Homebuyers get first chance to buy 3D-printed homes made by Austin-based Icon
Austin-area homebuyers will have a chance to purchase a futuristic home built using giant 3D printers, starting this weekend, as the first handful of homes in a 100-home community in Georgetown go on sale.
Austin-based construction startup Icon, which partnered with homebuilding company Lennar on the project, says the community would be the first large-scale, 3D-printed housing development in the United States. The first homeowners are anticipated to move in later this year, and the homes will wrap up in the coming months.
The project was first announced by Icon last year and will be in the Wolf Ranch by Hillwood master-planned community. Icon uses its own 3D-printing technology. The homes, which are co-designed by the architectural firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, will feature architectural and energy-efficient designs to showcase the possibilities of additive construction — layer-by-layer construction using the 3D-printing process.
Icon representatives said there is already a lot of interest in the community, especially from people who want family-friendly housing in Georgetown and are interested in an innovative home. The company has already been offering tours of its home for prospective buyers, including a few from out of state. A model home will also be finished in July.
More: Austin startup Icon plans development of 3D-printed homes in area
What is the layout of a 3D-printed home?
The first six homes that will be for sale are already listed on Icon's website, with pricing ranging from $475,000 to $570,000. The homes feature five of the eight available floorplans that will exist within the community, and they range from 1,574 to 2,112 square feet with three to four bedrooms and two to three bathrooms.
Sales for the six homes will begin June 10. The listings come as Georgetown, which is 30 miles north of Austin, was recently ranked the fastest-growing city in the country for the second year in a row, among cities with a population of 50,000 or more.
Development is the next step in Icon's growth
The project marks an important step for Icon, as the company looks to graduate from printing dozens of homes at a time to hundreds. In November, when the project was first announced, Icon co-founder Jason Ballard said he believed the community would be the place where robotic construction at scale begins.
Conner Jenkins, who is overseeing operations for Icon on Wolf Ranch project, said scaling up the operation has been giving the company helpful lessons.
"It's quite a mindset shift for us as a company. We've only ever done one printer on the side at a time. So, we're learning all of the logistics and planning around what it means to have eight printers printed at one time," he said.
The Austin-based company printed its first home at South by Southwest in 2018. Since then, the company has used its Vulcan 3D-printing technology to build dozens more homes, including House Zero, which it showcased at SXSW in 2022. The company also worked on structures including barracks for the Texas Military Department, an Austin amphitheater and is working with NASA to develop technology to print habitats on the moon.
Ballard, Icon's CEO, has said he sees 3D printing as having the potential to revolutionize the way homes are built by offering better versatility, range, speed and lower costs than traditional construction.
$99,000 to build a house? 3D-printing company Icon announces affordable housing contest at SXSW
Cara Caulkins, a company representative, said this project will help show that Icon is ready to graduate to thousands of homes, and more communities with 100 homes or more.
What comes in a 3D-printed home?
In Wolf Ranch, each house will be outfitted with rooftop solar panels and smart home features, including a Ring doorbell, Wi-Fi-enabled deadbolt and smart thermostat. Prices for the homes are expected to start at $475,000.
The homes' wall systems and layouts are entirely designed around 3D printing. To build the 100-home community, the company has eight of its printers running at a time, printing the homes directly on top of concrete slabs. Printing each wall system of the house takes about two weeks, and the houses are then finished with several different designs for a wood and metal roof.
For its projects, Icon uses its own technology, called Vulcan printers, which print buildings layer by layer with a proprietary cementitious-based material that it calls Lavacrete.
The nature of the printers means being able to print flexible designs compared with traditional methods, and the buildings can include curved walls. The printers also leave openings for windows, and for the electrical wiring to be built straight into the wall. The homes at Wolf Ranch also feature 3-D printed kitchen islands and planter boxes.
The start of sales for the community follows multiple announcements for Icon in recent months, including an affordable housing contest, which the company launched this year during SXSW in March.
The contest, called Initiative 99, challenges entrants to design a house that can be built for under $100,000, with prizes totaling $1 million. At the time, Ballard said there is demand for affordable housing at this cost point, but designers have largely stopped trying to even imagine building houses for under $100,000.
During SXSW, the company also unveiled a new Marfa-inspired, 3D-printed performance pavilion at the Long Center that the firm built and designed in partnership with Austin hotelier Liz Lambert and architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group.
The Long Center project is a tribute to an upcoming project the company is working on in Marfa, called the New Cosmico, the latest vision for Lambert’s El Cosmico, a nomadic hotel, campground and attraction in the art-centric West Texas town.
More: Austin 3D-printing company Icon lands $207 million to continue rapid growth
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 3D-printed houses for sale in Georgetown from Austin-based Icon
