3D Printing Affordable Housing at Scale

Cindy Widner reports on the expanding legacy of the first fully permitted 3D-printed home in the United States—a 350-square-foot home located in East Austin.

The home required 48 hours of printing, and was unveiled in March 2018.

"The house was the result of a collaboration between Austin-based Icon, a startup focused on creating new, sustainable building practices to make quality homes accessible to all, and New Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building low-cost homes internationally," according to Widner.

The home is back in the news this week, during South by Southwest, as Icon announces that its new printer, the Vulcan II 3D printer, will be shipped to "first-end users" in April of this year.

Austin-based Cielo Property Group has commissioned a Vulcan II printer, according to Widner, "to be used exclusively to print affordable housing locally."

Icon promises cost savings of 30-50 percent from traditional construction techniques.