Nice entry on the Inhabitat blog (link) discussing Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis’ “contour crafting” system (link) (some of you might recall his name from an earlier blog entry – reLink). I’d suggest that in addition to the video and the Inhabitat entry that the comments are also worth checking out. And if you’ve not at least scanned the AIC technical document (link to PDF), I’d recommend doing so before reading those.

You might recall the WorldChanging entry (link) which discussed Dr. Khoshnevis’ plan to “print” a real house and how that piece tied into product manufacturing and virtual world data. If so then you know that news of an imminent full-scale test is especially welcome. I’ve been recently wondering about the test (it’s overdue) and this methodology since the low-temperature polymers currently being used by the RepRap folks is less interesting to me than something like a mix of concrete and gypsum, or ceramics (with which I’m relatively familiar).

Additionally, be sure to read Inhabitat’s original source article over on the Times Online site (link). It includes this quote that gets a smile out of me:

Jala El-Ali, structural designer at Buro Happold – the firm that helped design Arsenal’s new football stadium, which is shaped like a flying saucer – said future homes could carry features borrowed from ant hills, honeycombs or sea shells.

I’m big on bio-influenced design so I’m looking forward to seeing some changes in architectural design… at least until “user-generated” homes becomes a trend.