Every day, new disruptive technologies are changing the shape of our world. Construction has historically been an essential aspect of human expansion. Since the first tepees (Huts made by Red Indians, a cone-shaped structure covered in animal skin), humans have come a long way. The buildings constructed today can change the course of high-speed winds, absorb lightning strikes and stand so tall that they see the earth’s curvature.
Mankind did not reach this pinnacle of engineering by accident, and modern construction techniques have further evolved over the years and continue to reach new heights. Graana.com, Pakistan’s Smartest Property Portal, presents a guide on top construction trends in the industry today.
Construction is a complex field, and most trends today result from rigorous testing before the industry can safely use them. Highlighted below are some of the most promising and emerging construction trends in real estate.
| 3D Printing |
| Foldable Homes |
| Building Information Modeling |
| Augmented Reality |
| Self-healing Concrete |
| Drone Technology |
| Green Construction |
| Construction Robots |
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing as it’s commonly known, is creating a massive impact in the industry. It allows more people to build structures on the fly, and this technology will get cheaper over time and allow for higher-scale printers that can print mega designs much more efficiently.
The most exciting feature of 3D printing is prefabricated homes. Prefabricated homes are cheaper and can be created in just under 24 hours. These houses can be delivered to any location and customised with incredible precision.
Boxabl is a startup that has pioneered the way for this revolutionary new idea. Boxabl is building a 375 sq feet house for less than $50,000. Elon Musk is backing this startup, has sold many of his properties, and is actively living inside a Boxabl home inside the tesla factory.
Foldable homes can be assembled in a day and are modernly designed at a fraction of the cost of a traditional house. House prices have continued to skyrocket in recent years, and for millennials, Boxabl homes are an innovative way to solve the housing crisis.
Foldable homes also make it easy to go and live in a remote location. Solar panels have solved the problems of a stable electricity connection in remote areas. Starlink, when fully deployed, can provide a high-speed internet connection in remote locations.
All millennials are interested in remote living, and it can be a lucrative venture if a startup can smooth out the process.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a process of creating and managing information for a built asset throughout its lifecycle—from planning and design to construction and operations. Among the latest technology in Pakistan, this is one of the most promising ones.
BIM is a process of managing and visualising data throughout a project’s construction and even after for archiving purposes. The purpose of BIM is to create a collaborative environment for all the parties concerned in multiple disciplines. This is usually stored in the cloud to provide easy and universal access.
It is revolutionising how teams interact with each other, adding efficiency and intelligence to the process. It connects teams at every workflow stage of the project. BIM is interoperable, so different teams of varying disciplines can collaborate with each other regardless of the software they are using.
This technology is constantly brought up whenever there is a discussion about tech prospects in this space. Augmented reality is a promising technology with many real-world applications, and it promises visualisation in ways that were not possible before.
Augmented reality helps to visualise projects in real space that can help create a better sense of scale. It can generate a walkthrough for buildings that can be overlaid on actual buildings to help the customers gauge what a building looks like when it’s finished.
Augmented reality creates a digital copy of the world and creates different versions of it according to the specified needs. Instead of imagining it, augmented reality can help visualise projects in very detailed immersion.
It can relay information about projects on real-world sites and provide details about that specific project. Augmented reality offers a quick and easy way to relay information.
This technology does exactly as the name suggests. Self-healing concrete is not a sci-fi concept but a grounded reality thanks to science. This technology is still in its early stages but has practical applications.
Self-healing concrete is still far from repairing entire buildings on its own, however it can help to rectify hairline cracks. These cracks can be caused by lacklustre mixing and compromise structural integrity over time. Workers can augment this ability to help with repairs in tight places.
Concrete accounts for 9% of the global CO2 emissions. Creating concrete is very resource intensive and requires a lot of energy, so if concrete can be repaired autonomously, it can help reduce energy needs and CO2 emissions. When discussing the latest technology in Pakistan this is the one with the most practical use case.
By far, the best invention of this modern age is drone technology. It has uses in almost every space imaginable, such as live monitoring, photography, aerial imaging, collecting data from remote locations and much more.
Drones can help you to monitor construction sites from afar in breathtaking detail. They provide data points however to monitor and can now carry heavy loads of up to 225 kg.
Developing environmentally friendly and sustainable complexes is gaining popularity among all major players in the construction sector. People are reshaping the urban infrastructure around them in ecologically sustainable ways.
Green and eco-friendly solutions, such as utilising resources wisely when renovating or constructing from scratch, are emphasised in such construction approaches.
Many environmentally friendly construction techniques have become the standard these days, ranging from saving water with dual-flush toilets to adding state-of-the-art louvre systems and insulating materials on the outside of a structure to naturally moderate temperatures.
The energy-efficient strategy in building focuses on cost-cutting and lowering carbon footprint in order to maintain the natural environment.
These robots are machines designed to carry out strenuous construction-related activities independently or semi-autonomously. Construction robots may be employed for a variety of tasks such as placing bricks such as welding steel, tying rebar, and building formwork.
According to the existing models, a brick-laying robot is, on average, about five times faster than its human counterpart. These robots can also work on various other tasks, moreover, they can work around the clock, unlike humans.
The construction space is shaping up for the future in many ways, and many exciting technologies on the horizon can transform how we build structures. For more insightful tips on smart construction technologies, visit Graana’s blog.
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