  I have been living in Thailand since 1991. My primary career background is design, development, manufacturing, testing, export, import, distribution, and retail of sport equipment; concentrating on sport protective and water sports.  I have used 3D printing for prototyping extensively.

I also am involved in designing and building environmentally friendly houses, home-stay resorts, retirement housing developments, and farming.

Recently, my nephew has started working at 3d Engineering Solutions in Ohio. He has introduced me to the latest technology in 3D engineering which led me to seeing Alastair's talk on Ted.  I would like to take advantage of my work background and my connection with my nephew to find suitable applications of the WikiHouse idea here in Thailand.  

Sincerely yours, 

Paul Larson

[hannalie malan]

Hi my name is Hannalie Malan

I am an architect living in Cape Town, South Africa. I am extremely interested in working together with NGO's and other relevant projects to introduce the WikiHouse project to South Africa, in a way that speaks to our informal housing -urban -and infrastructural issues in the townships on a community-ownership based level.

This project takes the idea of participatory architecture to the next level, which is exactly what is necessary.

[Edwin De Jesus]

Hello, my name is Ed and live in Raleigh, NC, USA. I've been following Wiki House for awhile now. I'm an inventor, electrician, web developer, amatuer 3D character developer and machine builder. I get excited with the whole concept of "Wiki House" and viewed Alastair on TED a few times. I'm going to make an attempt at purchasing a cnc router, download the plans and apply these concepts. I'll follow the forums and see where I can best fit in to be a strong part of the solution.

[nick]

Hello Edwin,

Why don't you plan a trip to come down to Charleston one weekend and check out our Wikihouse. I have some plug and play electrical configurations you could probably lend some expertise to. Thanks for introducing yourself and would like to talk some more.

Take care,

Nicholas

[Edwin De Jesus]

Matt, you're a freaking genius. When do you think you're team will have a prototype. I'd like to bring a working model to Haiti and the Dominican Republic where my family lives. You're welcome to come if you like :)

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 11:47:37 AM UTC-4, Matthew Gardner wrote:

Hello,

My name is Matt.

By day I write code at Google, and by night I build crazy contraptions/machines/.

A group of us at Google have recently become very excited about the wikihouse project. It occurred to us though, that very few people have access to a CNC capable of cutting full sheets of plywood. Looking at the cost of current options and kits, we determined that this is an area that can use some innovation. I recruited a team of Googlers with maker type experience with knowledge of building 3d printers and CNC's, and we formed a 20% project at Google to build an open source, CNC machine that is self replicating, and slots together like wikihouses do. We hope to buy the parts in bulk, and sell kits in the $300-400 range, made almost entirely of plywood. Once the kit is assembled it can actually cut out a copy of itself. We have taken great effort to focus our innovation on cost cutting measures. 

We know there are many CNC projects out there made out of MDF/plywood, which is not that different from our own. The things that are different about our design is  the cost, and the software. Our CNC will also be specifically designed for cutting wikihouses.

I actually grew up in a bearing shop, and can get most of the parts needed at retailer cost. We plan to roll our own arduino shield to drive the stepper motors to save money. We are doing many innovative cost saving techniques things like driving the axis's with spectra line instead of buying chains/sprockets or belts/pulleys or threaded rod.

The initial kits will have 3d printed/injection molded parts but we will have designs for fully plywood versions of those parts for replicating reasons.

We also are not happy with the current state of CNC software. The software is not up to par with what the 3d printing industry has. We hope to work with Alistair to integrate very closely with wikihouses, and take the skill out of operating the CNC in order to make it accessible to third world countries, and people in disaster zones.

Everything will be posted on github under creative commons license.

We have done the math, and we believe it is plausible to build a machine capable of cutting wikihouses in the $300-400 range. It may not have the precision or life span of a $3000 machine, but it is designed to have the parts replaced by common things people could source in a scrap yard.

Our goal is to make it feasible to send off a kit and a few pallets of plywood to 3rd world countries/disaster zones. 

We also have much to learn.

[John Beck]

New to both wikihouse and Google groups so if this gets posted in the wrong place feel free to do whatever, I'm posting from a tablet so it's troublesome without a good dedicated app.

I'm john from west Washington near Everett.I'm a nineteen year old college student with highly functioning autism, majoring in psychology. Also i'm an avid Linux user.

My main interest wikihouse is the concept of open source interior design and it's implications for the tiny house movement. The Christmas's tree on the website Meade me think of the kind of furniture which could furnished at a relatively low cost.

One immediate example would be a stool or a table, but I think it can get much more creative than that with modular furniture, and functional aesthetics such as shutters. Doors could be premade with simple security measures, such as barring. Transforming furniture such as wall desks which fold up, places for hammocks and murphey beds to be placed, and wall-mount systems could be designed fairly easily with ideas that already exist put to CNC machines. Hidey holes for precious items, and keeping things away from children would help with some security problems. CNC parts could be included in a design to be used form brick making for more sturdy permanent structures. CNC parts can be used to make wall-less roof designed to go over a wikihouse which can be replaced when it breaks down from weather. Since it would only need to keep rain off it could use relatively few parts, and the parts could be replaced on a case by case basis. Lean-to's can be built to keep a house in the shade and cool it in the hottest parts of the day. Parts that lock together permanently can take advantage of the swelling of some materials to keep them from coming apart easily.

My basic intent if I was designing would to design conceptual models which could be applied as needed to different systems, rather than designing the wiki-house it's self, and I'm not sure where I'd post and publish such ideas.

[Brad Jensen]

Welcome John.  I think you are on the right track.  I have noticed that on many alternative housing projects that the issue of interiors gets ignored.  For instance, many shipping container homes can save a lot on the basic structure of the home, but then they end up spending too much for the interior and the final saving are negligible.  I was thinking of a "WikiInterior" that would basically be a preformed interior box that could be slid inside of any shell that you might want to choose.  This would be used for the interior of the WikiHouse, a geodesic dome, a shipping container, or even the basement of an average home.  I am planning on drawing something up once the Design Festival is over so that this makes more sense.  

-- Brad

[Matthew Gardner]

Hey Edwin.

Sorry for the late reply.

Our prototype is done. We are looking for alpha testers. If your still interested email me at matt.gardner.hcc@gmail

[isabel...@rwth-aachen.de]

Hello,

my name is Isabel Nolte. I´m an architecture student at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. This semester I do my Master's thesis at the chair of CAAD under supervision of Professor Peter Russell. My project is to design working spaces for students using the WikiHouse construction system. The WiKiHouse-WorkingSpace shall be comfortably habitable, energy self-sufficient (off-the-grid) and still easy to assemble. I haven´t been working with a CNC-Router yet and most of my studies in the last years have been planing and designing at computer for paper, so I hope to find practical information and assistance in this community. I´m looking forward to participate in WikiHouse.

Best regards

[Alexandre Simonet]

Hello,

I'm Alexandre Simonet. I am very interested in everything related to digital culture and more specifically the idea of ​​creating new spaces for collective creation adapted. I want to create a new generation of cultural venues in the form of nano-printable areas, wooden interconnectable and interoperable if possible energetically autonomous. To achieve this I would soon create a goup wikihouse in south of France (Nîmes) whith some friends who share the same goals ...

See you soon

Alex

[peoples...@gmail.com]

Hi,

My name is Jamar Speight. I am involved with an co-op organization that is in the early stages of developing the first completely self-sustainable winter city in America. The city will consist of completely self-sustainable housing, food, energy, education, transportation, health, self-governance, recreation and more. We will build mortgage/debt free homes using natural material such as cob, straw-bale, earthblock and underground building methods. Our goal is to allow our members to be involved 100% in all that is done within the city. We have professional builders to assist our members with building their naturally home but we would like to allow our members to design their own 400sqft, 800sqft or 1200sqft naturally built home as well using WikiHouse. I know the material that the software is designed to work with is plywood but we would like to know if this could be possible? I hope to hear from you!

Thank You,

Jamar Speight

[Nate J]

Hi all,

My name is Nathan, and I'm a 5th year thesis student at Syracuse University School of Architecture. Currently my thesis is focusing on developing (in theory) a vertical construction method for the WikiHouse platform, as a response to informal settlement sprawl in the global south. The long term goal of the thesis is to (hopefully) "print" and build a working prototype here on campus in Syracuse, with the help of the student body. I am aware that the tools - i.e. the plugin/platform - are currently in the funding stage, so any interested in helping develop this vertical system are more than welcome. You can view my skills/experience here: 

• www.linkedin.com/in/nathanjones9/

  
  

  as well as various projects here:

  
  

  http://issuu.com/nathanalexander
  

  
  

  thanks for having me.

  
  

  Regards,

  
  

  Nathan

  
  

[Vincent Muller]

Hi there,

My name is Vincent and I am from Leiden, The Netherlands.
I'm an self-employed architect. Asked to design a do it yourself 'gardenhouse' for a couple in Leiden.
We found out about WikiHouse and we thought this concept would be perfect!
Together with Makerspace Leiden [Hugo Meiland] we still work on the design for WikiGardenHouse v1.0 ...

We [Marijtje Mulder and me] own the Dutch chapter WikiHouseNL and working on it!
We'll have our first meeting soon together with other interested people. [www.hollandwikihouse.nl]

It looks like we can present WikiHousenNL at the 'GEVEL 2014' [gevel = facade] exhibition 22-24th of january in Ahoy Rotterdam. [www.gevel-online.nl/en]
Trying to create a WikiHouseNL 'stand' sponsored by VNU Exhibitions and facade-companies.
We challenge the participating companies to develop a DIY facade for WikiHouse.
Hope this will work...

Nice to meet you!

Vincent Muller



Op zaterdag 25 mei 2013 23:59:50 UTC+2 schreef Alastair:

[Bergson Matias]

Hello,

My name is Bergson Matias. I'm from Brazil but now I'm studying Civil Engineering at Ecole Centrale of Lille, in France.

I began a project here at Ecole Centrale that consist in to analyze the S-joints developed for Wikihouse and to verify if they are according with the European wood construction norms, the Eurocodes 5 (or Eurocodes Bois). 

We work in partnership with Makerspace Meuhlab, at Lille. 

I would like to know if there is some research developed like this.

I can create a topic for this.

Thank you.

[Kevin Garrison]

Hello my name is Kevin a new Portland, OR resident, I am a recent architecture graduate. I am very interested in architecture as social change, and with wikihouse and opensourceecology.org as some of the methods to do so. Looking all around the world and the lack of proper housing and skills leave millions in a place of waithood (Mohamed Ali Ted talk the link between unemployment and terrorism). I think there is an opportunity to create a social business (Muhammad Yunus) where people are given small loans to build their own homes and be taught skills to create opportunities for moving out of waithood and then repay those loans to be passed onto the next person. I wish to work on the wikihouse to create more design opportunities and different options for the finished product. My goal is to create a social business to eradicate homelessness and create community, starting here in Portland. One of my main inspirations is the Gando Primary School by Francis Kere and how his work there created opportunities and jobs for the residents who worked on the project by teaching them a skill (not to mention the intelligence and community connection his school created too). I would like to learn and add to this effort as best I can, I believe in architecture built by the citizens and would like to help create those opportunities. Sorry if this post is a little off topic.

On Saturday, May 25, 2013 2:59:50 PM UTC-7, Alastair wrote:

[PEEL livingprojects]

Hi all,

I just arrived and posted straight into "CNC Production" thread, maybe this  is one more convenient.

My name is Paulo Costa, architect, and live in Porto, Portugal.

I'm looking forward to contribute with my view and be able to promote the Wikihouse project around here. Actually I'm very much interested about building a prototype adapting a wiki design, in a short/mid-term plan.

But first things first. Thing is, so far I didn't manage to make a proper DXF file with cutting sheets..!

I did install the Plugin in Sketchup, Set the Camera to Parallel and did extract 2 files: an empty DXF and a valid SVG, that I can VIEW in a browser or "open" in a program such as Inkscape (but nothing there to see..)

So you see, a rookie beating around the bushes here.

Probably very simple, or so I hope.

Needless to say, can use some HELP here, thanx.

All for now, best regards to @ll.

Sábado, 25 de Maio de 2013 22:59:50 UTC+1, Alastair escreveu:

[Jessica Luchesi]

Hello Everyone,

I am Jessica Luchesi, I am an architecture, urbanism and landscape design student at FAU-USP at Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, and starting yesterday, a graduate research assistant at the LABHAB ( Habitation Laboratory ) - which is focused more on habitation policies and the urbanistic take on those, but I am more project inclined and I think fabrication and the usage of technology is a way of facing some of the challenges of the future.

I have a deep passion for vernacular architecture, mostly rammed earth, bamboo and wood, and right now trying to deepen my knowledge on the Japanese Joinery techniques, mostly thinking on ways to bring together CNC and Japanese joinery and looking into that, I found WikiHouse, a project I really look forward to contributing in any level possible.

My past life started with a Computer Engineering attempt at PUC-Rio ( I am a Carioca living in São Paulo ), and for personal reasons, had to drop out and move to São Paulo and start a new life, which led me into Architecture right now. I am a 3rd year graduate student, and this semester one of the classes I will take is focused on fabrication techniques applied to architecture ( as we had object design last semester - this is a follow up from object design to use industrial thinking into architecture ), and I also hope both the debates here at WikiHousing will leak into that, as well as the classroom debates help me provide help in this project.

On the same line, I have access to a CNC machine at the university's lab ( LAME FAU USP ), as well as Laser Cutters and 3D printers, so, it is possible that with some negotiation, the lab could aid in prototyping.

So, thank you for accepting me here, and I hope to be of help soon.

Jessica

For those in Brazil wanting to contact me, I can provide college Email and we could work on a Brazilian hub :)

[nicholas godfrey]

Hello Jessica! Welcome.  I too have always found Japanese joinery to be absolutely fascinating. One way that I have learned to use some of those techniques with the CNC, is with making sections of the part i  2D layers and then laminating the pieces together to create the full part. This way, you can use sheet goods to make an "engineered" part.
  I have also cut full planks with the CNC, however I am limited by the height of the Z axis and also have to rotate the piece a few times depending on the complexity of the joint that I am trying to make.
  Looking forward to all of our involvement in move the concept forward.

Nicholas

[AmirHossein Honardust]

Hello!
I'm AmirHossein Honardust. I study architecture at IAUM. I'm from Iran.
I have a passion for Sustainable architecture and I want learn more about open source architecture, as i find it fascinating. I like digital architecture. I want study parametric architecture a few years from now, Which has a certain level of DIY in it.

At first i attempt to learn more from what you all do. When i reach a level of experience and knowledge, I will payback by productivity.

Thanks for accepting me. I hope to be part of the new sustainable world.

[Joshua Merrow]

Hi everyone. My name is Josh Merrow. I'm setting up a Maker program at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, New York. I suggested building a wikihouse makerspace building with students and the plan was accepted. We've got a 4x8 ShopBot and a tennis court (!) to build on. Target size is 1000 sq. ft. (~100m2). Shapewise I think this means we're looking at a 24' x 40' structure.

While I'm here, I've a few basic questions:

1. Has anyone made a wikihouse this big? 

2. Is there an easy way to convert models created using metric material sizes to US sizes, e.g. 4' x 8' x 3/4"?

thanks,

Josh

On Saturday, May 25, 2013 5:59:50 PM UTC-4, Alastair wrote:

[nicholas godfrey]

Hi Joshua and congratulations! What a big endeavor you are about to embark upon.
  The New York Maker Faire Pavilion, from what I have seen, is most likely the largest Wikihouse structure to have been constructed.
   In my opinion, I would seriously contemplate making the decision to go metric if possible.  The conversion can be done however it is across everypart  of the building. I can tell you from experience that close is not good enough with the tolerances you will be able to achieve with CNC routing.
  3/4 and 18mm are not even close when it comes to fitting the parts together with out  a lot of partfile tweaking and swearing! :-)

[Joshua Merrow]

Thanks Nicholas. Hm, I'm not even sure you can get metric plywood here, except for aircraft supply houses ($$). Does anyone know different? Was the NY maker faire pavillion metric?

I'm afraid I'm going to be mostly questions for a while. Down the road, I hope to be able to contribute findings and curriculum on building a wikihouse with students.

thanks

Josh

[Jeremiah Gärtner]

Hi, I'm Jeremiah Gaertner. I've already made a few posts, but I thought it would be prudent to still introduce myself.

I am from Tennessee. I am a student majoring in Computer Engineering and am a big fan of Free and Open Source. I have done residential construction and light construction/cabinetry with my dad, a general contractor and carpenter. I might also relay some input from him, occasionally.

[Steve Baker]

Hi!

I'm Steve Baker with Renaissance Miniatures (http://RenaissanceMiniatures.com).  We use laser cutting to make 1/60th and 1/120th scale model buildings, ships and other vehicles - mostly for table-top gamers.

I'm interested to see the kinds of joints and fastening techniques that are used here since many of them, when scaled down to 3mm plywood, might be applicable to our models.  It's also possible that some of the techniques we've developed might turn out to be useful here.

Also, we've developed software tools to help us to manage large numbers of 2D design files (we have over 1000 designs right now!) that should prove useful here as this project grows.

  -- Steve

[Steve Baker]

Have you looked at the http://lasersaur.com project?  It's an open-source laser cutter design - most of it isn't relevant to what you're doing, but they have an OpenHardware solution to driving a 3 axis stepper motor system with Arduino and a BeagleBone that is very stable and in widespread use.  It accepts both SVG and a G-code subset.  It has a web-based interface to this is really slick and beautiful.   My lasersaur is happy to take OpenHouse designs and cut them (albeit at reduced scale) without any changes.

  -- Steve

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 10:47:37 AM UTC-5, Matthew Gardner wrote:

Hello,

My name is Matt.

By day I write code at Google, and by night I build crazy contraptions/machines/.

A group of us at Google have recently become very excited about the wikihouse project. It occurred to us though, that very few people have access to a CNC capable of cutting full sheets of plywood. Looking at the cost of current options and kits, we determined that this is an area that can use some innovation. I recruited a team of Googlers with maker type experience with knowledge of building 3d printers and CNC's, and we formed a 20% project at Google to build an open source, CNC machine that is self replicating, and slots together like wikihouses do. We hope to buy the parts in bulk, and sell kits in the $300-400 range, made almost entirely of plywood. Once the kit is assembled it can actually cut out a copy of itself. We have taken great effort to focus our innovation on cost cutting measures. 

We know there are many CNC projects out there made out of MDF/plywood, which is not that different from our own. The things that are different about our design is  the cost, and the software. Our CNC will also be specifically designed for cutting wikihouses.

I actually grew up in a bearing shop, and can get most of the parts needed at retailer cost. We plan to roll our own arduino shield to drive the stepper motors to save money. We are doing many innovative cost saving techniques things like driving the axis's with spectra line instead of buying chains/sprockets or belts/pulleys or threaded rod.

The initial kits will have 3d printed/injection molded parts but we will have designs for fully plywood versions of those parts for replicating reasons.

We also are not happy with the current state of CNC software. The software is not up to par with what the 3d printing industry has. We hope to work with Alistair to integrate very closely with wikihouses, and take the skill out of operating the CNC in order to make it accessible to third world countries, and people in disaster zones.

Everything will be posted on github under creative commons license.

We have done the math, and we believe it is plausible to build a machine capable of cutting wikihouses in the $300-400 range. It may not have the precision or life span of a $3000 machine, but it is designed to have the parts replaced by common things people could source in a scrap yard.

Our goal is to make it feasible to send off a kit and a few pallets of plywood to 3rd world countries/disaster zones. 

We also have much to learn.

[Floris Coetzee]

Hi, Floris Coetzee here. 

I'm an industrial designer based in Cape Town, South Africa.

I'm interested and involved in green and sustainable building, looking to focus on the tourism industry, and currently we are doing a bunch of shipping container conversions (see our facebook page facebook.com/modulodge)

I've known about this wikihouse idea for a while now, and very keen on exploring this option for a prospective client who is an artist and wants to put up something different for her breakaway/artist residency... 

Hope to have fun getting involved in this!

F

[Larry Haines]

Hello everyone. I'm a builder in the Houston, TX area although I spent over 5 years rebuilding housing in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. I have built structures using cement block, wood, metal SIPs (structural insulated panels) and now am concentrating on building small, smart, sustainable housing that is affordable. I am also involved in the Transition movement here in Houston and believe that we (the global "we") are in for some tough economic and social times ahead.

My interest is to find construction techniques and materials that can be used (or reused) in the mission of building housing that is affordable, sustainable and healthy to live in. I look forward to meeting people of like minded interests with ideas to improve conditions for mankind. My current interest is re-manufacturing shipping containers into modern, well built homes.

Anyone in the Texas area that wants to have a cup of coffee, please contact me to discuss building affordable housing.
Thanks and be blessed in all you do...
Larry

[Steve Baker]

If you're ever up in the Austin area, I'd be interested to chat.

-- Steve

-- Steve

[gerin trautenberger]

Hy Alastair and to all members of the Wikihouse community

We are planing to organize a Open Design Festival this summer in Vienna. (see http://viennaopen.net/englisch-abstract/)

Therefore we are planing to build a Wikihouse - still we are struggling with the cutting and building a prototype (1:5 Model)

We are a group of industrial designers who are organizing also a yearly open design festival - to build the wikihouse is also a personal challenge to teach new production methods and to learn a new skill set

our company is microgiants - our webpage microgiants.com

---- Text about the Festival----

VIENNA OPEN is a platform to discuss the idea of OpenDesign, open source and open knowledge especially in the fields of data and information, code and hardware, fashion and sound as well as product design. The festival VIENNA OPEN is also serving as a venue for various workshops and lectures about the subjects of Visible Data, Open Organization, Open Design, Open Structures, Open Fashion and Open Sound. By exploring case studies and providing hands-on workshops, VIENNA OPEN tries to fathom both the open philosophy as a means of co-creation as well as providing space for applied projects and practical experience. The venue is open to the public, students and designers who are also invited to contribute to an OpenDesign Festival.

[Alex Whitcroft]

Hi Gerin,

Welcome.  Good luck.  You mentioned you are having trouble with the 1:5 mockup.  If you've got specific questions, please feel free to post them on the hardware forum.

[Martin]

Hi all My name is Martin im a DIY enthusiast in the beginning of my discovery of the wiki house project.

I have previously been a part of the Stockholm  Makerspace in my hometown. I fond the whole concept of open source pretty wild and have been hooked to the idea scene i became a member.

I recently placed a order for a pretty large 3d printer and hope to make some designs of furniture that use 3d printing and wood combined to make my own furniture that i want.

A CNC mill is definitely on the with list for the future.

I currently live and work in Japan and i found this clip that i found pretty relevant to the wiki-house project. 

https://vimeo.com/27268083

It has bean mentioned before in this thread, but it would be pretty cool to use standardized lumber  like 2x6 as beams where the joints are CNCd in to intricate Japanese joints for a house build. No glue or metal required in the old style buildings in Japan that still stand today hundreds of years later.

Cheers!