A Chicago-based company wants to help people create an amazing machine that transforms dirt into durable building bricks. The Liberator is a large compressed earth brick press that makes it possible for almost anyone create building materials wherever they are needed. AjarTech has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds they need to create and distribute the CAD plans, material list, and instructions to share this shortcut to resilient construction with the world.
AjarTech is aiming to raise $20,000 to create open source plans for the Compressed Earth Brick Press (CEB) known as The Liberator: an automatic, high-volume CEB. This technology would enable anyone to build a house that is essentially bulletproof, fireproof, and soundproof. The original concept for the CEB press comes from Open Source Ecology, where documents for the initial design are available to the public. AjarTech seeks to take this concept further and develop an even more efficient machine. Since the bricks are made from earth, no concrete is needed for construction. The Liberator can easily produce enough earthen bricks for a resilient tiny house by recycling the dirt removed to lay a foundation.
Related: Compressed earth bird-watching center in Switzerland celebrates ancient building methods
This is the first major project for AjarTech, the latest venture of serial entrepreneur Peter Scheyer. The company is described on the Kickstarter page as working to “connect people to capital and resources using our extensive open-source network to bring open source projects into fruition.”
A minimum pledge of $30 is needed to score a digital set of the schematics once the campaign closes, and upper levels will be rewarded with 3D-printed CEB presses. If the campaign is successfully funded, AjarTech hopes to fulfill those promises by next summer. Just in time for compressed earth brick construction season.
+ The Liberator on Kickstarter
Images via AjarTech
