A planned community of 3D-printed homes in Georgetown, Texas, is nearing completion after nearly two years of construction. The community, named Wolf Ranch, is part of a project by 3D printing construction developer ICON and home construction company Lennar.
The ambitious goal is to build 100 homes using ICON’s large 3D printer, known as the Vulcan, by the end of summer 2024. Some homes, priced between $450,000 and $600,000, are already occupied, with over a quarter of the properties sold.
The Vulcan printer, which is 45 feet wide and weighs over 4.75 tons, creates the homes by layering concrete in tube-shaped stacks to form the walls. These homes are single-story structures featuring three to four bedrooms, with each taking approximately three weeks to print.
While the walls are printed using the Vulcan, traditional construction methods are employed for the foundation and metal roofs.
The printed walls have a corduroy-like appearance but are engineered to be resilient, water-resistant, and energy-efficient, capable of withstanding extreme weather conditions.
The design of the homes, influenced by contemporary ranch styles, was crafted by the architectural firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. Throughout the project, ICON has optimized the construction process, reducing the need for multiple building crews to just one crew and one robot printer.
However, the thick walls of these 3D-printed homes have posed a challenge for WiFi connectivity, necessitating the use of mesh internet routers with multiple signal broadcast points rather than relying on a single router.
ICON’s technology has garnered interest beyond residential construction, with NASA exploring the possibility of using the Vulcan printer to build structures on the moon as part of the Artemis Moon exploration program, which is set to launch its first crew in September 2025.
