Because of this support, USC engineers are optimistic that they will be able to demonstrate a full-scale prototype in 2006, as tangible proof of a process that promises swift new shelter to the multitudes worldwide that are left homeless due to natural disasters or war each year. 

Directing the Contour Crafting endeavor is Behrohk Khoshnevis, a professor in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, who created the system recalling tragic earthquake damage he observed in his native Iran during the early 1990s.

 “I want to thank the Annenberg Foundation for its support and vision in helping to pave the way for valuable and enduring global rehabilitation,” said Khoshnevis.  “In addition to providing a solution for millions of low income families and victims of natural disasters, Contour Crafting has the potential to reduce the number of workers seriously injured or killed in the course of construction projects in the United States."

Khoshnevis is an expert on so-called rapid prototyping systems, which “print out” three -dimensional objects by building them up in thin layers.  Two years ago, with funding from the National Science Foundation, Khoshnevis began work on a way to up-size the process to construct houses and other structures. 

Khoshnevis' existing Contour Crafting machine extrudes concrete or other liquid building material much the way toothpaste comes out of a tube, molding the material with trowels as it exits a nozzle. Mounted on a crane or gantry, the machine continuously circles the site, laying down layer after layer. The system creates the foundation and structural skeleton as it builds, leaving space for plumbing and electrical conduits. Khoshnevis says it should be able to build a full-scale 2,000 square-foot house in one day, rather than in six months or more.

“The machine works without blueprints, proceeding directly from the CAD-CAM computer drafting systems widely used by architects today,” said Khoshnevis. “What the architect designs, the robotic arm creates.”

Khoshnevis believes Contour Crafting "will enable the construction of custom-designed, low-cost housing with a level of quality considered unachievable in such a limited or concentrated timeframe."  Contour Crafting is also being evaluated by NASA as a potential building system for the moon or Mars.

About the Annenberg Foundation:

The Annenberg Foundation exists to advance the public well-being through improved communication.  As the principal means of achieving its goal, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge.  The Annenberg Foundation has offices in Radnor, PA and Los Angeles, CA. www.annenbergfoundation.org

About the USC Viterbi School of Engineering:

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering has home to 1900 undergraduates, and more than 30 combined degree options. Its more than 3300 graduate students pursue degrees in over 25 fields; the USC graduate program in engineering is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the U. S. News and World Report rankings.  With over $135 million in external funding support, the school is among the nation's highest in volume of research activity and is the only school in California, and one of only four in the nation, to house two concurrent active National Science Foundation supported Engineering Research Centers of Excellence.  More than a third of its 165 faculty members are fellows in their respective professional societies. With 25 faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineers and 40 others who have earned Presidential Early Career, Presidential Young Investigator or NSF/NIH Young Investigator awards, the school ranks among the nation's very best. http://viterbi.usc.edu/