Wishlist Wednesday: 3d printed homes in San Jose

We live in the epicenter of technological disruption and innovation, yet housing has changed very little in decades. Now we're starting to see some interesting ideas being tested in this space. A community called Wolf range in Georgetown, Texas (north of Austin) is being built by Lennar using a giant 3D printer. The machine is 45 feet wide and weighs almost 5 tons. 

The "ink" is a mixture of concrete powder, water, and sand. This makes the homes very resilient to extreme weather and increases waterproofing and energy efficiency dramatically. 

I have spent a lot of time in homes made out of concrete and stone throughout my life and can vouch that the level of insulation is excellent. Sometimes it can be a 20 degree difference between outdoor and indoor temperatures with very little heating or air conditioning needed. I can also attest that the one downside is WiFi signals will struggle to get through the walls as mentioned in the source article. A multi-router mesh network is ideal.

The 100-home project started in 2022 and should be done by the end of the summer. Each of the homes range from $450k to $600k and feature three to four bedrooms.

What makes me excited about this technology, is that with economies of scale the cost of homebuilding could decrease while delivering a better overall product. There is limited space for single family homes in San Jose, but this can easily be used for ADUs or even townhomes with a little effort. The cost of construction is one of the key variables keeping housing costs high, so any downward pressure on that will benefit homebuyers and help increase supple in Silicon Valley.

Source: Engadget