Report outline *updated*

LEARNING AGREEMENT

 I.    RESEARCH TOPIC/ISSUES

·         ISSUE  :

                                     I.        Construction industry has earned the reputation of being a highly hazardous industry.

                                    II.        Construction industry consumes more than 40% of raw materials which is such a wasting resources action, causing damage to the environment.

                                   III.        There are around 37 million uprooted people in the world are forced to flee from their homes and seek for shelter due to several reasons such as war, economic or natural disaster.

                                  IV.        Shortage of affordable housing for low-income households in urban area.

·         AIM      : To explore the digital design and fabrication technologies and to determine the acceptance of publicity towards practicing Contour crafting in construction industry.

·         OBJECTIVES    :

                                      I.        To explore a new technology in building construction.

                                     II.        To identify the benefits of practicing contour crafting in construction industry.

                                    III.        To study and verify the effectiveness of the contour crafting on buildings.

                                   IV.        To study the impact of contour crafting in the future.

·         HYPOTHESIS:

                                     I.        Due to the efficiency of Contour crafting which does not save only time and cost, but also reduce the rate of accidents in construction industry.

                                    II.        Due to the flexibility design for individual identity by using Contour crafting.

WORKING TITLE : TRADITIONAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION METHODS VS CONTOUR CRAFTING.

II.       OUTLINE OF REPORT

·         Introduction

1.     The building construction development from ancient Mesopotamia to the late twentieth century.

2.     Technology plays an important role in the building construction regardless of building technology, CAD technology.

3.     Briefing on the issues/problems:

                  i.        Construction industry is a high hazardous industry.

                 ii.        Construction industry is wasting natural resources.

               iii.        People are forced to seek for temporary shelter due to war, economic or natural disaster.

                iv.        Low-income households in urban area.

·         Chapter 1 : Roles of Contour crafting in construction industry.

1.     Analysis of accident statistic in construction industry and find out the reasons - human carelessness, collapse of scaffolding, brick wall, etc.

2.     What is Contour crafting? How it helps in construction industry.

3.     Contour crafting will be a great solution for the problems that construction industry in Malaysia are facing - manpower, quality of productivity and time.

                  i.        Lack of manpower

Ø  less local workers are participated in construction industry, therefore need to hire workers from other country such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Ø  foreign workers have contracts cause the shortage of manpower if a project takes a longer time to complete.

Ø  workers at construction industry does not have any experience as some of them just need a job for living regardless of having any experience in that field.

                 ii.        Quality of productivity

Ø  lacked of trained manpower.

Ø  contractors lacked of skill knowledge in engineering construction.

Ø  project does not follow the scheduled time and does not have a good management.

                    i.       Project completion on time

Ø  does not follow the schedule.

Ø  cause by weather.

Ø  problem with contract workers.

4.     Contour crafting can solve the problems as it is an automated process without worrying the lack of manpower, quality of productivity and time.

5.     Contour crafting can reduce the usage of natural resources without doing all the frameworks before constructing a building - scaffolding and timber frame for houses, shop - houses.

6.     50% of global energy, 50% water, 60% materials, 80% land loss of agriculture, 60% timber products, 90% hardwoods are all directly linked with building construction while indirectly, 50% of carol reefs and 25% rain forest are being damaged due to buildings and constructions.

·         Chapter 2 : How can Contour crafting help the victims of natural disaster.

1.     Case study 1 : Sichuan earthquake 2008

Ø  4,8 million people are left homeless after the earthquake happened.

2.     Case study 2 : Tsunami 2004

Ø  10 million people are homeless.

Ø  an opinion was raised that human destruction of carol reefs may have played a role in exacerbating the destruction caused by the tsunami.

Ø  on the Surin Island chain of Thailand's coast, people may have been saved as the tsunami rushed against the carol reefs, lessening its impact.

Ø  in a way, it is relate back to Chapter 1 where building construction indirectly damaged 50% of the carol reefs. If it continues, there will be no carol reefs to help lessening the impact of tsunami if it happens again in the future.

3.     Contour crafting can offer a temporary/permanent shelter for those victims because of its "a house per day"

4.     Contour crafting is adaptable and can use in-situ materials to construct, thus eliminating the need to transport materials from long distance, saving time and costs.

·         Chapter 3 : Low-income housing in urban area.

1.     Case study : India

Ø  Understand the problems that urban area are facing - rural-urban migration, etc.

Ø  Urbanization is positive, even if it means poor population is coming in urban areas > if poor population comes in urban area, may cause urban decay due to lack of money for maintenance.

Ø  Urban decay > buildings are overcrowded, run down and deteriorating > shabby appearance, illegal or unstable structures, improper sanitation facilities.

Ø  50% population live in slums due to lack of housing, therefore they illegally created colonies of housing on open spaces in cities - do not have any civic amenities such as drinking water, sewage, electricity, etc.

Ø  To solve the slums problem, houses can be with automated plumbing, automated electrical network installation by Contour crafting nevertheless the low costs of a Contour crafted house.

Ø  Due to the rural-urban migration, demand of houses in urban area is increasing > Contour crafting's high speed construction can be a solution.

·         Conclusion

       III.        RESEARCH PLAN AND METHODOLOGY

      Primary Research

       Information and data collect through website, statistics, news.

      Secondary Research

·         Literature review of the book, Beyond Shelter-Architecture for crisis, edited by Marie J. Aquilino.

·         Literature review of the book, AM Envelope: The Potential of Additive Manufacturing for Facade Construction, by Holger Strauss.

·         Literature review of the book, Full Scale Contour Crafting Applications, by Laura Haymond.

·         Interview with specialist in Contour crafting through emailing.