- Daniella Gleis has garnered millions of views on TikTok with her 3D printed home.
- Icon and Lennar are building a community of 100 3D printed homes just north of Austin.
- Made from “lavacrete” and featuring biophilic design, the homes are energy efficient.
3D-printed homes may sound like something from a future full of hoverboards and holograms, but for Daniella Glaze, it’s already a reality.
Glaze began filming her 3D-printed home on TikTok soon after moving in in April, where her videos showing off her futuristic concrete home have garnered millions of views and questions.
“We’re really excited to be able to share some of this content with our viewers and anyone who’s interested in how these homes are built and the process,” Glaze told Business Insider.
“Homes” is plural because it’s not just their house, it’s an entire neighborhood. 3D-printing construction startup Icon has partnered with homebuilding giant Lennar to build a community of 100 3D-printed homes just north of Austin called Wolf Ranch.
Icon says wall systems have already been completed for 95 homes, with all 100 expected to be completed by 2025, but residents like Glaeze have already started moving in.
Glaze and her husband, both first-time homebuyers and software engineers, became interested after seeing some of these homes on TikTok.
“We were really intrigued because we’re both in the technology industry and we know the kind of engineering and innovation it takes to build something like this,” Glaze said.
The home will be built using the Vulcan Construction System, a gigantic gantry-type printer that will be 45.5 feet wide and 15.5 feet tall.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed more than four million times, Glaze gave a tour of her four-bedroom, three-bathroom and garage home, with many in the comments expressing concern about the potential for dirt to accumulate in the ribs of the walls, with one saying: “I can’t stop thinking about the dust that will accumulate on the walls.”
But Glaze is reassured that despite the obvious grooves, he’s never noticed any dust buildup — a wipe or handheld vacuum is enough, he said.
“The wall protrusions are very thin, not like little shelves,” she says. “Even if it does get dusty, I don’t think it’s going to be that noticeable, and honestly, it’s very easy to clean the walls.”
This simple solution seemed to be reflected in most of her responses to other questions people had posed: yes, you can use concrete bits to hang things on the wall, yes, you can paint the wall with an airbrush, and yes, you can make the wall smooth by sanding or using plaster.
“The only thing that’s concrete and built into the foundation is the walls,” Glaze says. “Everything else is just like a normal house: the electrical, the roof, the doors.”
In fact, the only problem she encountered was a spotty WiFi connection due to the thick concrete material, which she addressed with a WiFi booster.
So why print at home?
“What I like most about living in a 3D printed home is how beautiful it is,” Glaze says. “I think it’s really cool. It’s new and different and innovative.”
Icon, which designed the building in collaboration with architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, told Business Insider that in addition to adding structural support, 3D printing offers architectural freedom that would be much more expensive with traditional construction. The company is particularly leaning toward biophilic designs, including more organic shapes with rounded corners and curves, it said.
Glaze said she loves how the curved walls give the house a “very seamless, clean feel,” and she’s been experimenting with different light fixtures that “layer and reflect in a really cool way.”
“It’s really cool to see people get creative with decorating their homes,” she said. “My neighbors are playing with different lights and textures and abstract art that pops off the walls.”
Glaze also said that Icon’s thick concrete material, which it calls “Lavacrete,” not only provides excellent insulation to keep the room cool in the Texas heat, but is also “very tough” against wind storms and outside noise.
“There are a lot of drills and heavy machinery outside and I can’t hear anything,” she said. “I’m very sensitive to loud noises, so it’s very quiet and peaceful here.”
Icon said its wall system has been tested for hurricane-force winds, and in March it also unveiled a new formulation of Labecrete called Carbon-X, a lower-carbon cementitious material that will be used in the remaining wall systems.
3D printing will soon become cheaper
While “very favorable interest rates” were one of Glaze’s biggest motivations for moving into the home, the actual price is roughly comparable to other properties in the area.
Because the homes in the neighborhood are sold by Lennar, pricing will be determined by the current market, Icon said. Home prices range from $425,000 to $585,000, according to the company’s website.
But Icon said homeowners are reporting lower life cycle costs and lower utility bills due to increased energy efficiency, and that 3D printing also leads to lower construction costs and faster development.
The company said that it typically takes two people to operate the robotic system, and each wall system at Wolf Ranch takes an average of two weeks to complete.
“One of the things Icon has told me is that they want to fight the housing crisis,” Glaze said. “They want to have more affordable and efficient housing.”
