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Austin, Texas-based 3D printing construction company Icon has completed its latest home, House Zero.The walls of the over 2,000-square-foot house and its adjacent tiny home were printed in eight days.Out with exposed brick, in with exposed concrete.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider If you’ve never seen a 3D printed home, you might be picturing a dark, lifeless cookie-cutter house.
Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider But Icon — an Austin-based 3D printing home construction company — might prove your preconceived notions wrong.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider I spent a night in Icon’s recently completed House Zero and found the luxurious Austin home as warm and welcoming as any traditionally constructed abode.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider But unlike most homes, House Zero’s walls were constructed (or printed) in eight days, which might be the fastest of any home I’ve ever stayed in.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider After spending a weekend inside House Zero, I can confidently say I could see myself living inside a printed home …Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider …especially one as luxurious as House Zero.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Using 3D printers for home construction is still a relatively new concept, but printed homes have already begun popping up around the world from China to Mexico to the Netherlands.A 3D-printed concrete home with Project Milestone.Bart van Overbeeke Source: Insider , Icon , Insider
And this technology could not have arrived at a better time.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider We’re in the midst of a serious housing affordability crisis in the US.
Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Inventory is low, the market is competitive, and inflation and material shortages have sent construction costs soaring.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Source: Insider
It’s a stressful time for both potential homebuyers and construction companies, but Icon says its technology may provide a solution.
Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider The company has built a variety of projects from residential dwellings to tiny homes for unhoused Texans.A rendering of the upcoming 100-home community.Icon, Lennar, BIG Icon is now also working with NASA to test the viability of 3D-printed dwellings on Mars and the moon.A sample of the material used in the NASA project.Brittany Chang/Insider The Texan company isn’t the only group spearheading the growing 3D printing home construction market … Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider … but it’s already broken ground in the industry with the US’ “first” 3D printed homes for sale.
Icon’s 3D printed homes in Austin, Texas.Regan Morton Photography Source: Insider
The construction-tech company is also working with home construction giant Lennar to build a 100-home community in Austin.A rendering of the upcoming 100-home community.Icon, Lennar, BIG When completed, it’ll be the largest neighborhood of 3D-printed homes yet.A rendering of the upcoming 100-home community.Icon, Lennar, BIG Source: Insider
Like other 3D printing companies, Icon argues that the technology can build homes inexpensively, faster, and more sustainably compared to traditional homebuilding.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider The tech is still in its infancy, but Icon’s robotic system has already made homebuilding “dramatically faster and meaningfully cheaper” …Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider …with the opportunity to become even quicker and more inexpensive in the future, Jason Ballard, Icon’s cofounder and CEO, told Insider in an interview.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider This solution may sound too good to be true, but Icon’s new House Zero might be a testament to these claims.
Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider According to Ballard, House Zero is the first home designed specifically for robotic construction.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider In short, it’s a show home for Icon — a place to take investors, the public, and media to flex the viability of its technology.
Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Icon’s 3D printing secret lies in its large in-house Vulcan printer system and “high strength” concrete, called ‘lavacrete.” The ADU next to Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Source: Icon
Together, the Vulcan printer and lavacrete can turn a potential years-long construction project into a several-month endeavor.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider And its newest home House Zero, located in a quiet neighborhood in Austin, is no exception.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider The printer was set up on-site in about half a day.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider It then printed the walls of the over 2,000-square-foot home and its 350-square-foot backyard accessory dwelling unit (ADU) at the same time.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider And despite weather and hardware issues, the walls of both the home and the ADU were completed in eight days, shaving off weeks to months of construction time when compared to “traditional” methods.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider It then took the team five months to put the finishing touches — such as window installation, wiring, plumbing — on the home and its ADU.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Aesthetically, House Zero’s curved concrete walls make the home pop compared to its neighbors.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider And this was intentional: The home was designed to show off the 3D printer’s capabilities, a “big risk” for the team, Ballard told Insider.Inside Icon’s ADU next to House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider “We’re not only going to invent robots, we’re also going to invent architecture,” he said.”And it’s not clear that robotics companies have any business inventing architecture.” Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider But luckily for Ballard, the home is “better than he even hoped.” Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider “I became afraid that my technology would be used to build an uglier world,” Ballard said.”I don’t wanna build a worse world faster and cheaper.I want to build a better world faster and cheaper.” Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider With the help of Texas-based Lake|Flato Architects, Icon created a house unlike any I’ve ever seen.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Inside, the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home is filled with high-end finishes that turn a concrete and wood home …Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider Source: Icon
…into a “mid-century modernist ranch house” charmer filled with luxury furniture.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Source: Icon
Its cozy decor contrasts the cool-toned lavacrete that makes up the walls of the home.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider These walls look more like precisely layered frosting on a cake than layers of concrete, but the unique walls are the home’s crown jewels.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider The curved walls of the dining room, shower, and main bedroom were especially eye-catching and created a natural separation of space in a way traditional construction couldn’t have done.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider But it’s not just for aesthetics.Inside Icon’s ADU next to House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider The curved walls — made possible by Icon’s printing system and supplementary insulation and steel — help strengthen the structure of the home, according to the company.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider And both the thick walls and Icon’s lavacrete provide additional insulation, creating a “highly” energy-efficient home, Ballard said.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider I visited Austin during a particularly chilly February weekend, and with the help of the heater, I didn’t feel the slightest chill (which is obviously the bare minimum of a home).
Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Besides being more attractive than most homes I’ve stayed in, House Zero didn’t differ from the average cozy and clean house.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider The kitchen was large, the bathrooms were glamorous yet functional, and there was plenty of space, storage, outlets, and lights — I have no complaints.
Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider And maybe that’s the point of House Zero.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider With the state of our housing and homelessness crisis, any possible solution should be taken into consideration.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider And if a new piece of technology can supply homes faster, cheaper, more sustainability — all with the same comforts of traditional houses — maybe we should dispel our preconceived understanding of construction in favor of a more futuristic but efficient option.Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider But if you’re like me and ready to move into House Zero, hang on tight.
Inside Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider Icon likely won’t sell its show home for another few years, and it won’t be revealing House Zero’s price tag anytime soon.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider The company isn’t releasing the costs of the new home: “We chose some pretty premium finishes and we don’t want some of that to get lost in translation,” Ballard said.
Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider But to Icon, House Zero is more than just a high-end home with pretty furniture.Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider “I think this was an aesthetic, cost, strength, energy performance, and sustainability success,” Ballard told Insider.”We’re going to do more houses like this now.” Icon’s over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.Brittany Chang/Insider.
