When 3D printing in architecture appeared, many people imagined a shortcut to popular housing, in the United States that has hardly progressed until now. Icon is building three homes for low-income people in Austin, billing it as the first real step in making technology more accessible.

Each house will have 60 m², on the ground floor, an open design unites dining room, kitchen and living room in a compact space with the fluted walls typical of the 3D process, on the upper floor there is a bedroom and the only bathroom.

The project integrates the 3D community announced by Icon, modern, simple and direct aesthetics, with attention to the total cost and the deadline, the construction is hybrid, the Icon 3D printer crushes a cement-like mixture in layers to raise the walls of the ground floor, then, human teams install the second floor with a wooden structure and the vertical metal roof, doors, window and all the conventional part.

According to the company, this provides predictability in the schedule, greater thermal insulation and resistance to water, termites and fire, which in practice improves comfort and reduces energy bills. The figure that draws attention is the initial price of $195,000, it is not dirt cheap, but it is well below the standard homes in the region, which start between 350,000 and can reach more than 1 million.

The difference here is the affordable housing program subsidizes those eligible and seeks to demonstrate that 3D printing can shorten the work and contain costs in the final result, not just make a futuristic facade. The houses are still under construction and there is no reported delivery date.

They are accessible, it depends on the terrain, interests, regulations and how much 3D printing really reduces the final cost, the technology makes the casing, but installations, finishes and others are done in a traditional way with the same cost. If this escalates, the dispute will be over standardized approvals, supply chain and financing that recognizes the safest and most bankable method.

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All images were taken from the Resource