Icon Printing New Neighborhood in Wimberley

Icon has talked a big game about the possibilities of its 3D-printing home technology, but now it’s ready to build.

The company will construct one of its first housing developments in Wimberley, a fast-growing Hill Country town between Austin and San Antonio. It will 3D-print eight houses, all pulled from its “Codex” catalog of ready-made architectural plans intended to speed up adoption of its novel technology.

The homes, which are already under construction and now on sale, will range from 2,900 square feet to 4,100 square feet. The plans call for four or five bedrooms, depending on the specific floorplan.

The Codex comprises several “collections” of home designs, many designed by Icon investor and architect Bjarke Ingels Group. The Wimberley development will pull from the AlphaBeta collection, its most luxurious group of designs, and TexNext, a range designed by Ingels.

The houses will start in the upper $800,000s and be built to withstand wind speeds up to 250 miles per hour. They use a specialized concrete meant to slow heat transfer into and out of homes during temperature swings.

Icon aims to expedite the homebuilding process by 3D-printing homes that are less expensive and more efficient than traditional construction methods.

In the AlphaBeta collection, designed by Icon, the catalog lists six floorplans. Two are shaped like plus signs, and three resemble an uppercase “H” with the vertical bars shifted slightly up or down. The final model is shaped like a “V”. They all feature Icon’s classic undulating facades with rounded edges and striped concrete walls and form an outdoor lounge area with a pool.

The TexNext catalog, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, includes nine models with 19 possible floor plans. They range from 932 square feet up to 3,400 square feet, and can cost anywhere from $155,000 to $707,000 to build, not including added costs like permitting, lot development and utilities.

From afar, they look like traditional Texas ranch houses, with standard rectangular footprints and nearly flat roofs. On closer look, though, they carry over some of Icon’s futuristic-looking design cues. The Porch Breeze 3/2 model, for example, features a large outdoor space beneath a roof overhang that stretches along two sides of the house. It has curvy cutouts that snake along like a sine wave. The 3,400-square-foot house would cost between $484,000 and $560,000 to build and take between four and six months, according to Icon.

In both collections, the homes are just one floor. Icon’s next-generation printer, which resembles a robotic arm, is capable of printing a second level.

The Wimberley development is one of Icon’s first projects aimed at the general public. It is finishing up a 100-home subdivision in Wolf Ranch, which was a collaboration with homebuilding giant Lennar and Ingels. It also built a small development of four homes in East Austin.