It's still a niche, but with projects like Wimberly Springs and Wolf Ranch, 3D-printed housing continues to grow in popularity in the USA. The latest example of this consists of two 3D-printed homes in Colorado that showcase the impressive speed and resilience of the burgeoning construction technology.
Created by tech/construction firm VeroTouch, in partnership with developer South Main, the project is located in Buena Vista, in Colorado's Chaffee County. It is named VeroVistas.
We've no word on how long the first house took to print, but the second went up in a mere 16 days. Both were constructed using the same COBOD BOD2 printer responsible for the world's largest 3D-printed building.
The printer extruded a cement-like mixture out of a nozzle, guided by a pre-programmed blueprint, and built up the basic structure of the homes in layers, then human builders came in to finish them off. This part involved adding wiring, a roof, glazing, and everything else required to turn a shell into a resilient home that VeroTouch says will still be standing in 100 years, notwithstanding possible wildfires.
"The two homes in Buena Vista, each spanning 1,100 sq ft (102 sq m), are built with A1-rated 3D printed concrete walls, which offer the highest level of fire resistance and do not fuel combustion at any stage," says COBOD's press release. "This provides a critical safety advantage in Colorado, where nearly half of the population lives in regions at risk of wildfires."
Both of the VeroVistas are arranged on a single floor, with interiors designed to be light-filled and comfortable. Each has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. One retains the characteristic ribbed concrete look of 3D printing, while the other has a more traditional stucco-style interior finish.
Pricing is set at US$625,000 per home, which sounds steep to this writer, but COBOD reckons it's around average for homes in Colorado's mountain communities. Looking to the future, VeroTouch plans another 32-house development elsewhere in Colorado.
