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Icon to 3D Print Houses for the Homeless

The Community First! Village is tackling Austin's homeless population

By Rain Noe - January 16

in Digital Fabrication | Architecture | Social Impact

The Community First! Village in central Texas provides affordable housing to Austin's homeless population. Developed by Mobile Loaves & Fishes, an Austin-based nonprofit, it currently houses 370 formerly homeless people in tiny-house-style accommodations.

Now they're getting an assist from Icon, a construction company that 3D prints houses. With backing from the Lennar Foundation (the charitable arm of Lennar, a production homebuilder), Icon will print 100 houses in an expanded portion of the village. These will be a mix of homes and townhouses ranging from 380 to 1,040 square feet.

Icon says construction is currently underway.

The news is fairly recent, and Icon doesn't yet have any video on their socials about it. However, if you're curious to hear what it's like to live in one of their 3D-printed houses, here are some testimonials from residents at their Wolf Ranch community in Texas:

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Zach W

3 hours ago

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How do you run wiring? Or hang things inside on the cement walls? How do you move outlets / plumbing?

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- Toby B
  
  Zach W
  
  an hour ago
  
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  Looks like some of the walls are hollow, I assume they run conduit and pex in there?
  
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Hyram Williams

3 hours ago

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BS. That company is having a hard time & will not be around much longer.

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