Next year, Austin, the capital of Texas, is expected to witness the launch of the largest residential community of 3D-printed homes in the world.
According to CNN, the project is a collaboration between home builder Lennar and 3D-printed construction company ICON, while the Danish architecture group Bjarke Ingels Group participated in the design.
The residential project represents “a defining moment in the history of apartment building,” said Jason Ballard, CEO and co-founder of ICON.
“3D-printed buildings - with rooftops that generate photovoltaic energy - represent 'important steps towards reducing construction waste, as well as making our homes more resilient, sustainable and energy self-sufficient,'" said Martin Folkley, a partner at Bjarke Ingels Group.
Project details
The project will be launched next year, and it contains 100 homes, each consisting of one floor, designed with 3D printing technology, in addition to relying on advanced automated construction and concrete-based building materials.
The construction process also includes five automated 46-foot-wide Vulcan printers, which produce a concrete mix called Lavacret.
The neighborhood's digital designs, revealed last week, show rows of properties with their rooftops covered with solar cells, and each home takes roughly a week to build, according to the companies behind the development.
As for the cost of the project, Ikon did not disclose it, but said its technology is much faster and cheaper than traditional construction methods, in part because it requires less manual labor.
3D Building Features
It is noteworthy that the 3D-printed building technology helps to significantly reduce labor costs and construction time, according to some construction experts.
A recent study in Singapore showed that building a bathroom unit using 3D printing produced nearly 86 percent less carbon dioxide than traditional building methods, and was 25 percent cheaper.
In addition, several experiments have proven that the 3D-printed building technology can reduce waste and carbon dioxide emissions.
The first printed home to hit the US market was listed earlier this year, a 1,400-square-foot one-story home in Riverhead, New York, for $299,000.
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