3D printing is pushing the boundaries of home construction. A massive printer in Houston is constructing what designers claim is the first 3D-printed two-story house in the United States.
The machine has been pouring a concrete mix from a nozzle, one layer at a time, in hot and cold weather, alongside a sparse on-site workforce, to build a 4,000-square-foot home.
While construction 3D printing has been around for more than a decade, the technology has only recently begun to gain traction in the US homebuilding market, according to Leslie Lok, the project’s architectural designer. Several 3D-printed homes have already been built or are being built in a number of states.
Lok, who co-founded the design firm Hannah, says her team hopes to eventually scale up their designs to be able to 3D print multifamily homes efficiently.