A robotic arm that can print you a customized house designed by AI sounds like a dream for even the Jetsons, but last month ICON showed its technology is making that dream a reality.
Building on an impressive slew of announcements over the years at SXSW–from unveiling the first permitted, 3D-printed house in 2018 to launching their global competition Initiative 99 to find the best affordable housing design in 2023–this year co-founder Jason Ballard introduced a number of groundbreaking new developments. They unveiled ICON’s newest-generation, multi-story 3D printer which can print all four sides of a house at up to 27 feet tall (Phoenix), an AI tool to help you design the house of your dreams from the comfort of your home (Vitruvius), a digital catalog of ready-to-print homes designed by world-class architects (CODEX), and new concrete that when paired with ICON’s construction methods is the lowest carbon residential building system ready to be used at scale (CarbonX).
ICON says this new suite of tools is designed to further automate construction, “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.”
The team also announced the winners of the aforementioned Initiative 99 competition, which called the best and brightest from around the globe to reimagine housing that could be built for $99,000 or less without sacrificing beauty, dignity, comfort, sustainability, or resiliency. As if that isn’t cool enough, the first homes printed as a result of Initiative 99 will be in Austin’s Community First! Village, run by the nonprofit Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which serves people experiencing homelessness in Austin by providing food, housing, and community.
ICON was Trust Ventures’ first investment back in 2018. Since then, the company built America’s first permitted, 3D-printed home, built homes for the homeless and the vulnerable, completed the majority of homes at their 100-home community in partnership with Lennar, partnered with architect Liz Lambert and the Bjarke Ingels Group to reimagine and 3D print the El Cosmico hotel in Texas, and partnered with NASA to take their technology to outer space. ICON was also recently featured on 60 Minutes, highlighting the company’s 3D-printing technology and their work with NASA. Trust is proud to continue to support ICON in their mission to provide all humans with dignified, safe housing.
Explore ICON’s newest tools: multi-story robotic construction system Phoenix, AI housing design tool Vitruvius, digital catalog of ready-to-print homes designed by world-class architects CODEX, and low-carbon concrete CarbonX.
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