alt Hacker NewsI have this idea where we pick a desert road as long as possible (maybe road 50 Nevada) then build a 50 000 metric ton machine that makes large rammed earth houses. Perhaps make a mold the shape of a Ferris wheel. Have it stamp out 200 homes per week (2 miles) Road 50 is 400 miles so 200 weeks.
Rammed earth is a very decent building material but if you make the walls thick and compress it hard enough (maybe add steam?) it will last hundreds of years. Other building methods should be considered ofc domed roofs are perhaps not cool enough.
Disassemble the machine, ship the containers and deploy it some place else.
Add some killer features to the homes so that people cant wait to live there. For the first 400 miles at least $30 billion comes out (over 30 years) or $15 bl per year for each year of construction. Should be good enough for investors.
If it works, build additional improved versions. Aim for a factory that makes these machines.
Something like a sane version of the line.
Something like this only 20 times larger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKi8VWRDA_c
Something like this but moving.
There's a reason people don't live in that part of the world and it's not because there aren't any houses.