Three organizations have united in an effort to make dignified housing the norm, by developing the world’s first 3D printed neighborhood. A foundation building homes for at-risk people in Mexico, a non-profit organization dedicated to resolving homelessness globally, and a construction technologies company dedicated to revolutionizing home building through proprietary 3D printing robotics, software, and advanced materials. Their first project together is in Mexico, where they have already begun building a whole new neighborhood for families in need using 3D printing technology.
Since the founding of New Story in 2014, generous donations have made it possible for the organization to build over 2,700 homes for impoverished families using traditional construction methods. Now, its partnership with ICON will make it possible for them to create the world’s first entirely 3D printed community large enough to accommodate 50 families in Tabasco, Mexico.
Every single one of these families is living on less than $3 a day and cannot afford safe shelter. The rural part of Mexico is a seismic zone that’s prone to flooding. The makeshift houses the people have built for themselves are unable to withstand an earthquake, and they flood up to their knees when it rains. New Story is replacing those self-made houses, that are made of whatever materials people could find or afford, with resilient, weather-proof, 3D printed, concrete houses. The first two houses were recently completed, and the team plans to finish all 50 by the end of 2020.
Brett Hagler, CEO, and co-founder of New Story, the non-profit co-sponsoring the community told CNN:
These families are the most vulnerable, and in the lowest income… and they’re living on about an average of $3 a day. They’re living in literally a pieced-together shack that during the rainy season, it will rain and it will flood their shack. Some of the women even said that the water will go up to their knees when it rains, sometimes for months.
The foundation in Mexico called ÉCHALE is helping them find local families to live in their homes. New Story and ICON are even working with the families and letting them co-design the house they will live in. How fun!
Once they’ve got the design drawn up in a 3D modeling program on a computer, they send the file to the giant 3D printer – almost like sending a document to be printed out. The 33-foot machine then pipes out a concrete mix one layer at a time. It takes a few sessions over several days, 24 hours in all, to print two houses at once. It cuts construction time in half! Plus, their concrete mix is stronger than traditional concrete, according to the organization.
Each house is built atop a foundation reinforced to withstand seismic activity. They are 500 square feet with a flat-roof, reminiscent of a traditional southwestern design. There are two bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom, and a kitchen.
Families will not be allowed to move in until the entire 3D printed neighborhood has been built, for safety reasons. For those who want a house, they’ll be allowed to pay 20-to-30% of their income every month until they pay off the house. No word of the overall price has been made yet. They want people to be able to buy homes so they can enjoy a sense of ownership within the community. Imagine what it will be like once neighborhoods like these are commonplace globally!
