Your next home might be printed
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I'm sure that prices will come down. The article says the cost is $160/sq ft versus the traditional construction process of $200.
A modular home can be purchased for half that cost for the base model, and about the equivalent cost for finished.
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In both cases, what counts is final cost (land, site prep, etc.)
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@Jolly said in Your next home might be printed:
In both cases, what counts is final cost (land, site prep, etc.)
Yes. The prices quoted in my link are for turn-key ready. All you need is the land.
Former partner of mine had a lake house in southern Wisconsin. It was little more than a shack. He tore it down and put up a custom pre-fab for about 75% of the cost of a stick-built.
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More like a busstop than a train station, but still..........
Need a train station shelter in a hurry? You can now print that.
In Arida, Japan, a Japanese architectural firm and 3D-printed house manufacturer partnered with JR-West, a railway network, to build what they claim is the world’s first 3D-printed train station. Assembled in less than six hours between the station’s last train of the night and first train of the following morning, it’s a promising first look at how infrastructure improvements might be done faster and cheaper.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91317868/3d-printed-train-station-japan-6-hours-to-build
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@Mik said in Your next home might be printed:
I hope they last too. Like the idea and it will use a lot less lumber.
But lumber is one of the easiest replenishable materials. The composites the 3d printers are using is not.
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https://www.bgr.com/2089651/3d-printing-robots-solve-housing-crisis/
As the name implies, 3D-printed houses are buildings that are primarily constructed by an automated arm extruding a special concrete mix. This material builds up the shell of the house layer by layer, which can reduce building costs by up to 35% and labor costs by as much as 80%, while also decreasing the amount of wasted material after completion. The process is mostly automated, but human workers are still on hand to install all the plumbing, electrical wires, insulation, HVAC systems, and roofs.
Thanks to 3D printers, houses can go up in days. In fact, Europe's biggest 3D-printed building was constructed in just under 6 days, and the world's largest house printer can build a home in a little over 3 days. And of course, reduced build time also means less energy needed for the process. Efficiency is the name of the game here.
Since 3D printing houses is more efficient than traditional building methods, this process might just help solve the housing crisis. The costs of labor, energy, and materials are comparatively lower (especially if material waste isn't tabulated into the price), so those savings could hypothetically be passed on to buyers. However, the savings might not stop there.
The single biggest advantage of 3D printing houses boils down to this: While traditional homes rely on insulation, 3D-printed wall systems are often built with insulated cavities and high-thermal-mass concrete that help manage heat flow. This can lead to lower energy and electricity bills — in fact, some 3D-printed homes are reportedly 40 to 60% more energy efficient than standard new builds.
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There's a guy in our office who spends half his life talking about stuff he's 3D printed at home. The other half of his life is spent talking about how he hasn't been promoted. The rest of the time he's working.
Apparently the one thing he can't print for himself is a clue.
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Icon, a 3D-printing construction company, is launching a dedicated defense-and-space division dubbed Icon Prime.
It's led by Will Hurd, the former Republican presidential candidate and CIA clandestine officer.
Why it matters: The business specializes in government work, including construction of military barracks and potential space bases, as well as the advanced robotics needed for such ventures.
"We need an ability to build infrastructure, to have this force projection, in really hard places," Hurd told Axios, mentioning both the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific.State of play: Icon is already building — printing, rather — at Fort Bliss, Texas, where the company is on contract for 10 barracks. That $63 million project will eventually house hundreds of soldiers.
The company also secured millions of dollars from NASA to figure out lunar construction. That involves building with local materials, often referred to as regolith, and contending with incredible temperature swings.
In 2020, it helped Marines print a shelter for a large vehicle at Camp Pendleton, California.
Friction point: Traditional military housing has been under the gun for years.The Government Accountability Office in 2023 documented instances of hot-water outages, malfunctioning elevators, broken locks and methane leaks.
What's next: Hurd wants "to build 900 barracks in the next five years.""This is about making sure their quality of life allows the warfighter to be ready to do their ultimate job," he said.
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/15/icon-3d-printing-will-hurd-texas
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