NASA Habitat Challenge
RedWorks was originally founded by Keegan Kirkpatrick Lino Stavole, Susan Jennings, and Paul Petros to compete in NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge in 2015.
Our goal was to make it possible to efficiently design and print building materials completely on-site.
The Challenge
To build completely on-site requires using the only resource available everywhere: dirt. By using dirt as a building material, habitats could be built anywhere in the solar system, or for that matter anywhere on Earth, with just one machine.
We created a parametric algorithm to also allow our solution to adapt our design on-site. This piece of software can take our basic architectural layout and scale it to any size, meaning it could be built around around existing features in the landscape from craters to lava tubes. This simple concept is where our journey began.
Initial Concept
Final Concept
Our initial architectural concept used simple construction principles found in nature and the ancient world, but as we progressed we made improvements to the basic design. Water storage was added inside the habitat walls, a spiral staircase floor-plan made it so we could scale not only the shape of the building, but its room and utilities. This technology effectively makes architecture scalable to the user's needs.
New York Maker Faire
RedWorks' habitat design was among those chosen from over 160 teams to enter the finals of the Habitat Challenge's design competition at the New York Maker Faire in September 2015. We challenged conventional wisdom about construction and our ideas have resonated with business leaders like AT Kearney and the commercial architects who want this Made for Mars solution brought back to Earth.
LightSpeed Accelerator
After the conclusion of the Habitat Challenge's first phase, team RedWorks began the transition from design team to company and by Fall 2016 we had been accepted into LightSpeed Innovations' 2017 Accelerator. LightSpeed's mentors helped guide RedWorks to find a home for our technology in the construction industry and introduced us to friends, partners, and advisors who've become assets to our team.
Proof of Concept
RedWorks conducted a successful proof of concept test using our prototype crucible on August 27, 2017, observing sintering in ordinary play sand using less than 1.5kW of power with no additives, binding agents, or water. This test proved that our process can make building materials from dirt and sand found on-site.
What’s next
Our team is diligently working on our next prototype to be faster and more energy efficient than the first while making building materials stronger than brick using nothing but the dirt beneath your feet. Our goal is to put on-site 3d printing machines in the hands of builders and in so doing, give total control of the construction supply chain to the user and make construction faster, sustainable, and less costly.
