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Highlights from the MIT World Real Estate Forum

By Alexis Fermanis posted 05-25-2017 11:03

  

I recently had the pleasure of attending the MIT World Real Estate Forum, held in Boston, MA this past week. I’d like to share the following highlights. 

The conference was kicked off with an opening session from Skylar Tibbits who discussed his work with the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT. He and his team are rethinking the future of technology through the use of 4D printing. Software radically changed how we analyze and make decisions, and new machines change how we make parts, but making these parts is still very labor and cost-intensive. He studied the biology and physics of building on the human scale vs the natural scale. It was in nature he discovered that design emerges from independent components to connect and build functionality for survival. If smarter components were made from these natural materials, using their very own innate design functions, these components could assemble themselves. Therefore, 3D printing with the correct products, and with the correct environments, would result in self-assembly products – or 4D.

Three things are needed to complete 4D self-assembly: random energy, connections, and programmable printed natural products. By using different output connections such as Velcro or magnets, and using a random energy like water waves or wind, you can create programable materials that have the ability to change precise form or function from a static state to a transformed state.  Wood, for example, can bend when placed in water, and it bends to the direction of the grains. By 3D printing wood with grains designed in the proper direction, you can design a self-folding box or chair. 

Tibbits and his team demonstrated, through video, the various elements used and objects created, such as creating expanding and contracting ventilation systems or transformable and customizable meeting spaces from private office to open concept. The pieces must be designed to fit together perfectly in only one way, and they have to be constructed in a way that has a super strong bond, but weak enough to disconnect and connect until the right design pattern and construction is formed all on its own. The concept can help to construct items faster and easier with less time and money – or to be able to build something in a space that is difficult for humans or robots to assemble. Attaching weather balloons to a wire structure, and then using magnets and wind, can create a connected form high above the ground. Once the balloons are popped, the connected structure remains. They’ve also explored creating packaging materials that transform from solid to liquid states, like a Styrofoam packaging that starts as a blanket around a chair, that can be reused.

Following the keynote session, panelists from all over the world discussed the state of the markets in Latin America, Africa, and India. Panelists discussed debt equity and how different political climates can affect capital and future growth and development around the world. Large-scale crowdfunding was one concept that got a lot of buzz, and one developer discussed how he uses large-scale crowdfunding to develop hotels, where investors want to own a piece of the hospitality business when they would never have the chance before.

Attendees learned about the use of connectivity for mega projects. Using things like digital master-planning to ensure that someone can always stay connected to the internet while walking from one’s car in the garage, to the office or the store across the street. Development today and in the future will need to include citizen engagement, imagination, and modernization to properly attract tenants, address operating efficiencies, and improve the overall experience for the user so they can truly live, work, and play. With this massive connection and planning also comes security risks, which was also discussed by panelists. Pop up mini data centers are becoming more prevalent to help address the concern of large-scale attacks.

And of course, developing with the future in mind, even without knowing what that truly might look like, is vital. Making sure there is the proper cellular infrastructure for the unknown upcoming technological needs, or designing a flexible space that can be reused in a variety of ways, is essential to survive in the future. Most development takes longer than technology since tech changes so quickly. Often times you design to build something for one technology and it’s obsolete before the construction is complete. Fluidity and adaptability are crucial. Panelists stressed the importance of proper wiring of connectivity in warehouses, since many are being filled with more and more robots and sensors, and many of the buildings were never properly wired for that type of usage. There could be major bandwidth issues as there is greater internet usage, so developers must be knowledgeable of this.

 

 

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