These 3D Printing Houses Might Be The Answer To Homelessness

Aadhya Khatri - Dec 16, 2019

The 3D printing house has one bathroom, two bedrooms, and took approximately a day’s time to complete

Back in May, we have had the chance to see a seemingly wild idea of 3D printing a whole neighborhood of New Story, a nonprofit housing company. At that time, what we had is just rendering plans but now, one of such houses has just been completed, the first in a series of 49 more in Mexico.

The house is measure 152-square-meter and was built by a 3D printer called the Vulcan II, developed by Icon, a construction technology company based in Austin, the USA. The house has one bathroom, two bedrooms, and took approximately a day’s time to complete. However, the whole constructing process is spaced out over several days.

3d-printing-houses-new-story — The house is measure 152-square-meter and was built by a 3D printer called the Vulcan II, developed by Icon, a construction technology company based in Austin, the USA

Such houses are for families whose monthly income is lower than $80 (around Rs. 5000). Many of them are living in shacks that provide little to no protection over the harsh weather.

According to Alexandria Lafci, co-founder of New Story, the majority of families are about to move into the 3D printing houses have never had a plumbing system before.

3d-printing-houses-low-income — Such houses are for families whose monthly income is lower than $80 (around Rs. 5000)

With the first houses constructed, there is new hope for families with so low an income that they can hardly afford a proper place to live. This initial success may serve as an encouragement for them to take a chance on 3D printing homes.

Brett Hagler, New Story’s CEO said that the company wanted to prove that it was possible to bring such a machine to a Mexican rural area and print out adequate homes. He hoped that once people saw the house with their own eyes, the idea of 3D printing a whole neighborhood would not be so wild anymore.