Press Print for Your Next Home

Can you print a house? a house that is sturdy, energy efficient, inexpensive, and just flat out cool?  In 2024, the answer is yes.  3D printing technology has come of age and in numerous projects across the world, houses are being printed, finished, and occupied. In many areas single prototype houses are proving the concept. In some areas entire subdivisions are being 3D printed.

Printing houses is done with industrial size 3D printers that use gantry systems or robotic arms to extrude the printing materials.  Building materials include plastic, concrete, and synthetic stone, but ecologically friendly materials like hemp adobe, sustainable concrete, or even rammed earth are being developed.  Different technologies can print different sizes of homes, but printers exist that can print two story buildings (including the foundations, floors, walls, roofs, overhangs, stairs, etc.).  Some of the technologies print in a factory and transport to the home site just as manufactured homes are today.  But many house printers build on site.  Typical printers can print 600-800 square feet, but can be moved so that they can print adjacent segments and build any size home. Some printers can print the vertical walls of a 1600 square foot home in one sitting and in less than a day.

Not all components of a home can be printed. On-site 3D printer technologies typically print walls and floors.  But it is possible to print foundations, floors, walls, stairs, and roofs.  Windows and doors must still be added. Channels are printed within the walls, floors, or ceilings for plumbing and electrical.  Cabinetry and finishes must be added later.  However, the basic home itself can be printed typically within 24 hours.  Wow.  A final home can be done within a month and at a fraction of the cost of standard building techniques.

The greatly reduced time and cost to build a home are the most touted advantages of 3D printed homes. But printed homes with a material like hemp adobe may have qualities of high performance, concrete and resist 250 mph winds and earthquakes up to an 8 on the Richter scale. In addition, these materials are fire resistant, moisture and mildew resistant, and overall healthier than many common building materials.

Reduced time and cost is amplified when 3D printing is combined with other modern building techniques like modular construction. For example, if a two-story home is constructed with an on-site 3D printer and the intermediate floor and roof are created with modular post and panel construction (possibly also 3D printed but possibly not), the entire structure could be completed in a couple of days once the foundation is set. When you also print channels for a well-designed plumbing, electrical, and mechanical plan, you substantially reduce those costs as well. (Half the labor cost of plumbing and electrical installation is drilling through wood studs to run the wires and pipes.)

Printed homes are more stable and can be better insulated than typical homes.  Using materials like extruded hempcrete or synthetic stone may also provide better sound insulation within the home.  And there is much less construction waste when a house is 3D printed.  Overall, 3-D printed houses are more efficient in time, require less labor, are more efficient for energy, and waste less material. Printing with ecologically sound materials can actually sequester carbon in the walls, making the main construction of the house carbon negative.

Beyond those advantages, however, 3D printing brings a lot more flexibility to home design.  As long as the design is structurally sound, anything can be printed.  Curved walls or stairs – easy.  Unusual shapes, no problem.   You could even go all Frank Lloyd Wright on the design and print fixed furnishings like beds, seating, cabinets, or bookcases.  The projects that have been constructed to date don’t go that far, but imagine the additional savings on furnishing a house if you could print basic and necessary items.

Advocates for 3D printed homes are excited about several applications for 3D printing.  The first is affordable housing.  The U.S. (and really the world) are in desperate need of safe, affordable housing.  If you can build an 800 square foot house, possibly including basic furnishings like beds and shelves, for under $100,000, it would be possible to provide housing for millions more people than we can with alternate technologies.

The other reason for excitement is in the design space.  3D printing opens up beautiful curvilinear design options that just cannot be easily built using alternate technologies.  Houses could become works of art, perhaps even abstract works of art.  Of course, architects have always tried to innovate in their designs.  But the vast majority of homes and buildings are rectangular boxes because they are cheaper and easier to build.  When 3D printing becomes a standard approach for buildings, it will be not only possible to create striking designs, but those designs will be roughly the same cost to construct as the boxes. In fact, we anticipate that printing architectural elements like moldings, friezes, architectural ornamentation will be common with 3D printing since they would be virtually free additions.

Beautiful designs become much more important when you realize that a 3D printed home with a material like hemp adobe could last for hundreds of years. Traditionally built homes have a useful life of around 50 years, with major components like roofs lasting closer to 20 years. And with the potential for leaks, rot, and mold, homes often have problems much earlier. One only has to go to a brand-new housing development five years later to see how quickly the homes degrade.

Building standards have not caught up with the idea of 3-D printing.  3D printed structures of course have to comply with existing building regulations.  And many jurisdictions may require a pause for inspections of various sorts.  But we expect over the next few years there will be widespread testing and approval of various extrusion mixes (colloquially called ‘inks’). And as some forward looking jurisdictions work out the processes for approvals and inspections those will be quickly copied by any jurisdiction interested in supporting afforedable housing. We would hope in the near future that specific building plans could be pre-approved for compliance so that printing multiple houses of the same design might actually have fewer inspection concerns.

As we reimagine community design and planning, 3D printing has a huge role. In addition to building structures (not just homes, but offices, retail, apartments, and other commercial buildings), 3D printers can print signs, statuary, walls, and potentially streets themselves. All you need is the right digital file – and a finger to push ‘Print’.