Miami-based climate-tech startup, Kind Designs, is leveraging 3D concrete printing technology from CyBe as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable construction method to produce ‘Living Seawalls’. These underwater structures protect our shores, improve the ocean’s biodiversity, and monitor water quality.
The sea levels are rising, the ocean’s water quality is getting worse, marine biodiversity is decreasing, and coral reefs are facing extinction. Kind Designs is tackling this problem head-on. For CEO and founder, Anya Freeman, issues related to sea-level rise in Miami became a part of her everyday life, but instead of dwelling on the problem, she decided to seek a remedy. She founded Kind Designs with just this goal – finding a solution to address the challenges faced by our oceans, via ‘Living Seawalls’.
Living Seawalls
Just like ordinary seawalls, Kind Designs’ structures are made to be placed underwater in order to improve the local marine environment. They protect the land from erosion, flooding, and storm surges, and help counteract sea-level rise. However, Kind Designs elevated the concept of seawalls by designing them to include distinctive, nature-like shapes. These Living Seawalls offer support to local marine life – enhancing the ocean’s biodiversity. Their rough texture and curvy design offer shelter for marine life like fish and crustaceans while providing a stable foundation for marine plants to grow on. Additionally, Living Seawalls are embedded with sensors that measure water quality using 15 different parameters, such as pH levels and salinity. Currently, this data needs to be collected manually by Florida counties. However, once these sensors are deployed, they will provide readily available data, saving the state many hours of manual labor.
Manufacturing on Demand
Affordable, fast, and sustainable production
One of the reasons seawalls aren’t more common is their price tag. These underwater structures are generally quite expensive to produce, so Kind Designs had to find an affordable way to construct them. Having researched cost-efficient construction methods, they opted for 3D concrete printing to create their Living Seawalls. 3D concrete printing is generally seen as a cheaper, faster, and more sustainable alternative to conventional construction. Kind Designs has already proven the fact that it is much faster, by using a 3D concrete printer to manufacture a Living Seawall in under two hours.
The hardware, software, and material for 3D printing were provided by CyBe Construction. CyBe, founded in the legacy of a 100-year-old giant in the construction industry, has a decade of experience in 3D concrete printing. They develop their proprietary hardware, software, and materials tailored for additive manufacturing. The company was founded with a vision for an improved and more sustainable society – aligning perfectly with Kind Designs’ goal for a better world.
Kind Designs’ production process was recently kickstarted by a seed funding round of $5 million, co-led by GOVO Venture Partners, M4 Investing, and the Florida Opportunity Fund.
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Author: Edward Wakefield
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