Young German architects are designing structures made out of living trees | Hacker News Reader

Young German architects are designing structures made out of living trees

spiegel.de

32 pointsrobg9 comments

I've always hoped we could do this with genetic engineering someday. Make a really fast growing tree that grows hollow inside with a couple rooms.

There's only so fast anything sun powered will grow. I doubt we'll ever be able to engineer anything which grows faster then bamboo.

Well how fast is bamboo? I could wait a decade or two for for a house, especially if all I had to do was plant a seed.

Also perhaps we could grow it in a CO2 filled tent to speed it up. That's assuming C02 is a limiting factor in plant growth.

Or perhaps it could grow a frame really fast, and then fill in the walls and keep making them thicker over time. So you can start living in your "tree house" with membrane thin walls and they will thicken over time to become wood.

Accordig to Wikipedia:

"Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on Earth; it has been measured surging skyward as fast as 121 cm (47.6 inches) in a 24-hour period,[6] and can also reach maximal growth rate exceeding one meter (39 inches) per hour for short periods of time. [...] bamboos grow to full height and girth in a single growing season of 3-4 months. During this first year the young shoots strike skyward supported by photosynthesis from the rest of the clump with no time to sprout their own branches and leaves. Over the next year the pulpy wall of each culm slowly dries and hardens, sprouting branches and leaves during the second year from juvenile sheathes that form from each node. Over the following year the culm hardens still further shedding its juvenile sheaths and commencing its life as a fully mature culm. Over the next 2-5 years depending on species, fungus and mould begin to form on the outside of the culm, eventually penetrating and overcoming the culm so that by around 5 - 8 years depending on species and climate the culms begin to collapse and decay. This brief life means culms are ready for harvest and suitable for use in construction from 3 - 7 years."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo#Growth

I believe in ideal conditions, even without CO2 doping, bamboo can grow at something like a foot a day. And stone bamboo is routinely used as scaffolding around buildings in parts of Asia.

Bamboo also tends to flower and die off every X years. But genetic engineering might be able to help with that.

I think genetic engineering which will specify the shape of a house is quite for away, far more away then the "fix" for the dye off. But these willow houses are shaped by grafting and bending and I think you can do the same with bamboo. But I'm not sure, bamboo is a grass so maybe you can't.

Why do it sit here and program all day, when I really would be an architect instead?

Because becoming an architect takes years of education and training. You have to fight and juggle the demands of clients, planners, neighbours and the occupants. It's expensive. It's slow. Most architects don't get to build anything significant until their late 40s or 50s. You're very likely to lose your job every time there's a recession.

With software you can make whatever you want, right now.

Well you are an architect in a way, you may not be building things out of trees, but you should be building things out of thoughts.

Thoughts may not clean our air, but well directed thoughts may do things just as impressive :D

Jurai?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com