Futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson has big expectations for the future of construction. Now, in a new report commissioned by Virgin StartUp and Colmore Tang Construction, Dr. Pearson shares some of the potential changes to come.
Dr. Pearson’s proposed future is environmentally friendly and efficient, featuring roofs made from recycled plastic bottles and 3D printed walls. Artificial intelligence (AI) may also play a part in construction, allowing for human workers and robots to work alongside one another in the industry. These AIs, however, would not serve to replace human workers, but would rather supplement their work and be seen as valuable tools.
Along with these robots, drones will likely play a role in the future of construction, says Dr. Pearson, including being responsible for lifting objects to various locations around build sites. Cameras and sensors could begin to play a larger role in the industry as well, being used to monitor the progress on a construction site and determine whether the plans are being completed to the architect’s liking.
In the long term, Dr. Pearson suggests that the construction of floating buildings might be underway by 2050, using a special kind of carbon foam that’s lighter than air. The addition of such buildings, hypothesizes Dr. Pearson, could have a huge impact on the housing crisis.
By 2075, he says we should expect to see examples of kinetic architecture, making way for self-assembling buildings. These buildings could be constructed using existing materials, further promoting environmental responsibility.
Although it remains to be seen how Dr. Pearson’s predictions will develop over the next 60 years or so, it’s likely that technology will come to play a role in construction in a big way over the coming decades.
“The possibilities for this really are endless,” commented Dr. Pearson in a press release
