Construction to begin on world's largest community of 3D residences

Austin will soon be home to what will be the world’s largest neighborhood of 3D-printed, single-family homes.
LENNAR CORPORATION | BY JOHN SUAYAN • NOV 9, 2021
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Austin will soon be home to what will be the world’s largest neighborhood of 3D-printed, single-family homes.

Miami-based Lennar and Austin-based ICON say that construction for the new Austin neighborhood that consists of 100 residences is set to commence, CultureMap Austin reported.

Neither company disclosed the location of the neighborhood.

Eric Feder, president of LenX, Lennar’s investment arm, said in a statement obtained by CultureMap Austin that many American families aren’t able to own homes because of the ongoing labor and material shortages.

“Lennar has always expanded the boundaries of technological innovation to keep quality homes affordable, and 3D printing is an immensely encouraging approach,” Feder said.

Three years ago, ICON received $9 million in so-called seed funding from a host of investors that included the late Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s venture capital firm, Seattle-based Vulcan Capital.

“It’s our mission at ICON to reimagine the approach to homebuilding and construction and make affordable, dignified housing available to everyone throughout the world,” Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, said at the time, CultureMap Austin reported. “We’re in the middle of a global housing crisis, and making old approaches a little better is not solving the problem.”

According to the website, Lennar has invested in ICON's recent $207 million round of funding.

ICON stated their mission is to re-imagine the approach to homebuilding and construction to make affordable, dignified housing available to everyone throughout the world.

The company’s Vulcan printer is touted as being 1.5 times larger and two times faster, able to build homes up to 3,000 square feet, and produce less waste than conventional home building.

There’s a possibility the 3D homes could be more expensive than their traditional, brick and mortar counterparts.

According to The Wall Street Journal, CultureMap Austin reported, Lennar has yet to set price numbers for the 3D residences.

LENNAR CORPORATION | BY JOHN SUAYAN • NOV 9, 2021