ICON: Affordable Housing, 6 Years and Counting
Two stories in 2024 evidence the continuing development of 3D printing technologies for housing. As reported by Reuters, the El Cosmico property will be adding 43 hotel rooms and 18 residential units across 60 acres of additional space in Marfa, Texas. The much larger (4.7 ton) Vulcan printer is able to produce multiple units at pace.
The Telegraph reports on a concurrent project outside Austin, where ICON is set to complete a 100 unit housing development called Wolf Ranch. These 3-4 bedroom, single story homes show the scalability of the Vulcan printer.
ICON printers’ capabilities expand to hotels, 100+ unit neighborhoods from its initial proof of concept
Back in 2018, New Story took us on-site in Austin, Texas where their partner, ICON has just started 3D printing the first of its homes intended for the developing world. The units, which took less than 24 hours to complete, cost around $4,000. New Story’s previous homes built in El Salvador averaged around $6,000 per unit, making the significantly lower price point all the more eye-opening. With lower costs, more homes can be built and more lives impacted for the better.
As noted in the Reuters piece by Australian researcher, Milad Bazli, 3D printing homes and hotels at scale does present societal concerns, particularly as it relates to skilled laborers in the building trades. For those interested in these types of questions, the TLT Impact Deck may present an interesting classroom activity.
Assignment Idea: “Impactful Printing”
Description
Thinking of the dramatic lowering of costs afforded by 3D printing a home, what other items that we use day to day might be made more affordable to someone in the developing world? Consider even seemingly mundane objects that could easily be taken for granted: A high impact mobile phone case could keep a vital tool for communications, banking and light safe from damage while a set of storage bowls with locking lids would keep food fresh and free from contamination.
Working in teams, students will research and brainstorm based on the needs of the community of focus. Depending on the course, objects can be sketched or modeled and can be included along with the findings in a presentation to the class and group discussion of which has the most impact and why. A “winning design” could then be 3D printed and donated to a low income resource center.
Subject Areas
Business, Communications, Sustainability
Deliverables
- short, research-based post (optional)
- identification of object
- sketch or 3D model of object (optional)
- presentation to class
- 3D print of final object design (optional)