Home » Misc » Giant 3d printed house

Giant 3d printed house


Look inside only large-scale 3D printed housing development in U.S.

  • Just outside Austin, Texas, massive machines are squeezing out 100 three- and four-bedroom homes, in the first major housing development to be 3D-printed on site.
  • One of the nation's largest homebuilders, Lennar, is partnering with ICON, a 3D printing company, to develop the project.
  • "The promise of robotic construction is a promise of automation, reducing labor – therefore reducing labor costs," said ICON co-founder Jason Ballard.

watch now

It looks more like a project at NASA than a home construction site.

Just outside Austin, Texas, massive machines are squeezing out 100 three- and four-bedroom homes, in the first major housing development to be 3D-printed on site.

One of the nation's largest homebuilders, Lennar, is partnering with ICON, a 3D printing company, to develop the project. Lennar was an early investor in ICON, which has printed just about a dozen homes in Texas and in Mexico. These homes will go on the market in 2023, starting in the mid-$400,000 range.

"This is the first 100 homes, but we expect to be able to bring this to scale, and at scale we really bring cycle times down and we also bring cost down," said Stuart Miller, executive chairman of Lennar.

ICON claims it can build the entire wall system of the home, which includes mechanical, electrical and plumbing, two to three times faster than a traditional home and at up to 30% of the cost.

Read more real estate coverage

"We exceed code requirements for all the different kinds of strength, wind, compressive strength by about 4x. We're about two and a half times more energy efficient," said Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON.

The printers are designed to operate 24 hours a day, but they don't because of area noise restrictions. They are almost fully automated, with just three workers at each home. One monitors the process on a laptop, and one checks the concrete mixture, which has to be adapted to the current weather conditions. Another works in support, misting the area with water or adding new material into the system.

"The promise of robotic construction is a promise of automation, reducing labor – therefore reducing labor costs," Ballard said.

ICON aims to get the number of operators down to two over the next 12 months, Ballard added. Eventually, he wants even fewer operators. "I think the sort of Holy Grail is where one person can watch a dozen systems you need one person to watch a dozen systems," Ballard said.

The main squeeze

An ICON 3D printer at a housing development in Georgetown, TX.

Diana Olick | CNBC

The way it works is a digital floor plan is loaded into the software system called Build OS, which then prepares it for robotic construction. It will automatically map out the structural reinforcement, placing the electrical and plumbing outlets during the print. The printers then squeeze out rows and rows of a proprietary concrete mixture that looks much like toothpaste, slowly building up the structure.

Other companies, like California-based Mighty Buildings, are also using 3D printing technology, but they print the homes in a factory and then move them on-site. ICON brings the factory to the site.

"With this project, we're improving our total house count 400%, and we expect to like continue at least doubling for the next three to five years," said Ballard. He said he already has plans to work with other large-scale builders. DR Horton is another of ICON's early investors.

Lennar's Miller said his primary focus is on bringing more affordable homes to the market, and he sees this as one way to do that. But he knows it's also still the early stages.

"This is all about innovation. If you go around the country and speak to officials at the local and state level, the single biggest question is: How do we provide workforce housing, affordable housing," he said.

Lennar began plans on the project with ICON when the housing market was still red-hot, driven by strong demand and record-low mortgage rates. Now mortgage rates are more than double what they were at the start of the year, and demand has fallen off sharply, suggesting their could be added risk to this project.

"We still focus on our core business, making the trains run on time, building homes across the country, and as the market cycles up and cycles down we adjust our business," said Miller. "Innovation is a cycle as it sits on the side of our business because we know, looking forward, there's a housing shortage out there."

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP

How 3D printing can be the solution to the nation’s affordable housing crisis

April Stringfield has rented apartments since her early twenties, and often worked two to three jobs to make ends meet. 

Fueled by the desire to own a home, she applied for affordable housing provided by Habitat for Humanity. 

She and her teenage son just moved into their new, 1,200-square-feet-home in Williamsburg, Virginia, constructed with the help of a 3D printer.

“It’s unbelievable,” Stringfield, 35, said. “It’s like a dream come true.”

Habitat for Humanity selected her home as its first 3D-printed project. Initiated between a partnership with Alquist, a 3D-printing construction company, it is the organization’s effort to confront the nation’s affordable housing crisis, which increased due to multiple factors including the heightened costs of materials during the pandemic and a booming demand on the housing market.

The printer head of a giant 3D printer begins laying cement for the foundation of a Habitat for Humanity home.Consociate Media

According to a March 2020 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, extremely low-income renters — households with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30 percent of the area median income — face a housing shortage of 7 million available and affordable rental homes. The report also found that the lack of affordable housing is prevalent in communities of color with 71 percent of Black, extremely low-income renters spending more than half of their income on housing.

Organizations like Habitat for Humanity are betting that 3D printing could help alleviate the increased demand for low-cost housing. 

Alquist 3D CEO Zach Mannheimer with new Habitat for Humanity homeowner April in front of her new home.Habitat for Humanity

Tawkiyah Jordan, senior director of housing and community strategy for Habitat for Humanity, said the organization adopted this method of building to meet the need to innovate, while also keeping high-quality homes affordable. It costs approximately $150,000 to construct a typical home with wood. By using concrete to construct homes with a 3D printer, it saves Alquist up to 15 percent on building expenses.

“What really drives us is that mission for everyone to have a safe, affordable place to live,” she said, “and we’re also interested in multigenerational wealth being developed through homeownership, which is one of the primary mechanisms for wealth generation in our country.”

Using 3D printing to build homes provides numerous benefits, including a decrease in construction time due to the machine’s efficiency. During the process, concrete is extruded from a large machine into layers that form the walls, foundation and footing of the home. While the machine is printing, it requires little supervision or staff on the site, which prevents injuries and saves costs on workers’ compensation, said Kirk Andersen, director of operations for the New York-based 3D-printing company SQ4D.

He said he’s completed about 40 percent of a home in just under six months by using one 3D-printing machine, compared to completing a project within six to 12 months using the industry’s standard building practices.

Habitat for Humanity’s first 3D-printed house in Williamsburg, Va.Habitat for Humanity

Andersen said he thinks 3D printing will eventually become the go-to method for building rather than with wood because it’s a more efficient way to build. NBC News reported that lumber costs rose by about 154 percent in May 2021 due to shortages of materials and labor. Cement also provides better protection for homes against mold, termites and moisture compared to wood, he said.

While a 3D printer provides a fast and effective method of building, there are some challenges. Weather can be a big obstacle, which can halt a project if conditions aren’t suitable. He also said many builders lack education on the 3D-printing process, which prevents more sites from using it.

Stringfield, as a future homeowner, said she was in doubt at first. When she was informed that her house would be built with a 3D printer, she said she was nervous because the method was so rarely used. She also had concerns about having a house made out of concrete. She remembers her great-grandmother’s concrete house was always cold, but she decided to follow in her footsteps. 

“So I figured this was kind of like, traditional — she had one and now I live in a concrete home,” Stringfield said. “I’ll be a homeowner of 3D printing.” 

Her new home has three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. It is also furnished with appliances and equipped with monitoring systems to control temperature, security and more.

April and her 13-year-old son working on the construction site of their future 3D-printed home.Consociate Media

While all Habitat for Humanity applicants must demonstrate a need for affordable housing, they also must partner with the organization while their home or someone else’s home is being built. This process, called earning “sweat equity,” also includes enrolling in homeownership classes or participating in Habitat ReStore, a program that refurbishes donated household items and sells them to the public.

In addition to working consistently at her current job as a laundry supervisor at a Great Wolf Lodge resort, she said she had to pay her bills on time and maintain her credit score.

Like many low-income Black renters, Stringfield works a full-time job, yet her income is a fraction of Virginia’s median family income, which is $93,497. The gap had prevented her from being able to afford to buy a home. Through Habitat’s homebuyer program, her monthly housing payments, including taxes and insurance, will cost less than 30 percent of her income.

April volunteering during installation 3D-printed house walls at a Habitat for Humanity site.Consociate Media

Jeff Olivet, co-founder of Racial Equity Partners, a racial equity training company, said homelessness and the lack of affordable housing are inextricably linked. In a March 2018 report by the Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities initiative he co-authored, the unavailability of safe and affordable housing is one of the key factors that influences homelessness and creates barriers in exiting homelessness for people of color. 

According to him, homelessness increased during the past few years due to a number of factors, including the pandemic, which had an outsize economic impact on communities of color. Nonetheless, people of color have been disproportionately impacted by homelessness for decades due to structural racism, discriminatory housing policies and job discrimination.

“The reality is the opportunities that people have in this country for economic mobility and economic stability cut across racial lines,” Olivet said, “and Black and brown people have been excluded from opportunity for decades, for centuries; and what that results in is really precarious housing situations with very little economic flexibility to withstand any catastrophes that might arise. ”

April volunteers during installation of 3D-printed house walls at a Habitat for Humanity site.Consociate Media

He said that homeownership is a protective factor against homelessness. While homeownership programs like Habitat for Humanity are actively working to solve the affordable housing crisis, he believes that it’s only part of the solution. Providing more affordable housing is a national collective effort that also involves fixing housing policies and expanding services.

“It’s absolutely possible for everyone to have a home,” he said, “but we’ve got to fix the housing affordability crisis — and we’ve got to close that gap in units and get us back to where we were before massive cuts in federal spending on housing started getting enacted in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Living in an affordable home eliminates some of the financial worries Stringfield experienced as a renter and allows her to focus on her future goals. She anticipates becoming a registered nurse while making memories in her new home, including in her large backyard.

“We can have cookouts now,” she said. “We can have family gatherings.”

Follow NBCBLK on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In Stavropol, students created a house using a giant 3D printer

December 02, 2022 16:33 Julia Rudy

The students who worked on the project will continue to work in the company that has acted as an industrial partner of the innovative project. nine0005 Photo of NCFU.

In Stavropol, students built the first one-story house using a 3D construction printer. In this they were assisted by a team of developers from among the designers of the construction equipment plant.

Students of the Engineering Faculty of the North Caucasus Federal University (NCFU) tested the innovative technology of building a house.

The 3D printer was designed by a construction equipment company. However, NCFU students were also invited to participate in the development. nine0003

"I worked on the design of the printer, creating 3D models, drawings and subsequent operation of the development," said Alexei Nosenko, a student at the NCFU Engineering Institute.

Modified fine-grained concrete was used as the printing material. "Print" is a layer-by-layer application of a building mixture according to a given three-dimensional computer model.

Construction 3D printer allows you to build houses, buildings and other structures faster. Due to the use of additive technologies (layer-by-layer building), the construction period of the building is reduced to several days. As the creators of the technology note, a house with an area of ​​100 square meters is built in 36 hours. nine0003

In addition, this technology generates less construction waste, and each square meter of new premises costs the developer less.

"Before starting the construction of the first one-story house, we made two uniform projects. We built one house in the classical way, and the other in an additive way, using a printer. We were convinced that the second way of working is much more profitable and faster - the savings turned out 36 %," said Dmitry Moskvitin, director of the NCFU partner enterprise. nine0003

The cooperation between the federal university and the construction equipment plant took two years: this is how much work on the project took in total from the idea to the first erected building.

Having received the necessary knowledge in this innovative area, many students then continued to work in the company.

At the moment, a two-story building is being built using 3D printing. Reportedly, in three working days, taking into account weather conditions, it was possible to build the entire first floor. nine0003

"Now we are directly engaged in the construction of buildings, residential premises, warehouses, which will be rented out to people and perform their direct function," said Alexey Nosenko.

In the meantime, NCFU is planning to open a new research and education center for additive technologies.

In it, students and their mentors will study and improve concrete mixtures, develop special software and industrial controllers. It is also necessary to create and develop new methods for designing buildings and building structures, adapted specifically for building 3D printing. nine0003

Previously, we talked about how Russian engineers create machines to print large carbon fiber car body parts, and how wasps inspired scientists to print houses out of mud and clay.

More news from the world of science and medicine can be found in the sections "Science" and "Medicine" on the media platform "Looking".

science technology building future concrete 3D printing news Russia

Previously related

  • Invisible QR codes invented
  • 3D printing with "human blood" accelerated the healing of deep wounds
  • Texas will have a huge block of 3D-printed houses
    nine0053
  • Chinese Startup 3D Printed Black Pig Meat
  • Rare beef 3D printed for the first time
  • The most popular steak was created for the first time with a 3D printer
    nine0053

A giant 3D printer began to print a residential area

3D printing is becoming more and more dense in our lives. And it is already taken for granted. However, this technology is still able to surprise in earnest. How? Well, for example, right now in Latin America, a non-profit organization called New Story is implementing an ambitious plan to create affordable 3D printed houses. And their huge 3D printer prints houses for an entire residential area. At the same time, the first houses are even ready, so Mexico has every chance of becoming the first country in which a 3D printer has created a quarter for people to live. nine0003

This is how the finished 3D printed houses look like

The New Story project was created in partnership with Icon and Échale, and is located in a development area in Tabasco, which is located in the South East of the country. The group of companies aims to build 50 homes for low-income families, who often live in dangerous and precarious temporary shelters. At the moment, two houses are ready, and the first residents are moving into them. However, you still have to pay for housing. True, the conditions, according to New Atlas, are simply fabulous: people will need to pay 400 Mexican pesos (about $ 20) per month for seven. And the interest rate for such a "mortgage" is zero. How do you like these "loans"? Write your opinion in our Telegram chat? nine0003

Read also: Scientists 3D print bulletproof material A huge printer called the Icon Vulcan II extrudes cement from a nozzle layer by layer until basic structures like walls and room dividers are complete. This process takes about 24 hours. The builders then add the roof, windows and doors.

The Vulcan II 3D Printer is designed for tough environments. And the local nature is unpredictable. Precipitation often floods the paths to the construction site. Designed to address the housing shortage, this printer is the first of its kind. - say representatives of New Story. We live in a historic moment when the first district is being built using 3D printing technology. This is more than a technological achievement.

Learn more