Machines: Global Village Construction Set

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts. We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made at a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free.

gvcs-all-50

We are developing a lifesize, scalable, modular LEGO construction set.

The GVCS in itself consists of many other Construction Sets – as we build not individual machines, but construction sets of machines. As an example, the Fabrication Construction Set component can be used to build any of the other machines. Our goal is lifetime design, and low maintenance so only a few hours of maintenance per year are required to keep any machine alive.

We have built the first machine in 2007 – the Compressed Earth Brick Press. Since then, we have been moving forward steadily, improving the performance and production efficiencies of our machines. We have achieved a landmark One Day production time of the Compressed Earth Brick Press in 2012, and we intend to bring down the production time down to 1 day for each of the other machines. In 2013, we used our tractor, brick press, and soil pulverizer to build a comfortable home – the Microhouse. We continue to dogfood our tools in agriculture, construction, and fabrication – as we build our facility up to a world-class research center for open source, libre technology and decentralized production. In 2014, we will be moving to a replicable workshop model of production – integrating immersion education and production – where we intend to scale by distributing our open enterprise models far and wide. Our goal is to demonstrate how these machines contribute to creating a world beyond artificial material scarcity – by creating an open documentation, development, and production platform – towards the open source economy.

Our metric of completion is demonstrating a replicable, open source, social production model for a given machine. We call this the Learning Factor-e model. The main steps are a proof of concept, first prototype, full documentation, a working prototype, and an open enterprise model.

In 2018, our status of completion for the machines is about 1/3 done:

By using simple, modular, scalable design and open source collaboration, we are breaking cost barriers. Here is a sample comparison of our price point goals – compared to industry standards – for the same productivity performance machine:

62 Comments

  1. […] Machines: Global Village Construction Set, […]

  2. Similar projects | The Knowledge

    […] he is already designing and building a cleverly interlinked set of machinery. When completed, the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) will represent open-source blueprints for a complementary assemblage of fifty machines that […]

  3. […] ziemlich geniales Open Source Projekt ist das Global Villa Construcion Set, eine teilweise bereits fertig entwickelte Ansammlung von Maschinen und Geräten die die Errichtung […]

  4. […] time, I believe that the use of relatively high-technology techniques to accomplish not merely the local, autonomous production of everyday objects, furnitures and infrastructures, but their refit and repair, will come to be an economically salient activity in the global North. […]

  5. […] $63,500 in a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011 and has since worked on developing the ‘Global Village Construction Set’ […]

  6. […] creating its own tools (and its own power source, like steam engine generators) from raw materials might very well be the backbone of a new civilization. Solar panels, CAD-enabled computing, and other specialized modern tools will allow you to […]

  7. […] and for related open enterprises”. One of the main outcomes of the initiative is the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) “a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of […]

  8. […] made the designs open source. From there he, and other developers, went on to build and publish the Global Village Construction Set- call it a civilization toolkit. The Open Source Ecology picked the fifty tools most necessary to […]

  9. […] “Global Village Construction Set.” Digital Image. 13 June 2014. http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ […]

  10. Moon Nation | zenhuman

    […] folks over at the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) have built plans for a basic set of machines that, as a group, can fabricate any or all […]

  11. […] and sharing information across borders and lines of difference  through programs like the Open Source Ecology Project to build millions of local, cooperatively owned wind turbines from recycled materials. Envision […]

  12. […] Taking a song from the Open Source Software movement, others have launched efforts to create “Open Source Hardware“, “Open Source Ecology” (as in technological ecology), and even “Global Village Construction Kit“. […]

  13. […] Construction Set is a modular system that works kind of like real-world Lego. According to the website, a backhoe would only cost $4500 to construct — a little over two days renting the […]

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    […] /. just hipped me to a website that will now enjoy pride of place right next to the Global Village Construction Set in my personal post-apocalyptic bookshelf/bookmarks. It's gonna be a really hard task to not just […]

  16. […] harrigarriena Open Source Ecology proiektua izan daiteke, proiektu honek herri globalean erabil daitezkeen 50 makinaren diseinu […]

  17. […] publish the plans to all the things it takes to make create the infrastructure of a society/city: Global Village Construction Set . 50 different machines that it takes to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts. […]

  18. The Abolition of Money | Exit

    […] These have been started.     These are permaculture driven.     These seek to create the tools necessary to keep these ED Sanctuaries operational no matter the future, for any and all.     […]

  19. […] Link: Global Village Construction Set […]

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  21. Baja tecnología | perspectyv

    […] estos proyectos me encantan. “Herramientas de código abierto para construir una civilización“, que incluyen tractor, generador, cortadora láser, hormigonera, horno, la casa… […]

  22. […] necessary tools, these are all advanced items, primarily made of metal. They include such things as tractors, industrial robots, and agricultural implements which are extremely necessary to any large scale project of the kind they are seeking. However, […]

  23. […] forget the Global Village Construction Set, which includes 3D printers as one of the most important tools for rebuilding civilisation. Once […]

  24. […] comme il se présente, qui développe un kit de construction de matériel utile à la vie moderne, le Global Village Construction Set (50 machines de base dans le domaine industriel et agricole), fabriqué en DiY et en collaboratif et […]

  25. […] comme il se présente, qui développe un kit de construction de matériel utile à la vie moderne, le Global Village Construction Set (50 machines de base dans le domaine industriel et agricole), fabriqué en DiY et en collaboratif et […]

  26. Open Sovereignty - Daniel West

    […] Source Technologies such as the Global Village Construction Set by Open Source Ecology, or Open Source Beehives, or any of these 21 technologies that are […]

  27. […] The Global Village Construction Set […]

  28. […] The Global Village Construction Set […]

  29. […] many this will mean pressed brick shelters and the fullest possible use of the Global Village Construction Set being created by Marcin Jakubowski. It will also mean broad acceptance of Peer to Peer forms of […]

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  33. […] [7] voir Open Source Ecology http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ […]

  34. […] out to the Global Village construction set (http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/) by Open Source Ecology.It is a modular, open-source platform that allows you to build a […]

  35. […] The Global Village Construction Set for rebuilding civilisation from scratch, depends upon the initial use of 3D printers in order to construct the 50 critical industrial machines needed to reboot an industrial civilisation. […]

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  37. […] Reste à réunir les montants nécessaires… Pour la presse, 4000$ sont nécessaires. Voici les budgets estimés (et les économies réalisées) […]

  38. […] Global Village Construction Set: This project is by Marcin Jakubowski, from Open Source Ecology. With his open source blueprints you can DIY your own tracker, bull dozer or bakery oven. In fact he’s got 50 industrial machines in the pipeline that will be modular in design. Work at high performance and cost a fraction of the price of any commercial machine. With all these machines you could run a small village. Watch his TED Talk to see why this project came to be.   […]

  39. […] Open Source Ecology (Global Village Construction Set) […]

  40. […] scarcity, distribution and post-scarcity; the definition, mission and goals of open source ecology; the civilization starter kit of 50 irreplaceable machines; Richard Stallman’s free software vs the open source software […]

  41. […] offre des possibilités de production participative de biens ou d’équipements. Par exemple, The global construction set, en français boîte à outils du village global, est une plateforme modulaire conçue pour être […]

  42. […] who is also the founder of Open Source Ecology, first surprised the world in 2011 with his Global Village Construction Set. This project recreates the 50 machines that modern civilization is built on, using all […]

  43. […] Machines: Global Village Construction Set […]

  44. […] the coming anarchy and chaos hits most of the world, anyone who can master the construction and maintenance of basic infrastructure will be at an advantage when it comes to being able to feed and shelter people in communities and […]

  45. Owned & Operated – InQuasar

    […] is an organization, the GVCS, that identified the 50 most important machines and is now working to develop their designs in a […]

  46. […] almost redundant to say we live in an age of unprecedented technological growth. I mean, look at this stuff. That’s just since 2010 – throughout the world, and not just the privileged world, tech […]

  47. […] project, with its demo site at Factor e Farm, has designed and prototyped most of an open-source Global Village Construction Set that includes not only such manufacturing tools, but farm and construction machinery (tractor, […]

  48. […] as a microscope, a robot that can run and be used by the military, a helium-filled 6TB hard drive, open-source industrial machines, and a syringe with tiny sponges that can seal a gunshot wound in […]

  49. pinboard January 8, 2017 — arghh.net

    […] Machines: Global Village Construction Set | Open Source Ecology How to rebuild civilization from scratch. Handy for Mars colonies, seasteads, global financial crises, and the like. http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ https://twitter.com/balajis/status/817865404081053696/photo/1 […]

  50. […] printing, Contour Crafting, waste recycling, and further developing open source designs such as the Global Village Construction Set. Examples of places like Regen Villages and Tamera can be used as a blueprint and their […]

  51. […] This effort joins existing “open source hardware” concepts, all of which are creating a global collection of artifacts for gardening, office furniture, clothing, plastic recycling and housing and homesteading. […]

  52. […] nació la idea de desarrollar un “Kit de Construcción de la Aldea Global” (Global Village Construction Set). Este kit consistiría en desarrollar, en código abierto, el número de máquinas necesarias para […]

  53. […] of the cost of the dysfunctional industrial-donor model. I credit Marcin Jakubowski and his Global Village Construction Setwith documenting the FACT that most things we need — from energy and water desalination to pressed […]

  54. […] Global Village Construction Set. […]

  55. […] To je dôvod, prečo sme boli povolaní vybudovať udržateľné komunity poháňané svojou vlastnou „zelenou“ technológiou, ktorá si sama vyprodukuje vlastné jedlo a vodu s technológiou ako FarmBot, akvapónia a permakultúra. Musíme začať s výrobou na lokálnej úrovni, začať využívať 3D tlačiarne, Contour Crafting, recyklovať odpad a naďalej rozvíjať návrhy otvorených zdrojov ako je Global Village Construction Set. […]

  56. […] Dr. Jakubowski’s larger body of work can be seen at Open Source Ecology, and particularly at Global Village Construction Set where the comparative economic costs are at the bottom of the long online […]

  57. Howtopedia | Pearltrees

    […] de tonneaux. Construction du 3eme pont sur le bosphore. Awesome folding furniture designs. Machines: Global Village Construction Set. The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform […]

  58. […] Diseño abierto: los diseños compartidos a través de estos medios serían estudiados por comunidades de tecnólogos y contarían con licencias que fomenten la reciprocidad. Podrían darse dinámicas en las que se resuelven problemas de forma colaborativa y se generan productos intelectuales ajustados a necesidades específicas. Un ejemplo puede encontrarse en la web: http://opensourceecology.org/gvcs/. […]