San Francisco designer Fuseproject has joined forces with New Story, a charity working to end global homelessness, and construction technology company Icon to draw up a plan create the world’s first 3D-printed neighbourhood.
According to Icon, the idea is to create homes later this year in Latin America for families living on less than $200 a month.
The project will use the company’s Vulcan II printing technology to deliver "affordable, resilient and sustainable" homes in a fraction of the time taken by conventional methods.
The neighbourhood will house more than 400 people, many of whom are working as brick makers, and they will be involved in the design process before construction begins.
The homes are expected to be created in less than 48 hours each, and are printed using a proprietary concrete mixture that New Story says is stronger than the industry standard concrete used for most new builds.
A video produced by New Story and Icon explaining the background of the project can be seen below.
Fuseproject comments on its website: "Vulnerable populations are typically the last to benefit from innovation. It is our belief that designers, builders and technology innovators have the potential to bring unprecedented speed and scale to housing design that can elevate the lives of some of the most impoverished populations around the globe. 3D printing, in particular, offers a new and powerful tool for realising this potential and driving this mission forward."
Last year, New Story worked with Icon to build the first permitted 3D printed home in the US. The home was built in less than 48 hours, "for a fraction of the cost of a typical new construction".
Image: Fuseproject’s rendering of its planned community
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