A South Florida startup called Kind Designs is helping fight climate change one 3D printed seawall at a time.
A 120-foot project will be installed on Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach at the end of the month.
Anya Freeman, CEO and founder of Kind Designs, said it takes about an hour to print a 10-foot seawall panel.
“Traditionally, making these panels with molds would take a full day, 24 hours,” she said.
The regulations for dikes have been adjusted in recent years, so old dikes now have to be replaced to meet the new standards.
“So not only does it meet building codes and protect communities from flooding, but it is now a marine habitat,” Freeman said.
Living seawalls minimize disruption to marine life while increasing biodiversity. This is extremely important to keep the ecosystem strong.
“The design (…) actually mimics mangrove roots, which are a natural habitat for marine life,” Freeman explained. “So it attracts a lot of marine life, the larger marine creatures hide in the caves and the smaller organisms attach themselves to the particular structure of the seawall that you see, and when they attach themselves, they deposit their skeletons on the wall and so on . “The skeleton binds carbon simply through very simple biocalcification.”
In addition, the materials used are also more environmentally friendly, without having to recreate the system for installation.
“It’s basically the same material, concrete, but ours is non-toxic,” Freeman said. “There is no chloride, no metals, there are no leeches.” Our seawalls also follow exactly the same installation process as traditional seawalls.”
Miami Beach will be the first country to use this design in public spaces and Kind Designs’ goal is to make this design known worldwide.
