The dirt is turning and the “ink” is flowing at a 3D-printed rebuild of West Texas’ trippiest hotel.
Hotelier Liz Lambert and construction tech company Icon have begun building an extraterrestrial-looking array of domes, vaults and arches on 60 acres of desert in Marfa as part of the relocation and expansion of Lambert’s El Cosmico. The development, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, will include homes, a hotel, a spa and a restaurant. It will be built using Icon’s 3D printing technology, which spews a specialized concrete built to withstand wind speeds up to 250 miles per hour.
The groundbreaking comes as Icon, founded in 2017, has begun building at scale after years of test projects and hype. It is finishing up a 100-home development with Lennar in Georgetown, and in July, Icon announced it was printing a neighborhood in Wimberley.
At present, El Cosmico is a 21-acre hotel and campground with West Texas psychedelic vibes. Visitors can stay in trailers, tepees and tents, and hang out in a “hammock grove” while attending the Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love each September.
By adding homes to the project, El Cosmico is stepping into the residential game. The collection of three- and four-bedroom homes will range from 2,000 to 2,500 square feet and sit on at least one acre. Kuper Sotheby’s International has the listings, which start at $2.29 million. When sales launched in 2023, the homes were listed starting at $900,000 and marketed by Douglas Elliman.
Lambert and Icon plan to expect to finish the first model home by the end of the year. They will also print an undisclosed number of affordable housing units.
The original El Cosmico will shutter sometime next year, and this one is expected to wrap up work in 2026.
At South by Southwest in March, Icon announced a new 3D printer that resembles a robotic arm, as opposed to the current model, which looks like two foosball players connected by a crossbar. The new model, which isn’t being used for El Cosmico, can print two-story structures.
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