An affordable 3D-printed house for those who need homes.
An affordable 3D-printed house for those who need homes.
There are millions of people in the world today who live without adequate housing. New Story, a housing charity, has partnered with ICON, a construction technology company, to find a solution for these people.
This 350-square-foot house is the result of their collaboration. A gantry-style printer, called the Vulcan I, printed the house in 48 hours. It cost around US$10,000. New Story and ICON are working on the Vulcan II, with a goal to print houses that are around 600 to 800 square feet each, and to print one in less than 24 hours at US$4,000.
The Vulcan printer fully prints on-site and doesn’t need different pieces to be assembled together (the roof, windows, doors, and electrical/plumbing are finished separately). The Vulcan prints using concrete, which is resilient and has a high thermal mass.
New Story and ICON plan to bring this technology to developing nations to solve housing shortages cheaply and quickly. The first stop on their list is the Republic El Salvador.
By Alvin Soon
