ICON 3D Printing for the Homeless in Austin

Описание: ICON, the construction technologies company shifting the paradigm of homebuilding using robotics, software and advanced materials, partnered with Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF), the Austin non-profit widely known for its compassionate service to the area’s homeless community. With one of ICON’s recently debuted Vulcan II printers, commissioned by Cielo Property Group to print affordable housing in Austin, a nearly 500 sq ft ‘Welcome Center’ was printed in less than 27 hours across several days at the heart of Phase II of MLF’s innovative Community First! Village.

The only neighborhood of its kind in the nation, Community First! Village provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness. A development of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, this transformative residential program exists to love and serve Austin’s neighbors who have been living on the streets, while also empowering the surrounding community into a lifestyle of service with the homeless.

Phase II of the northeast Austin development adds an additional 24 acres to Community First! Village, bringing the entire property to 51 total acres. When Phase II is completed and at full capacity, Community First! will have an estimated 480 formerly homeless individuals living in the Village—which represents about 40 percent of Austin’s chronically homeless population.

Architecture designs created by Logan Architecture for the next phase of ICON’s work at Community First! Village are currently underway and will feature multiple home designs arranged to be printed simultaneously to further increase speed and reduce cost. The set of six total 3D-printed homes will break ground this year and for the first time ever, three homes will be 3D-printed at the same time. ICON’s 3D-printing construction process, which makes use of robotics, automated material handling, advanced software, and a proprietary concrete, Lavacrete, offers a new way to quickly build homes that are both resilient and beautiful in a price range significantly below comparable conventional approaches.