Published on July 7th, 2017 | by Guest

4 Construction Technologies of the Future

Building things is in our nature. Since the dawn of human history, we have been building structures that were more and more complicated. It all started with simple wooden and mud houses, but it ultimately led to the concrete jungles we have today. When we think about construction, the first thing that comes to our minds is how it progressed and evolved throughout history.

One might think that we have peaked in construction technologies, but even during the last couple of decades, we have seen some drastic changes on construction sites. So, it comes as no surprise that even crazier innovations are just around the corner. Let’s take a look at some of the most promising ones.

Smart buildings

Smart buildings are the next logical step when it comes to housing. Managing heating, ventilation, security, etc. in a four-storey building is easy, but as we build higher and higher, these simple tasks become impossible. That is why self-sustaining, smart buildings are going to be the future of housing. With microchips, sensors and other technologies, we will be able to collect data and adjust building’s systems to run more efficiently.

3D printing

3D printing has been around for quite some time, but it wasn’t until this year that we saw its use in construction. If you haven’t heard already, earlier this year a San Francisco-based company has constructed the first fully 3D printed house. They’ve used a specially designed 3D printer that was able to construct a 400-square-foot house in just under 24 hours.

The construction went flawlessly, to say the least. No hiccups, no stops, and most importantly, no malfunctions have been reported. This means that we are bound to see more 3D-printed houses in the near future. Oh, and the entire house, from top to bottom, costs only $10,000.

Communication on construction sites

Even the construction sites are going to experience a futuristic twist. No longer will a single company manage a construction site on its own. Sure, this is not so unusual even today, but with the advancements in communication technologies, a construction site will become easier to manage.

For example, a company like Preston Hire might be contracted for the machinery and some other company might provide the workforce. In a situation like this, it is very important to maintain the highest level of communication and that is where new technologies like live video streaming and 3D mapping come in handy. If some problem occurs, they will be able to solve it on the go, with the help of live-feed video, photos, etc. Today, lack of communication can stop the construction for days, but that will soon be a thing of the past.

Self-healing concrete

Concrete is all around us. In fact, it is the most widely used construction material. However, has its flaws. Seeing cracks in concrete buildings or roads is not uncommon, and even though construction companies do a great job patching these up, there always seems to be more work needed.

However, a chemical engineering professor from the University of Rhode Island has come up with a smart mixture of concrete that has an ability to heal itself. As soon as the concrete cracks, the mixture will release a jelly substance that will fill the crack and harden. The key is in tiny sodium silicate capsules that contain the jelly substance. Just imagine a road without a single crack. Now, that is the future we would like to be a part of.

And that is about it. We are certain that there are many other cool and innovative construction technologies, but these four have the highest possibility of actually coming through, in our opinion. So, let’s just keep our fingers crossed and hope that at least some of these become standard during our lifetime.

Tags: construction, future, technologies