Icon Construction 3d Printing

[Kym Wash]

Byincreasing speed and size and decreasing setup time and the number of required operators, this advanced robotic system will reduce ICON printing costs by half. ICON is now taking orders for projects using Phoenix starting at $25/square foot for wall systems or $80/square foot including foundation and roof.

Vulcan is a large-scale, construction 3D-printer that prints entire homes on location. The printer is designed to be rapidly transported to build sites, then moved quickly from site to site. Vulcan prints directly on the ground or a poured slab.

Jason Ballard, CEO and co-founder of Austin-based construction startup Icon, envisions a future where the homebuilding process, powered by robots and artificial intelligence, could cost half of what it does today, while producing more dignified, sustainable homes.

The startup, best known for its 3D-printed homes, is attempting to tackle the challenge piece by piece, with a road map that includes lowering architecture expenses, building material costs and exploring cheaper, faster and easier construction methods.

Icon, which 3D-printed its first home at South by Southwest in 2018, has grown to employ more than 400 people and has printed more than 100 homes for less expense and at a quicker pace than traditional building methods.

Tuesday during SXSW, Icon held an event where the company made a host of project announcements and unveiled its newest printer, new concrete construction material, a design catalog and an artificial intelligence tool that will allow people to create their own home designs.

Since its start, Icon has produced its own giant 3-D printers that are able to print housing walls layer by layer and have allowed the company to build boundary-pushing designs with elements such as curved walls. This year, the company is unveiling a new printer that will be able to not only print the walls, but also the foundation and roof of homes. Ballard said the new printer, called Phoenix, takes away some of the biggest limitations of its previous gantry-style Vulcan printer systems, while continuing to lower costs and expand design potential.

Until now, Icon has primarily been building single-family, detached housing that had to be printed linearly. The new printer, which the company will start using on projects next year, is able to print multistory structures, something Ballard said has been one of the biggest demands by customers and means Icon will now be able to address nearly all the types of residences built in America.

Starting in April, Icon will be switching exclusively to the new material in all its 3-D printers, and it plans on making the concrete available to other projects and customers for construction use beyond 3-D printing.

The tool allows users to design any type of home they can think of, by size, aesthetic and other elements. Vitruvius operates similarly to AI bots most people might be familiar with, such as Dall-E or ChatGPT, but the tool is more than just an image generator. The tool was fed hundreds of designs, including many by Bjarke Ingels Group, which has partnered with Icon on a number of projects.

Ballard said the AI system was developed in part at the encouragement of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Ballard said the company always aimed to make a software tool, and eventually an AI tool, but after a conversation with Altman two years ago, decided to go straight into AI.

ICON, a pioneer in large-scale 3D-printing, celebrates the grand opening of its first model home at Wolf Ranch, a 100-home community 3D-printed together with homebuilders Lennar and co-designed by Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG. The ambitious residential project is further demonstrating the success of its Vulcan construction technologies, which had been previously employed in the development of four homes printed in 2021, followed by its mid-century inspired House Zero completed together with architects Lake Flato.

Ballard continued, "In the future, I believe nearly all construction will be done by robots, and nearly all construction-related information will be processed and managed by AI systems. It is clear to me that this is the way to cut the cost and time of construction in half while making homes that are twice as good and more faithfully express the values and hopes of the people who live in them. We are going to need the same velocity of ambitious technological breakthroughs that we've experienced in these past few years, but we know where we are headed. Going forward, ICON is an AI and robotics company focused on transforming the way we build and accelerating what we believe is a very exciting future. Vitruvius will become the default method for ICON in designing custom homes. We intend to be selling and building Vitruvius-designed homes beginning this year."

Wells Fargo also announced on stage their foundation has committed $500,000 in grant funding to Mobile Loaves & Fishes, the Austin nonprofit that has been faithfully serving the area's homeless community for more than 25 years, to help bring to life Initiative 99-designed homes and see multiple homes built at Community First! Village (CFV) to serve the underhoused community. Upon completion of Phase II of the global design competition, ICON and Mobile Loaves & Fishes will select one winning design for ICON to deliver multiple units within CFV's expansion of their master planned development in Austin, TX.

"ICON's innovative 3D-printed technology paired with these beautiful, imaginative Initiative 99 designs represent a model for the future of affordable housing. Wells Fargo is proud to help make these homes a reality," said Darlene Goins, President of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

The latest announcements from ICON will provide the tools and technology to deliver more beautiful and resilient neighborhoods, communities and subdivisions enabled by the design freedom and new possibilities of 3D-printing.

"If you are a person who wants to own an ICON home, we want to hear from you so that we know what to design, where to build and what your hopes are for your own future," Ballard said. "If you are a developer who needs support to deliver your project ahead of schedule and under budget and feel good about what you've created in the world, we want to build with you. If you are a builder who wants to take the most advanced construction tools in the world with you into the field, we want to work with you. If you are an architect, who wants to help us develop entirely new design languages and architectural vernaculars that align with your culture, values and imagination, we want to work together. We want to bring the entire industry together and equip everyone with the tools to properly build our future."

Is the world of construction witnessing a groundbreaking transformation with the advent of 3D printing technology? Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON, a Texas-based company, believes it is. He recently sat down with 60 Minutes to showcase the industrial 3D printing technology being pioneered by his startup and the partnership ICON is undertaking with NASA.

NASA is partnering with ICON to bring this technology to the moon through the Artemis program. Ballard, who once aspired to be an astronaut, now sees his work being used to construct vital infrastructure in space. The goal is to utilize lunar regolith (moon dust) as a building material, reducing the exorbitant cost of transporting materials from Earth.

The fundamental issue of space exploration, much less construction, is the cost of getting Earth-based material into space. A brick-sized amount of concrete, for example, costs about $1 million to get into space. To deal with the material needs, ICON has designed a printer that will utilize lunar regolith rather than water and concrete. Instead of a traditional nozzle, this printer relies on a high intensity laser that will melt the regolith and transform it into solid building material. ICON demonstrated this to 60 Minutes utilizing a prototype laser on simulated regolith.

Ballard envisions a future where AI designs buildings, and robots construct them. This, he believes, will lead to more abundant, affordable, and beautiful housing. Some might see the comparisons to Musk and Holmes as incredibly apt, while others might appreciate a bit of utopian idealism injected into the public consciousness.

Founded in 1996, M3 Design is a product development and innovation firm located in the Austin, TX area specializing in design, engineering, strategy and brand. M3 is a team of world-class industrial designers and engineers who work together to create the products that inspire the future of healthcare, lifestyle and workplace brands. M3 takes pride in challenging convention to help their clients maximize business opportunity by creating exceptional products and experiences.

ICON develops advanced construction technologies that advance humanity. Using proprietary 3D printing robotics, software and advanced materials, ICON is shifting the paradigm of homebuilding on Earth and beyond. For more information visit www.iconbuild.com or follow the conversation on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (@ICON3DTech).

According to Ballard, no industry contributes more landfill waste or requires more energy than home construction. One reason is that the same materials and processes are currently used for building houses in hurricane, flooding, and wildfire zones. The current production processes for many of those materials are very wasteful in terms of the amount of natural resources they consume.

In general, the red tape any builder encounters when trying to build new housing can be overwhelming. Regulatory authorities have good intentions, yet in many cases, their hands are tied by outdated regulations that restrict the types of innovation ICON 3D-printed homes represent.

As a result, many construction companies pursue the path of least resistance, using fewer design professionals, scaling pre-existing designs, and searching for cheaper materials. In turn, cities regulate even harder.

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