The tiny house itself includes a bedroom, bathroom, living area, and kitchen. The house is made of concrete and wood and is a ‘proof-of-concept’ to show how 3-D printing can address global housing issues.

The Chicon House, in its current use, is an office. However, the home does have a building permit to ensure that it is suitable for human living.

3-D printing a home may be an entirely new concept to many. Here’s how it works:

The 3-D printer is shipped on a trailer to a site, requiring no assembly. A user-friendly tablet operates the printing process with an intuitive interface. Layer by layer, the 3-D printer can quickly create the basic structure of a home. The printer pours concrete as though it is the icing on a cake. Once the concrete-material portion of a home is printed, finishing touches are manually incorporated, including the wooden roof, windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical work. In all, the entire process requires only a few people to run and supervise.

A New Opportunity in Housing

Among a growing demand for affordable, resilient housing in the United States, 3-D printing provides a new opportunity for housing. 3-D printing allows the ability to decrease traditional construction costs by 30% to 50% in a time where construction costs are continuing to rise. 3-D printing can dramatically reduce the waste associated with construction, allowing the construction process to be nearly zero-waste.

Another benefit to 3-D printing is the ability to print on-site, which reduces the emissions associated with the transportation of building materials. In addition, ICON shares that its printer could create a 2,000 square foot home in about three days showing the ability to reduce construction time remarkably.

Homes can be printed using a variety of materials. The Chicon House was printed with concrete and is, therefore, more resilient to natural disasters compared to traditional stick-built homes. Icon’s 3-D printer is entirely automated and requires less manual labor than a conventional home build. In addition, the 3-D printer automatically adjusts to local weather conditions, which allows it to work under unpredictable constraints like limited potable water or power.

In terms of energy efficiency, 3-D printing with concrete provides an unbroken thermal mass, subsequently reducing the energy needed to heat and cool the home.

Aesthetically-speaking, it is just as simple to print a home full of curves and slopes as it is to print a house full of straight lines. This ability tells us that the future of 3-D printing homes may encompass a broader design palette than is typically seen in typical home construction.