Construction technology company ICON has completed the first house in its Wimberley Springs development outside of Austin, the company’s second fully 3D-printed neighbourhood.
AlphaBeta Z is a 380-square-metre (4,115-square-foot) four-bedroom house located at the entrance of the Wimberley Springs neighbourhood in Wimberley, Texas.
According to ICON, it took five months to complete the one-storey structure, which it claimed is 50 per cent less than standard building in the region.
It is the first of eight full-size properties to be printed in Wimberley Springs.
The house features a “luxurious and spacious layout”.
Two wings branch off a central great room and hold bedrooms and public spaces, respectively.
The walls are 3D-printed from ICON’s proprietary, low-carbon cementitious material CarbonX, a material partially sourced from the South Texas environment and the “lowest carbon residential building system to be used at scale,” according to the company.
The external and internal walls end in rounded corners throughout the structure, creating small nooks internally and curves on its facade.
It is topped with a standing seam roof, and floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors are distributed around the perimeter.
Its design was pulled from ICON’s recently announced Codex portal, a catalogue of ready-to-print 3D houses with designs created by ICON, BIG and a host of smaller studios.
Seven other houses are slated to be printed in the Wimberley Springs neighbourhood. According to its website, buyers can choose between options such as “smooth” or “textured” walls and a light grey or warmer, neutral interior palette.
It also notes that due to “the resilient concrete wall system”, the houses’ wall slow heat transfer, lessening the need for heating and cooling systems and increasing overall energy efficiency.
Wimberley Springs is the second fully 3D-printed development by ICON, joining Wolf Ranch in Georgetown, Texas, co-designed with BIG.
The first model house at Wolf Ranch was completed in Summer 2023 and the neighborhood is nearing completion, according to Reuters.
Last year at the design and technology fair SXSW, the company unveiled a machine that can 3D-print fully enclosed structures.
The photography is courtesy of ICON
