The world’s largest 3D-printed residential area could change the entire real estate landscape. But if you expect dirt-cheap costs, you’re very much mistaken.
Although many countries around the world are struggling with a housing crisis, with technological advances you might think why can’t we just print more? But now we actually kind of can.
Construction of 100 3D-printed homes along the San Gabriel River in the hills of Georgetown, Texas, is almost complete.
Yes, the future is really here.
The project was launched in 2022 and the Wolf Ranch community is almost complete according to recent reports, with the last homes being printed this summer.
The city was created through a collaboration between ICON, a Texas-based startup specializing in large-scale 3D printing, and Lennar, one of the largest home builders in the United States.
So if we can practically print houses, you’d think that these properties would be relatively cheap, right? Well, not quite.
There are eight different home models available, with the cheapest model costing around $430,000 as of August 2024 and offering 146 square meters (1,574 square feet) of space, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
There are larger houses, but of course the extra space comes at a price, just imagine that.
Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, seems to have great confidence in the project and it sounds like this could be just the beginning.
This is what one of the 3D-printed houses in the community looks like. (ICON)
When the project began in 2022, he said in a statement: “For the first time in world history, we are seeing a fleet of robots building an entire housing development.
“And not just any houses, but houses that are better in every way… better design, greater stability, greater energy efficiency and comfort, and increased resilience.
“I believe that in the future, robots and drones will build entire neighborhoods, villages and cities, and we will look back on the Wolf Ranch community in Lennar as the place where large-scale robotic construction began.
Honestly not a bad setup, I would rate it 10. (ICON)
“There is still a long way to go, but I think this represents a very exciting and hopeful shift in the way we address the world’s housing problems.”
Amazingly, the ICON company will not stop at building 3D houses on planet Earth…
As early as 2022, the company received a $57 million contract from NASA to develop construction technologies that could help build 3D-printed infrastructure on the Moon and Mars.
I guess the future is 3D…or more 3D? You know what I mean!
