While this school year has been complicated for a lot of families, there are some parts of the world where there aren’t school buildings at all, or the ones they have don’t have what students need.
Building a new school usually takes a good amount of time and money, but there’s an effort underway to fix that, by using 3D printing technology that can create a new school in a week or less.
Fast Company reported this month on a 3D-printed school planned for the city of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar.
It’s nicknamed The Hive because it’s designed to be in a honeycomb shape.
Communities can start by building a single classroom with restrooms, closet space, and windows.
If they need more space, they build another node next door, and another, and so on.
The designers say because it’s 3D printed the timeline for building, including electrical and plumbing, can take under a week, rather than months and months.
The 3D printing process uses local materials and reflects local designs, and it emphasizes sustainability, too – there’s room for solar panels on the roof and plants on the exterior walls.
The Madagascar project is intended to be a proof of concept; if it works it can be exported to other places looking to build new schools in areas that need them.
But while it’s a 3D-printed school, that doesn’t mean the students can 3D-print themselves a hall pass.
Hot dog, this project is a wiener: it’s a photo gallery of images from fine art and pop culture, but with the people and characters replaced by hot dogs!
They’ve got everything from Botticelli’s Venus, to the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, rendered as wieners, and each one has its own hot dog themed pun.
There’s even one called RuPaul’s Dog Race!
The schools of the future can be built in less than a week (Fast Company)
Pop Culture and Fine Art Recreated With Hot Dogs (Laughing Squid)
3D printer photo by Stephen via Flickr/Creative Commons
