Leading 3D-printing firm Icon has revealed plans to create an ambitious new 3D-printed community for homeless people in Texas. The project will provide 100 safe and comfortable residences to those who need them most.
Created by Icon, in collaboration with the Lennar Foundation, the project is located at Christian social outreach ministry Mobile Loaves & Fishes' Community First! Village in Austin. It's an expansion to a previous smaller 3D-printed community on the site that built 17 houses.
In addition to the 100 3D-printed homes, there will also be over 1,000 standard dwellings. To focus on the 3D-printed examples however, these are being constructed using Icon's Vulcan 3D printer, which extrudes a proprietary cement-like mixture in layers to build up the basic shell of the home. Human workers then move in and add the roof, doors, and anything else required.
They measure 380 sq ft to 1,040 sq ft (35 sq m to 96 sq m), all arranged on one floor, and don't look too far removed from the upmarket homes in Wolf Ranch that Icon is printing elsewhere in Austin.
"The only neighborhood of its kind in the nation, Community First! Village provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women who are coming out of chronic homelessness," says Icon's press release. "A development of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, this transformative residential program exists to love and serve Austin's neighbors who have been living on the streets, while also empowering the surrounding community into a lifestyle of service with the homeless."
It's early days and we have no word yet on an expected completion date but hope to learn more as the project progresses. Alongside this and the Wolf Ranch development mentioned, Icon is also involved in creating NASA space habitats, while elsewhere in the US a 3D printer was recently used to expand a Walmart store. One thing's for sure, 3D-printed architecture is here to stay.
Source: Icon
