Brand new neighborhood in US includes 100 houses from 3D printer

Wolf Range development saved 6% on CO2 emissions by shifting technologies

Life

Image: Icon

In Austin, Texas the finishing touches are being put on a brand new housing development. What makes this week special is that all 100 houses were made with a 3D printer, filled with an ‘ink’ made of sustainable cement. It is the largest 3D printed neighborhood of its kind.

The houses in the Wolf Ranch neighborhood were built with the Vulcan 3D printer from the company Icon. That printer measures about 14×5 meters and is capable of building a house with an area of up to 278 square meters, without the need to manually move the printer in between. Minimal human supervision is required during the construction process.

The printer’s nozzle follows a programmed blueprint and builds the basic shell of a house layer by layer using a special type of cement. All houses consist of one residential layer. Once the structure of the house is printed, construction workers take over and windows, doors and the roof are installed.

The cement mixture that comes out of the printer’s nozzle is called CarbonX. The patented formula is made from raw materials all mined in south Texas. According to Icon, using CarbonX during the construction of a home results in a CO2 reduction of up to 6% compared to using traditional cement. The company says it plans to continue tinkering with the formula to achieve even greater CO2 reductions in the future.

Furthermore, the company also claims the Vulcan printer allows it to build faster than traditional construction methods. Exactly what time savings are involved is not known.

With two of the hundred houses still to go, construction of the neighborhood is almost complete. Currently, the first residents are moving into the 3D printed houses, which are also equipped with solar panels and smart energy management systems. The houses range in size from 140 to 195 square meters and have a selling price starting at $400,000 (€363,000).

3D printed houses are also being experimented with in the Netherlands. In 2021, the first residents moved into a 3D-printed house in Eindhoven. Later this year, a consortium of companies plans to build four new houses consisting of several floors in the Bosrijk neighborhood in Eindhoven.

In Ireland Harcourt Technologies has been using the technology at the Grange Close development in Dundalk. The project is expected to be completed in October.

Read More: 3D printing Housing