Builders Break Ground on First-of-Its-Kind 3D Printed Home in Houston

HANNAH, an Architectural League Prize–winning experimental design and research studio led by Cornell University assistant professors of architecture Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, recently broke ground on a 4,000-square-foot single-family Houston home that, when completed, will be the first 3D-printed multistory structure in the United States. HANNAH is partnering with the U.S. arm of Germany’s Peri 3D Construction and local design-build firm CIVE, Inc. for the project, which will pair 3D printing technology with conventional wood framing methods, according to The Architect’s Newspaper. 

The project team says that the design for the 3D-printed Houston home is a hybrid, scalable construction approach that can also be applied to multifamily and mixed-use projects.

“For the design of the project, we developed a hybrid construction approach that couples innovations in concrete 3D printing with traditional wood framing techniques to create a building system that is structurally efficient, easily replicable, and materially responsive,” elaborated Lok and Zivkovic. “The project also highlights the exciting design potential of mass-customized architectural components to meet homeowner’s needs and to simplify building system integration. These design efforts aim to increase the impact, applicability, sustainability, and cost efficiency of 3D printing for future residential and multi-family buildings in the U.S.”

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