Using massive 3D printers, a construction startup is building a housing community in southeast Mexico, one that could help prove the technology’s viability to create sturdy housing for people living in poverty.
Icon, a 3D printing specialist, has already completed 10 homes at the community outside Nacajuca in Tabasco, with its on-site Vulcan II printer, according to the New York Times.
The project is a partnership with Vancouver-based World Housing, San Francisco-based New Story and Échale of Mexico City.
Residents are set to move into the 500-square-foot homes in the coming months. Carpenter Pedro García Hernández and his family are moving into one unit from a home and workshop with dirt floors vulnerable to flooding, according to the report.
The new home will provide stability for his family, he said.
The community will eventually include 500 homes, 100 of which are to be 3D-printed.
Icon is coming off a Series B round of fundraising in August that attracted $207 million in investments. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Icon is working on a handful of other projects, including a proof-of-concept community in Austin. There, Icon built six 400-square-foot homes in the 51-acre Community First Village, as well as a welcome center. Icon is also working on some space-based projects with NASA.
[NYT] — Dennis Lynch