See what it'll be like staying at a luxury 3D printed hotel in the West Texas desert
- Construction-tech startup Icon is 3D printing a hotel and a collection of homes in West Texas.
- The project would triple the acreage of the Marfa, Texas, hotel and campground El Cosmico.
In the dusty desert of Marfa, Texas, hotel and campground El Cosmico serves as an eclectic respite in Far West Texas.
Well, you could argue that calling El Cosmico a "hotel" is a stretch.
It doesn't have a traditional hotel building filled with guest rooms, as you might expect with a Marriott or Hilton. Instead, most of its 40+ accommodations are "glamping" units like yurts, trailers, and tents.
In 2026, a collection of stand-alone guest rooms with 3D printed walls would be added to the line-up.
Marfa, nestled between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, is unlike most other destinations in the Lone Star State.
For one, it's perched closer to the border of Mexico, an hour's drive away, than the cluster of more urban Central Texas cities like San Antonio and Austin, which would take six times longer to reach.
And if you think Austin is "weird," just wait until you see Marfa. The city of less than 2,000 people is known for its unique contemporary art (like a fake Prada store in the middle of the desert) and mysterious light sightings.
So it's only fitting El Cosmico plans to expand with distinctive 3D printed hotel rooms built by construction-tech startup Icon.
Austin-based Icon has made quite a name for itself in the budding 3D printing construction industry.
In 2022, the company unveiled a 2,000-square-foot luxury home with printed walls in Austin.
Some 30 miles north of the historic house, Icon is now working with construction giant Lennar to complete a community of 100 printed homes.
And in the next two years, the startup says it'll debut the 'world's first' 3D printed hotel as part of an expansion of El Cosmico.
Icon began printing the hotel rooms designed by Bjarke Ingels Group in mid-September.
When completed in 2026, the 21-acre property will triple in size and grow to 97 accommodations, more than half of which will have Icon's printed wall systems, a spokesperson for the company told Business Insider.
Travelers could book these neutral, dome-like hotel rooms, along with El Cosmico's signature trailers and tents.
Guests would also have communal amenities like a printed restaurant, pool, and event spaces.
Imagine cooling off from the desert heat with a dip in the pool.
According to renderings of the project, a new circular swimming hole would have views of the surrounding landscape while still feeling partially enclosed by the printed walls.
This rounded printing feature would extend into the planned Hammam (a Middle Eastern public bath)-inspired bathhouse.
Jason Ballard, CEO of Icon, told BI in 2023 that constructing these curved structures would be 'almost impossible' without a 3D printer 'unless you wanted 10 times the budget.'
Icon is using its robotic Vulcan printing system — which excretes its proprietary high-strength concrete "lavacrete" — for the project.
Along with the expanded hotel, the new El Cosmico will also include 15 printed homes starting at $2.29 million.
The three- and four-bedroom homes would start at 2,000 square feet and have amenities like an outdoor shower and hot tub. Like Icon's previous luxury home, the units would be supported by large, uniquely circular pillars.
The first home is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024. The company's spokesperson said it currently takes the startup one to two weeks to print the walls of a about 2,000-square-foot home.
"We think entirely new things are enabled by 3D printing," Ballard said in 2023. "I think this project is going to be a great example of that."
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