Modern, Sustainable Desert Communities

As global warming continues to impact life on earth, humans must be equipped to live in the warmest climates. This means adapting to desert life, where water is scarce and sunlight is abundant. Different habitation plans could be used to approach desert habitation – making it an interesting problem to tackle.

Materials (real building)

• Glass 
• Solar panels
• Whitewashed adobe treated with filament for 3D printing
• Steel roofing
• Solar panels
• Filtration systems

Materials (DIY)

• 3D printer 
• Filament
• Acrylic sheets
• Craft paper

Initially, I laid out a floorplan. Each home would have one bedroom and one bath, and be 700 square feet.

As with any efficient desert home, solar panels are a must. Covering the entire roof with panels would provide enough electricity to power the entire home, and store excess energy for later usage. This prompted me to think of possible energy storage solutions in the community.

Using a generative AI model, I was able to transform the 3D model into a rendering of the home. While it could use improvements, it captures the general idea in terms of materials and layout.

This was achieved by using ComfyUI with a certain configuration attached below. The configuration involves using a ControlNet to incorporate a depth map of the screenshot of the model (with default view in Fusion 360). This enables the model to achieve a more accurate result. Using a depth map along with a good prompt yielded the above result after a couple retries.

It became evident that water is one of the key problems to address when considering desert habitation. This greenhouse would allow the desert community to collect rainwater with its large ceiling profile. The greenhouse is required because of the inability to simultaneously collect rainwater and use solar on the home roofs.

In terms of resources the greenhouse will need, it can stay cool through the process of evaporative cooling. Water will be sourced from greywater waste in the housing community.

Here, I designed a rainwater storage tank that would hold excess rainwater collected by the greenhouse. It includes a filtration system, where multiple filters would clean the water before it is used.

With the excess solar energy the community will be producing, it will be necessary to store it. A battery bank would be the best way to do this. On top of individual batteries for each home, a central battery storage facility will be necessary for excess power production.

Given the high amount of wind in the desert, using a wind catcher is a possible option to manage temperature. This would mean capturing wind and redirecting it into the house.

Solar chimneys are also a viable option, which would heat air and simultaneously release it, directing hot air out of the living space.

The most advantageous idea would be taking advantage of the greenery in the greenhouse to design a geothermal heating/cooling system, taking advantage of the moist soil which provides greater thermal conductivity. This system would be shared among the homes, creating a centralized cooling system requiring less maintenance.

With water being such a scarce resource in the desert, it is essential to design a system to use it efficiently. This means reusing greywater for plant watering, reducing the amount of freshwater needed to water plants. This water, cleaned by botanical cells, is reused in toilet systems. The blackwater produced here travels to a traditional septic tank.

The system outlined above is optimal for the arid conditions in the desert, where one drop of water should not be wasted. Combining this with the rainwater collection system, the desert community will be extremely water efficient.

These homes were designed with 3D printing in mind. In order to reach new levels of efficiency, it is necessary that their structures are 3D printed. This means prototyping could be done with a home-scale 3D printer.

With regard to the material, there would have to be innovation with regards to adobe based materials to ensure their ability to be used for 3D printing. This means adding some kind of filament that increases its viscosity and prevents it from losing shape right after coming out of the nozzle.

Repeat step 3 with the entire community. In this step, it was extremely important to use the depth map as there were smaller, finer features associated with the model.

Summary

This eco-friendly housing plan envisions modern, sustainable desert communities, designed to adapt to climate change by efficiently managing scarce water resources. Each home features a one-bedroom, one-bath layout constructed with temperature-efficient, 3D-printed whitewashed adobe, glass, solar panels, and steel roofing. Key features include passive ventilation, heat pumps, a community-wide water management system with rainwater collection, and graywater recycling, primarily through a greenhouse. The electrical system relies on solar power with backup generators and central battery storage, with potential exploration of fuel cells and electrolyzers. However, weaknesses include potential high initial costs for advanced materials and technology, challenges in large-scale implementation, and reliance on emerging technologies like 3D printing that may not yet be fully efficient or cost-effective.