Rise | We've Done the Research
3D-Printed House in Austin, Texas
East Austin is home to the nation’s first fully-permitted 3-D printed home: The Chicon House. In March of 2018, this 350 square foot home was created in less than 48 hours, costing about $10,000 to print. In contrast, the average single-family home in the United States takes seven months to complete. This project illustrated how 3-D printing could be one solution to the ever-rising issue of affordable housing.
Two groups collaborated to make this tiny home a reality. ICON, an Austin-based construction technologies company dedicated to revolutionizing homebuilding, and New Story, a non-profit that focuses on providing affordable housing internationally, partnered on this project. Their teams consist of industry thought-leaders, including engineers, environmentalists, and designers.
Table of Contents
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.
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.
This innovative 3-D printer can print at night, in various weather conditions, and within mere days. The 3-D printer uses a concrete-like material called lavacrete. Lavacrete has a compressive strength of 6,000 psi, which is stronger than conventional building materials.
So, not only can a 3-D-printed home be resilient to natural disasters, but it is more affordable and energy-efficient. You can save 30% - 50% in construction costs, and feel less guilty since 3-D printing is virtually zero-waste. And, best of all, you can have a home in just a few days!
Austin’s Chicon House is an example of how 3-D printing can potentially change the housing industry. While there is much more work to be done to make this a standard in construction, it is exciting to think of the benefits 3-D printing can provide: more affordable, resilient housing that is environmentally responsible.
Maria Saxton
Located in Roanoke, Virginia, Maria Saxton holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech. She works as an Environmental Planner and Housing Researcher for a local firm specializing in Community Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Historic Preservation. Her dissertation explored the environmental impacts of small-scale homes. She serves as a volunteer board member for the Tiny Home Industry Association.
