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World's largest 3D-printed neighbourhood to come up in Texas

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Nov 05, 2021, 11:58 AM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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The 3D-printed neighbourhood project is to break ground next year. Companies involved in the project say that 3D-printed houses cost less than those built using traditional methods

3D printing has been around for a while. We even have friends who flaunt small keepsakes they say have been 3D-printed. But printing a full house? An entire neighbourhood? Well, this seems to be something out of the ordinary. 

A housing project being developed in Austin, Texas, is set to become world's first 3D-printed neighbourhood. It is scheduled to break ground next year.

A digital rendering of the project showed 3D-printed houses with solar cells on the roof. The development project is a collaboration between Lennar, a homebuilding company and ICON, a construction firm specialising in 3D-printing structures. A Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group has co-designed the houses.

Each 3D-printed house would take a week to build. The companies say that houses measuring 3000 square feet in size.

Construction of the neighbourhood in Texas would take place with the help of five 46-foot wide robotic 'Vulcan' printers. These 3D printers will pipe out a concrete mixture called Lavacrete to 'print' the houses.

Although the companies have not disclosed the exact cost of house-building, they say that the cost of 3D-printing a house is less than traditional construction methods.