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Are 3D Homes the solution to America’s housing shortage and a way to build sustainably? One company seems to be seeing this and want to prove it: construction technology company Icon, a leader in large-scale 3D printing, recently announced a partnership with home builder Lennar to build the largest community of 3D printed houses in the world. Lennar, one of the largest home builders in the country, is joining the recent $ 207 million financing round from Austin-based Icon, and this collaboration brings the two companies closer together.
The project will break ground in the Austin area in 2022 and will include 100 single-story homes co-designed by the prestigious Bjarke Ingles Group architectural firm. The new Austin development from Icon relies on its innovative Vulcan 3D printer. It’s a machine that makes a cement-based mixture called Lavacrete. The company says Vulcan “makes resilient, energy-efficient homes faster than traditional building methods, with less waste and more design freedom – keeping construction projects on schedule and on budget.” These homes can be up to 3,000 square feet and last longer and even longer than properties built using standard construction methods. According to Icon, when combined with other state-of-the-art materials, Lavacrete can withstand extreme weather conditions and help keep homes intact in the event of a natural disaster.
An illustration of icon houses under construction.
Icon has already built two dozen 3D printed homes and buildings in the United States and Mexico, and claims that number is the most completed of any construction technology company. Last summer, for example, a homeless man named Tim Shea became the first person to live in a 3D-printed house that Icon built with Vulcan. The 400 square foot lot is in Community First! Village in Austin that provides affordable permanent housing for people emerging from homelessness.
Icon co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard said in a statement, “Icon exists in response to the global real estate crisis and to put our technology at the service of the world.” He went on to say, “The United States is in deficit of around 5 million new homes, so there is an urgent need to increase supply quickly without compromising on quality, beauty or sustainability, and that is exactly the strength of our technology. “
Innovations in 3D printed housing could change productivity significantly, according to Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at real estate broker and research firm Redfin. “The construction industry lags most other industries in terms of productivity growth – it gets more houses from the same number of construction workers,” he says. “The labor shortage has always been a challenge for large builders, and the current job market has only exacerbated this challenge.”
Build houses at Icon.
However, Marr adds that, given the overall scarcity of five million homes, Icon’s Austin community is small, making the housing market increasingly unaffordable. “Still, it is a step in the right direction and, if successful, could be extended to the whole country,” he says.
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https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/austin-3d-printing-community
