Take a look inside the model home of a 3D-printed community of 100 units near Austin
Brittany Chang
- Homebuilding giant Lennar and 3D printing construction-tech startup Icon are building a neighborhood of 100 printed homes.
- When complete, this Texas neighborhood will be the world's largest community of 3D-printed homes.
The future is near. We now have a sneak peek into what life could be like while living in a neighborhood full of 3D-printed homes.
Homebuilding giant Lennar and 3D printing construction-tech startup Icon are now building the world's largest community of printed homes. When complete, this collection of 100 houses will serve as extension of "Wolf Ranch," an upcoming master planned community located just north of Austin, Texas in Georgetown, Texas.
Construction of the property is still underway. But in the meantime, there's no need to fantasize about how futuristic these homes could look: Icon has released photos of the neighborhood's first model home.
If you're not familiar with 3D-printed buildings, you might find this home looks surprisingly normal.
Using printers instead of traditional construction methods allows builders and designers to play with curved walls and unique designs. But the homes inside the Wolf Ranch community won't be too different from the style of homes we're already familiar with.
These units were designed with Icon's longtime architecture collaborator Bjarke Ingels Group ("BIG").
Icon has already built up a diverse portfolio of 3D-printed developments from a 2,000-square-foot luxury home to a luxury camping ("glamping") property with printed hotel rooms, homes, and a spa.
The 100 homes will encompass eight floor plans.
These will range from a three-bedroom 1,574-square-foot home to a four-bedroom 2,112-square-foot unit.
Of the 10 homes that have been put up for sale, six are still remaining.
These available units range from $475,990 to $587,990.
Icon and Lennar have completed over one-third of the printing work, a spokesperson for Icon told Insider in an email.
The printer will only be constructing the walls of the homes. Of the 100 units, 80 are currently under construction.
In the meantime, Icon has released images of the community's first model home.
This "Rune" floor plan has three bedrooms and two bathrooms across 2,014 square feet.
The price for this 2,014-square-foot home hasn't been released yet and won't be available to purchase for a while, the spokesperson said.
However, we can only guess this model will be more expensive than the smaller three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,994-square-foot "Nola" model starting at $587,990.
Like any modern house, the Rune layout has an open-concept living room and kitchen that opens into the covered patio.
The primary suite and its bathroom, separate patio, and walk-in closet are located just past the living room, according to renderings of the floor plan.
The second and third bedrooms are on the opposite side of the home by the entryway and two-car garage.
Another bathroom and laundry room are slotted between these two bedrooms.
The home is bright, modern, airy, and isn't afraid to show off its 3D-printed components.
The layered pattern shown in the walls above is a giveaway of its 3D-printing conception.
Despite these unusual walls, Rune looks like any traditionally constructed home.
Outside, the home has the trademarks of any suburban home: a small front yard, lounge chairs, and a garage.
Brick and mortar are construction methods of the past.
To build out the neighborhood, Icon is using its fleet of Vulcan robotic printer systems. These printers then excrete "lavacrete" — a proprietary "high strength" concrete — that hardens into the walls of units' walls.
Printing the walls could allow Icon and Lennar to slash the time, cost, physical labor, and materials needed to construct a home.
Proponents of 3D printing construction point to these benefits as a reason printers could alleviate the sore spots of traditional home building processes.
But at this time, the cost savings of most 3D-printed homes are still marginal.
It'll likely remain this way until more construction companies and startups adopt 3D printers.
"I don't want to build a worse world faster and cheaper," Jason Ballard, Icon's cofounder and CEO, told Insider in 2022. "I want to build a better world faster and cheaper."
Icon's leader is understandably bullish on the proliferated use of 3D printers and believes cities will someday be built with "robots and drones."
Ballard says this 100-home development will be the start of this push towards scaled robotic construction.
But this neighborhood won't be something out of "The Jetsons" with flying robots building futuristic and unrecognizable houses.
Like any modern master-planned neighborhood, Wolf Ranch will have pools, trails, and parks. The homes themselves will have solar panels, smart thermostats, and Ring doorbells.
The first homeowners will move in this September.
There's no projected completion date for Wolf Ranch yet.
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
- India’s wearables market decline
- Vivo V40 Pro vs OnePlus 12R
- Nothing Phone (2a) Plus vs OnePlus Nord 4
- Upcoming smartphones launching in August
- Nothing Phone (2a) review
- Current Location in Google
- Hide Whatsapp Messages
- Phone is hacked or not
- Whatsapp Deleted Messages
- Download photos from Whatsapp
- Instagram Messages
- How to lock facebook profile
- Android 14
- Unfollowed on Instagram
Advertisement