First Four Partially 3D Printed Homes Go on Sale in the US

A quartet of houses designed by Logan Architecture and partially built from 3D-printed concrete by construction tech company ICON have been completed in Austin, Texas. The East 17th Street Residences in East Austin are now on the market, which construction company ICON and developer 3strands claim makes them the first 3D Printed houses to go on sale in the US. The four houses have ground floor walls built using ICON's Vulcan construction system, which uses a robotic armature to layer Portland-cement-based material Lavacrete into striated surfaces. CON claims that this process creates a stronger and longer-lasting building material compared to traditional techniques, and makes the homes tougher in the face of extreme weather. The 3D-printed elements for the development, which comprises two two-bedroom homes and two four-bedroom homes, were completed in March 2021. It took five to seven days to print each house. With these 4 homes built construction company IKON plans to dramatically scale the usage of the technology up next year with plans to build 100 partially 3D printed homes in Texas on what will be the worlds biggest community of 3D printed homes. This technology would significantly reduce labor costs, construction time, use of materials and carbon footprint.