Settlement from the 3D printer: “Genesis Collection” from BIG and ICON

In Georgetown, Texas, a project called “The Genesis Collection at Wolf Ranch” has begun. BIG, ICON and Lennar are working together to create the world’s largest 3D-printed housing development to date. The first house is now complete.

3D-printed houses are no longer a novelty. The first 3D-printed house in Germany will open in 2021, and there are already entire villages in Mexico, Russia and China that come from the printer. When scaled up correctly, the 3D printing process promises to deliver energy-efficient and climate-resilient homes. The printing process is much faster than conventional construction and results in novel designs and minimal construction waste. ICON is one of the leading companies in the field of 3D printing. Together with BIG and Lennar, ICON is pioneering the printing of neighborhoods on a larger scale with the Genesis Collection project in Texas.

At first glance, Wolf Ranch appears to be a typical suburban development with 2,500 houses. However, the expansion called “Genesis Collection” with 100 houses built with 3D printers represents an important innovation in residential construction. Once completed, “Genesis Collection” will be the largest 3D-printed housing estate in the world. It is a collaboration between Lennar Corporation, the second largest house builder in the US, and 3D printing startup ICON. The houses were designed by Danish architecture firm BIG.

Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, hopes that this will be a defining moment in the history of construction. Aside from the environmental benefits of 3D printing, the project will also be resilient to increasingly powerful hurricanes, wildfires and heatwaves. Furthermore, Ballard hopes that 3D printing and robotic construction can end the global housing crisis.

For Lennar Corp., pressures such as labor shortages, rising material costs and pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of homes mean the industry must innovate. “We’ve been building houses the same way for centuries,” says Stuart Miller, Executive Chairman of Lennar. He explains that the company is looking for techniques and solutions to build more effectively, efficiently and affordably.

It was this belief that led Lennar to invest in Austin-based 3D printing startup ICON. Since its founding in 2017, ICON has already raised USD 451 million. This includes a contract from NASA to explore 3D printing and construction on the surface of the moon. Back on Earth, Wolf Ranch is an important project that will provide data on the potential of 3D printing to save time and money on construction sites.

ICON works primarily with Vulcan printers, a technology the startup debuted in 2018. These machines use a proprietary concrete mix called Lavacrete, which layers the concrete to form exterior and interior walls. At Wolf Ranch, the latest version of the Vulcan printer is in use. It is almost as big as a house: 14 meters wide and 4.7 meters high. The printing robot consists of a crossbar that moves up and down on the two high towers, which stand on a foundation. A nozzle is attached to the crossbar, which swings from side to side to create the layers.

Currently, seven robots are busy building the “Genesis Collection” and piling up Lavacrete in Georgetown, Texas. The Wolf Ranch bedroom community is a rapidly growing settlement 30 miles north of the center of Austin. In the construction office, large screens show the progress of the printing robots. Each layer of material dries in about 15 minutes and will eventually fade to a light gray color. It takes about three weeks to complete the walls of a 3D-printed ICON house – about 30 percent less time than it takes to build a conventional house.

The structure is reinforced with rebar, which can then be filled with insulating material. The Vulcan printer also leaves space for windows and doors. Workers are on site to cut out recesses for sockets and light switches. Each printer is operated by four workers, resulting in a quiet construction site where the hum of the printers dominates. The site is clean as there is no construction waste. The printers are controlled via a tablet that contains the software for the various houses in the “Genesis Collection”.

Aside from the productive and environmental benefits, “Genesis Collection” will also show that 3D printing can free construction from the constraints of right angles. Printers like the Vulcan can print curved, folded or half-shell shaped walls. Even the kitchen islands at Wolf Ranch can come out of the printer.

The Genesis Collection consists of differently shaped and designed buildings. Customers can choose one of eight different floor plans. “Rune”, for example, is a three-bedroom house with 186 square meters. “Cato” is a curved three-bedroom model with 165 square meters. While ICON focuses on the automated construction of walls, which are often the most expensive and slowest part of a building, Lennar offers pitched metal roofs. The construction company has a team that will also carry out the foundations and interior fit-out of “Genesis Collection”.

The architecture firm BIG, an investor in ICON, designed the “Genesis Collection”. The specialists at the Danish firm were particularly interested in the potential of 3D printing to free the construction from the geometric constraints of right angles. Lavacrete is flexible and can be bent into undulating shapes, which suits BIG’s curvy design language.

Pricing for the new homes is not yet official, but will likely be in the $400,000 range for the Genesis homes, which is competitive with other new homes at Wolf Ranch. The project is scheduled for completion in 2023.

3D printing on the moon: ICON, a company for construction and 3D printing, has been awarded a contract by NASA – together with the star office BIG – to develop construction systems on the satellite to make life there possible in the future.