It was stated in a joint press release from ICON and Lennar on Tuesday that the world’s largest neighborhood of 3D-printed homes is set to be built in Austin.
ICON is an Austin-based construction technologies company and it is the first large-scale 3D printing application project. ICON will be working in collaboration with the home builder Lennar, to build 100 homes co-designed by the architecture firm, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
The first homes will be put up in early 2022. The accurate location of the project is yet to be revealed.
It shows a “promising path” toward delivering affordable, technology-driven homes that meet rising demand after Lennar recently invested $207 million in ICON.
“Labor and material shortages are two of the biggest factors pushing the dream of homeownership out of reach for many American families,” said Eric Feder, President of LENX. “Lennar has always expanded the boundaries of technological innovation to keep quality homes affordable and 3D printing is an immensely encouraging approach. We are excited to collaborate with ICON to develop solutions to emerging challenges in the coming years.”
ICON is confident that the Vulcan construction system it is using will deliver homes and structures around 3,000 square feet that are built to the International Building Code (IBC) structural code standard and expected to last as long or longer than standard Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) built homes. In addition, the company states that its proprietary wall system and advanced materials are stronger and longer lasting than conventional building materials and provide safer, more resilient homes that are designed to tolerate extreme weather, greatly reduce the impact of natural disasters, and be printed at high speeds and at scale.
“The United States faces a deficit of approximately 5 million new homes, so there is a profound need to swiftly increase supply without compromising quality, beauty, or sustainability and that is exactly the strength of our technology,” said ICON co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard.