If you’re in the Austin, Texas, area next week, swing on by the new 3D printed home by Icon for the open house. It’s a stunner.
Forget the all the talk about 3D printing and affordable housing, this 2,000+ square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath ranch-style home (with a 350 square foot, 1 bedroom, 1 bath accessory dwelling unit) designed by Lake|Flato Architects is chic and elegant. Zillow estimates the market value of the home based on its location and size at $723,000 – $908,000, but its uniqueness and design may bump that to over $1 million.
Called “House Zero”, the home is the first in what Icon hopes will be an entirely new genre of homes that celebrates its 3D printed bones with raw walls and all rounded features.
Blending mid-century modernist ranch house aesthetics, the home features an elevated architectural and energy efficient design that highlights the benefits of sustainability, with the digital possibilities of additive construction.
Biophilic principles — the way that humans connect with nature and nature-inspired compositions — are behind much of House Zero’s design and best show off Icon’s 3D concrete printing technology.
The curved walls, which were 3D printed in eight days, not only create structurally efficient self-stability, but the rounded corners allow for a softer, more natural circulation routes throughout the home. There’s a futuristic, sci-fi feel to the layout. Doorways and windows are strategically placed to accentuate accompanying landscapes; eastern-facing high clerestory windows illuminate the living room with soft, yet dynamic sunlight, minimizing the need for electrical lighting throughout the day.
“The 3D-printed wall design and its inherent biophilic quality conveys an ordered, yet non-rigid pattern invoking a rooted and timeless sense of natural refuge,” says Lewis McNeel, associate partner, Lake|Flato.
“House Zero is ground zero for the emergence of entirely new design languages and architectural vernaculars that will use robotic construction to deliver the things we need most from our housing: comfort, beauty, dignity, sustainability, attainability, and hope,” says Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of Icon.
Houses like this are only possible with 3D printing robotic construction. The technology is giving architects a new tool to design far different spaces than traditional methods.
“While the organic nature of the 3D printed concrete and curved walls are new design languages for us, House Zero was still entirely in line with the natural connections we seek in our architecture,” says Ashley Heeren, associate at Lake|Flato. “The home expresses our shared passions for craft and performance in an inviting and comfortable family home constructed through a totally new way of building. It’s been a thrill for our team to work with Icon on such an innovative home design and be a part of the future of homebuilding.”
Icon has been working on housing for Martian and Moon exploration, so this luxury home isn’t the company first move away from its affordable housing roots. In fall 2020, Icon was awarded a research contract through the Air Force, which included funding from NASA to begin research and development of an off-world construction system planned to support future exploration of the Moon and beyond.
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