World’s first 3D-printed neighborhood is being built in Mexico

[Karlston]

World’s first 3D-printed neighborhood is being built in Mexico

Some 50 homes are planned for vulnerable families in rural Tabasco

(Image credit: Icon / Joshua Perez)

 

Another big stride forward has been made when it comes to 3D printing in the construction industry, with plans to build the first 3D-printed neighborhood ever seen in the world over in Mexico.

 

The homes will be built in rural Mexico to house vulnerable families on the lowest incomes (in the community involved, the average median family income is $76.50 monthly).

 

Housing non-profit organization New Story is behind the project, and is working in conjunction with Icon which is providing the construction and 3D printing expertise.

 

Icon’s Vulcan II 3D printer is being used to build the homes, and this hardware has already been involved in printing prototype homes in a development for the homeless in Texas.

 

In the project in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, two houses have already been built by Icon – and these abodes aren’t just prototypes.

 

The plan is to build 50 new houses by the end of next year, which will replace the makeshift wooden and metal structures the people have built for shelter themselves, with buildings that are capable of withstanding everything that the natural world might throw at them.

 

And in this particular rural part of Tabasco, which is a seismic zone, that means potential earthquakes, and also floods.

 

Brett Hagler, who is chief executive and co-founder of New Story, told CNN: “They’re living in literally a pieced-together shack that during the rainy season, it will rain and it will flood their shack. Some of the women even said that the water will go up to their knees when it rains, sometimes for months.”

 

(Image credit: Icon / Joshua Perez)

Swift construction

The homes take around 24 hours to print (albeit in a process spread over several days), and two houses can be constructed simultaneously. This is something like twice as fast as it would normally take the non-profit to build a house using traditional means.

 

In terms of size, the houses are 500 square feet and consist of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. The families who will live in these homes were consulted when it came to their design, too.

 

New Story was founded five years back and is on a mission to end global homelessness. Thus far, the non-profit has overseen the construction of over 2,700 houses across Mexico, Haiti, El Salvador and Bolivia (using traditional building methods up until now).

 

 

Source: World’s first 3D-printed neighborhood is being built in Mexico (TechRadar)

[Dushyantsinh Chavda]

Is this house built from plastic or as a regular house ?

Please, reply me.

N.B. My English is poor...!

I am confusing here : <which will replace the makeshift wooden and metal structures the people have built for shelter themselves>

[mp68terr]

1 hour ago, Dushyantsinh Chavda said:

which will replace the makeshift wooden and metal structures the people have built for shelter themselves

Likely meant that the new houses will replace this kind of shelters:

 

[Marcus Thunder]

7 hours ago, Dushyantsinh Chavda said:

Is this house built from plastic or as a regular house ?

Please, reply me.

Definitely not brick or wood... If these house were not made of plastic they would be made of other hybrid polymers. If you were to print 3d burger sandwich, you won't use meat, cheese, or bread. You would print the whole thing out of soya and tofu and then use spice additives for tasteplay and food coloring to make it look like one.