In November 2022, Icon and Lennar started 3D printing homes for a new neighborhood in Texas. Now, according to a report by Reuters, the 100-home project is nearly complete.
While foundations, roofing, and finishes were built and installed traditionally, the walls of each house were constructed by Icon’s Vulcan 3D printer. Vulcan uses a long, crane-like robotic arm tipped with a nozzle to extrude beads of concrete like frosting on a cake. Directed by a digital design, the printer lays down a footprint, then builds up the walls layer by layer.
One of the earliest large-scale projects for 3D-printed homes, it showcases some of the benefits: A house can be printed in around three weeks with Vulcan and a single crew of workers. Icon partnered with design firm Bjark Ingels Group on eight floor plans for the ranch-style homes, each with three- to four-bedrooms and ranging from 1,574 to 2,112 square feet.
Around 25 percent of the homes have been sold with prices ranging from $450,000 to $600,000, about average for the area. Already, buyers are moving in. A couple interviewed by Reuters said their home feels solidly constructed, and its thick concrete walls insulate well, keeping the interior cool in the baking Texas summer. The homes come stock with solar panels to convert all that sunshine into power. The one downside? The concrete blocks WiFi signals, necessitating a mesh network for internet.
The idea of 3D printing homes isn’t new. The earliest projects date back to around the turn of this century. Over the years, startups like Icon have honed the process, perfecting concrete materials and robotic delivery systems and identifying which steps are best suited for 3D printing.
Recently, the technology has made its way into commercial development. In 2021, a home printed by SQ4D was sold in New York. Mighty Buildings, a 3D printing startup that began by printing and selling pre-fab ADUs, raised $52 million last year. Now, the company has its sights set on larger structures and whole communities. Unlike Icon, Mighty prints its structures in parts in a factory and then ships them out for assembly on site.
Overall, 3D printing has been hailed as a cheaper, faster, less resource-intensive way to build. Proponents hope it can bring more affordable housing to those in need. And to that end, Icon has partnered with New Story to 3D print homes in Mexico for families living in extreme poverty and with Mobile Loaves & Fishes to print homes in Austin for those experiencing chronic homelessness.
To date, however, market prices of commercial 3D-printed homes haven’t been dramatically lower than traditionally built homes. While some steps offer savings, others may bring higher costs—like fitting windows or other fixtures tailored to today’s building technologies into less conventional 3D-printed designs. And beyond building costs, prices on the open market are based on demand and how much buyers are willing to pay.
To bring costs down, Icon announced Initiative 99Â in 2023, a competition to design 3D-printed homes that can be built for under $99,000. They announced winners for Phase I of the competition at this year’s SXSW.
It’s still early days for 3D printing as a commercial homebuilding technology. The Texas project is one of the first at scale, and costs may yet decline as Icon and others figure out how to optimize the process and slot their work into the existing ecosystem.
In the meantime, a handful of Texans will settle into their futuristic homes—nestled between walls of corduroy concrete to keep the heat at bay.
Image Credit: Icon
