It took almost two years, but a planned community of homes built with a giant 3D printer in Georgetown, Texas is almost complete.
Reuters The homes, which are part of a community called Wolf Ranch, are said to be built with a large 3D printer called the Vulcan, which is 45 feet wide and weighs more than 4.75 tons. The project is part of a joint venture with 3D printing construction developer ICON and home construction company Lennar. It started in November 2022, and crews are close to completing their goal of building 100 homes with Vulcan by the end of the summer. Homeowners have already started moving into some of the completed 3D printed homes, which range in price from $450,000 to $600,000. More than a quarter of the houses have been sold.
Using a mixture of concrete dust, water, sand and other materials, ICON’s 3D printer places tubular concrete piles to build the walls and eventually the entire house. The houses are single-story residences with three to four bedrooms that take about three weeks to print. Foundations and metal roofs are made the old-fashioned way with human crews.
Once printed, the walls look like giant stretches of corduroy, but they are designed to be strong and durable even in extreme weather. They are also waterproof and energy efficient. Contemporary ranch-style designs for the homes were provided by architecture firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. ICON press release. The construction process was also simplified during the project. Conner Jenkins, senior project manager of ICON, informed about this Reuters this build started with five different construction crews, but has since grown to just one crew and one robotic printer.
The only downside is that the thickness of the walls interferes with WiFi signals. Residents had to use it mesh internet routers with broadcast signals located at home instead of just a router.
ICON isn’t just using its large-scale 3D printer to build houses on Earth. According to reports, NASA is interested in using this technology to build structures on the Moon Artemis Moon exploration program plans to launch its first crew in September 2025.
