The world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood is quickly nearing completion, one layer at a time. Wolf Ranch is a community of 3D-printed houses found alongside the San Gabriel River in the hills of Georgetown, Texas, around 48 kilometers (30 miles) north of Austin.
Construction of the settlement began in 2022 with the project planning to build 100 homes, making it the largest community of 3D-printed homes. Just two years on, Wolf Ranch is now nearing completion, with the last few homes being printed this summer according to a recent report by Reuters.
The town is a collaboration between ICON, a Texas-based start-up specializing in large-scale 3D printing, and Lennar, one of the biggest homebuilders in the US.
Giant 3D printers in action at Wolf Ranch.
Image credit: ICON
Each building is constructed using a giant 3D printer that layers concrete and other materials in a pre-programmed design, building the house from the ground up. The legacy of this method is left within the houses’ walls, which are ribbed like corduroy. A standing seam metal roof is then placed on top of the building, adorned with solar panels to help power the home’s electricity.
According to ICON, 3D printing allows their homes to be delivered at speed and scale in a way that’s energy efficient and minimizes material waste. It also, in their words, creates buildings that are “technologically advanced, environmentally sustainable and architecturally striking.”
“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, and increased resiliency,” Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, said in a 2022 statement when building began.
“In the future, I believe robots and drones will build entire neighborhoods, towns, and cities, and we’ll look back at Lennar’s Wolf Ranch community as the place where robotic construction at scale began. 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,” explained Ballard.
Inside one of the 3D printed homes at Wolf Ranch.
Image credit: ICON
As the community approaches its completion, residents have already started moving in.
There are eight different models of homes at Wolf Ranch. As of August 2024, the cheapest starts at around $430,000, offering 146 square meters (1,574 square feet) of space with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Larger (and more expensive) models are up for grabs too.
Along with a bunch of other Earth-bound projects in the works, ICON also has bold ambitions to eventually build “off-world” communities on the Moon and beyond. In 2022, the company received a $57.2 million contract from NASA to develop construction technologies that could help build 3D-printed infrastructure – like landing pads, roads, and houses – to the lunar surface and our planetary neighbor Mars.
“To change the space exploration paradigm from ‘there and back again’ to ‘there to stay,’ we’re going to need robust, resilient, and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies. We’re pleased that our research and engineering to-date has demonstrated that such systems are indeed possible, and we look forward to now making that possibility a reality,” said Ballard in an announcement of the NASA contract in 2022.
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