US construction firm ICON unveiled the first 3D-printed home to be given a permit, at last month’s South by Southwest tech conference in Austin, TX. The company built the home with mortar, using its own custom-built printers. The endeavor brought together experts in advanced materials, robotics and computer software to produce a viable and affordable housing option for developing countries and disaster-prone areas of the world.
Company co-founder Jason Ballard told VOA News that the printing process was intended to be used in extremely unfavorable weather conditions, such as those following cyclones, storms and monsoons, in order to provide rapid relief following the loss of housing. He went on to say that the display home itself was printed in high winds, blowing dust and rain, in order to show that this was achievable.
The company’s printers are designed to be as lightweight as possible, to facilitate transportation and assembly in such inclement conditions. They principally consist of light aluminum and take up just nine meters in width and 4.5 meters in height. Production of the homes is done in situ, and once completed, the printer can be moved to the next site.
ICON believes that 3D printing offers a rapid and affordable solution to worldwide housing problems, where current methods are unsatisfactory. As it is considerably easier to build the printers themselves than it is to build a traditional home, the company hopes that their usage will be taken up around the areas of the globe where they are most needed.
The home on show at South by Southwest was printed by a machine running at just one fourth of its top speed, yet it was completed in less than two days. When operating at full speed, it is expected that such homes could be printed and ready to use in less than half a day.
3D-printed homes are a focal point of a joint project between ICON and a non-profit organization called New Story. The project intends to address the need for rapidly-built and affordable housing of the millions of people each year who lose access to adequate housing.
New Story’s founder and CEO, Brett Hagler, went on to tell the VOA that current estimates put the number of people around the world in need of safe shelter at as many as one billion. By working together with ICON, New Story hopes it can help to reduce that number significantly in the coming years. The NPO has already started to work with families in poverty in different parts of the world to address their lack of housing, but admits that its present efforts have a negligible effect on the overall numbers of those in need, given the sheer scale of the crisis.
Hagler says that the only way to make a real and lasting difference is for programs like New Story’s collaboration with ICON to expand. Given that the 3D printers used to produce their homes can produce results much faster than previous techniques, he hopes to see them used to build whole communities in a relatively short space of time – a few months as opposed to many years.
Notwithstanding the importance of this new development, further work ks still needed in order to find ways to reduce both the time need for, and cost, of production, while still maintaining the same level of quality.
A 3D-printed home currently costs around $6,500, but Hagler believes that the partnership will eventually be able to bring that price below the $4,000-dollar mark. Reducing the purchase cost of such homes is essential if they are to become a truly viable option for the poorest families around the world. While 3D-printing offers exciting possibilities to real estate markets in all countries, Hagler believes in the importance of focusing on addressing the most pressing needs first and foremost; within the next few months, New Story will start producing such homes in El Salvador.