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posted by Fnord666 on Friday March 16 2018, @09:15PM   Printer-friendly
from the got-a-little-Z-banding-going-on dept.

A startup is 3D printing houses in under a day at a cost of about $10,000 each, and hopes to get it down to $4,000 each:

ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions. "We have been building homes for communities in Haiti, El Salvador, and Bolivia," Alexandria Lafci, co-founder of New Story, tells The Verge.

[...] Using the Vulcan printer, ICON can print an entire home for $10,000 and plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. "It's much cheaper than the typical American home," Ballard says. It's capable of printing a home that's 800 square feet, a significantly bigger structure than properties pushed by the tiny home movement, which top out at about 400 square feet. In contrast, the average New York apartment is about 866 square feet.

The model has a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a curved porch. "There are a few other companies that have printed homes and structures," Ballard says. "But they are printed in a warehouse, or they look like Yoda huts. For this venture to succeed, they have to be the best houses." The use of cement as a common material will help normalize the process for potential tenants that question the sturdiness of the structure. "I think if we were printing in plastic we would encounter some issues."

Also at Fortune, Wired, and BGR.


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday March 16 2018, @11:51PM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday March 16 2018, @11:51PM (#653853)

    I'm actually somewhat in favor of reduced building code requirements for affordable housing, it's better than no building codes at all.

    If you want to live in a district that has communal bathrooms, that's a personal choice - maybe you're saving your money for your multi-billion startup idea and you don't want to waste any of your investment stake on un-necessary things like running water in your apartment. Personally, I think the insulation requirements for new construction in Florida should be relaxed for non-airconditioned space, and that a bedroom should have the option to be built as non-airconditioned space.

    What shouldn't be allowed are low-capital cost structures that raise overall cost of living. For example: open sewage in the streets - cost to install? $1.50 for a bucket. Cost to maintain? Hundreds of thousands to treat cholera outbreaks, etc. Better to require actual sanitary sewer accessibility and use, Europeans used the bathroom at the end of the hall for a hundred years, and Americans had outhouses around the same time - that's much lower cost than private and indoor plumbing, and can still be reasonably sanitary.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 17 2018, @12:24AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 17 2018, @12:24AM (#653871)

    What shouldn't be allowed are low-capital cost structures that raise overall cost of living. For example: open sewage in the streets - cost to install? $1.50 for a bucket. Cost to maintain? Hundreds of thousands to treat cholera outbreaks, etc. Better to require actual sanitary sewer accessibility and use, Europeans used the bathroom at the end of the hall for a hundred years, and Americans had outhouses around the same time - that's much lower cost than private and indoor plumbing, and can still be reasonably sanitary.

    So you agree with AC then? The poor are undeserving (due to being poor) and should have to use technology we abandoned 100 years ago. Does that belief extend to antibiotics and use of electronic devices too?

    How magnanimous of you. Congratulations! If I knew who you were, I'd nominate you for a Nobel prize!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 17 2018, @08:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 17 2018, @08:15AM (#653993)

      Does the dead chicken count?

      I was told I was to be awarded the "pullet surprise".

      Never believe what you hear. Wasn't quite what I expected. Get it in writing.