3D-printed homes build hope for US affordable housing

Washington

AFTER years of homelessness and hard living, Tim Shea has swapped the sharp corners in his life for the round, flowing design of his new 3D-printed home in Austin, Texas.

In August, he became the first person in the US to move into a 3D-printed home, said Austin-based developer Icon, in what advocates said is a milestone in efforts to boost the national supply of affordable housing. This month, New York-based firm SQ4D listed what is purported to be the country's first 3D-printed house to go on sale, while Icon completed the largest 3D-printed structure in North America - a military barracks.

Mr Shea, 70, said his new 400-square-foot house - which he moved into for free and is located in a community of formerly homeless people - has saved his life. "It's just phenomenally beautiful," he said. "It just wraps around and gives me a feeling of life security."

He got to watch his home being built on-site by a large new "printer" developed and operated by Icon - a process which the company said took about 48 hours and is being reduced further as the technology improves.

Large-scale 3D printing is gaining steam around the world as a quicker, cheaper and more efficient way of building housing, with some projects producing a home in 24 hours of printing time for just a few thousand dollars.

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Icon constructed the first permitted 3D-printed building in the US in 2018 and is one of the few 3D construction firms focusing specifically on affordable housing.

Last year, Habitat for Humanity's Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter helped an Indian company called Tvasta build India's first 3D-printed home, which brought construction times down by more than a third and reduced waste by about 65 per cent.

"3D printing technology has huge potential to boost the affordable housing sector," said Patrick Kelley, the centre's vice-president.

Using 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, for construction goes back to at least 2004, when a University of South Carolina professor tried to print a wall.

Unlike other uses of 3D printing - such as medical devices or complex modelling - the process typically uses some form of quick-drying concrete laid precisely by a computer-controlled extruder. The approach has been used for niche projects in recent years - such as the world's first 3D-printed bridge, which opened to the public in Madrid in 2016. But it is now at the cusp of a major expansion, said market analysts.

While the global market for 3D-printed construction stood at US$3 million in 2019, it is projected to grow to more than US$1.5 billion by 2024, showed a study from consultancy Research and Markets. Last year, the global industry publication 3Dnatives listed a dozen companies working on 3D-printed houses globally.

Jason Ballard, who spent a decade working in housing and homelessness before helping form Icon four years ago, said he came to 3D printing seeking a construction method that was affordable, sustainable and climate-resilient. "For me it was always about housing," he said, suggesting the technology should eventually be the "predominant paradigm" for home construction.

This week, a developer is putting the country's first series of 3D-printed homes up for sale on the mass market, with printing completed by Icon and move-ins expected this summer, the firm said. Mr Ballard points not only to savings in cost and time but also labour, since homes can be printed from a tablet or phone.

The structures are also more resilient to disasters such as hurricanes, more energy-efficient, and easily adaptable to unique design needs, he added. "You could imagine hundreds or thousands of these printers - ending homelessness and the affordability crisis," he said.

Icon built its first homes in an anti-homelessness "village"in Austin, overseen by the non-profit Mobile Loaves and Fishes. The site, called the Community First! Village, is currently expanding to offer homes to about 500 individuals, including tiny homes, recreational vehicles and six 3D-printed homes, said the organisation's president, Amber Fogarty. "What attracted us is the promise of this technology," she said. "A lot of the time, innovation becomes available only for people with resources, so for this to be available to our neighbours is really special."

Although Icon has only recently started rolling out its technology, Mr Ballard said the firm has already been inundated with requests from homeless people, non-profits and foreign governments. The company has partnered with New Story, a US-based non-profit that works internationally to provide housing in low-income communities. REUTERS