It’s the year 2022, and Austinites have robots delivering their pizzas, driving their cars, and building their homes.
ICON, the company pioneering large-scale 3D-printed homes in Austin, has broken ground on its largest community of homes to date.
ICON partnered with home construction company Lennar to create 100 modern homes just outside Austin in Georgetown’s Wolf Ranch by Hillwood master-planned community.
The neighborhood was announced in October 2021 and is already gearing up to sell to those on the waitlist. Reservations for the homes begin in 2023 and prices are anticipated to start in the mid-$400,000s.
Here’s how it works. Using its proprietary cement-like material, “Lavacrete,” and its gigantic portable Vulcan printer, ICON can print each home’s shell in a matter of one or two weeks. The system is weatherproof and allows architects to push the boundaries of design with more organic shapes, as seen in ICON’s concept property, House Zero.
Codesigned by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, the homes are meant to blend Texas ranch style aesthetics with energy-efficient design. The new community features eight different floor plans with 24 elevations, ranging from three to four bedrooms across 1,500-2,100+ sqft. Each house is powered by rooftop solar panels.
The first homes’ wall systems are already complete, meaning the next step is traditional construction. ICON CEO and co-founder Jason Ballard said he hopes one day they will look back on Wolf Ranch as the place large-scale robotic construction began.
“For the first time in the history of the world, what we’re witnessing here is a fleet of robots building an entire community of homes. And not just any homes, homes that are better in every way… better design, higher strength, higher energy performance and comfort,” Ballard said in a statement “We still have a long way to go, but I believe this marks a very exciting and hopeful turn in the way we address housing issues in the world.”
