What’s Next: 3D Printing

To anyone who thinks the interest in 3D printing technology is waning and that, as an alternative to traditional manufacturing processes it has become passé, you’ll need to rethink that premise.

Enter 3D-printed houses…that’s right — entire houses.

Last year, a company involved in 3D technology called Icon connected with the nonprofit New Story, and eight months later, they had completed a 350-square-foot home that was the first such structure permitted in the city of Austin, Texas.

Using Icon’s Vulcan 1 machine – a 2,000-pound mobile device that prints in continuous fashion on-site – they constructed the home in just 48 hours. Unlike other 3D-printed items that might use a plant-based material, the house used what the company calls a “cementitious” mixture along with a proprietary mortar. It produced virtually no waste and provided for a low-maintenance and energy-efficient shell that allowed for curved walls and other 3D-enhanced shapings. An outside builder completed the electrical and plumbing installations, plus the doors and windows. The only element of the house that was not manufactured on the 3D printer was the roof.