House Zero: Ready, Set, Print
A timeless and thought-provoking home in Holly artfully boasts a breakthrough in sustainable construction.
Words by Chris Ferguson, AIA Photos by Leonid Furmansky
On a sleepy corner lot, a crisp, single-story roofline rests elegantly above ten evenly spaced laminated wood beams. Modest, yet elevated, in its street presence, the home bears many hallmarks of its renowned Texan architect, Lake | Flato, resembling a breezy, modern ranch appropriately scaled to its East Austin neighborhood.
But something about this home is markedly different from its neighbors. Beneath its taut canopy unfurl monolithic walls of gray concrete that arc and undulate in the sunlight, a closer inspection reveals thin striations of texture otherwise known as beads, which are neatly stacked in one-inch increments.
Beautiful and performative, the walls of the home are its centerpiece, showcasing the emerging potential of an as-of-yet unconventional and highly efficient method of construction: 3D-printed walls. Pioneered by ICON, an Austin-based startup founded in 2017, the home is one of the first to thoughtfully explore 3D-printing in a way that doesn’t sacrifice quality for viability, earning global attention and myriad of accolades for its success.
After inviting architects to consider ways to design a home that takes advantage of its 3D-printing process, ICON awarded the project to Lake | Flato, a firm well-known for its sensitive, sustainable approach to architecture.
“The process was highly collaborative,” says Melodie Yashar, Vice President of Building and Design Performance at ICON. The Lake | Flato team “was interested in iterating on new details with us. We would offer provocations for them to respond to, such as the form of the ripples in the façade. We knew what our software was capable of, but this was our first chance to demonstrate some of these new methods,” she explains.
There’s a general perception that living in a 3D-printed home would be like living in a concrete box, but people have told us the home is extremely warm and livable. Most guests say they could see themselves living in here today.
Melodie Yashar
For a research project conceptualized as a test bed for a home-building revolution, the resulting structure is both delightfully refined and confidently at ease compared to its high-end residential counterparts peppering Austin’s landscape.
Its interiors are bright and comfortable; the circulation between its three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and shared spaces are informed by careful wall placement as the ribbed material flows continuously from exterior to interior. The warm material palette of the home complements varied light play against the walls’ rippled surfaces, creating moments of serenity and drama throughout the day.
Outside, a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom accessory dwelling unit affords additional living space for communal living.
ICON’s walls, which use a proprietary, cementitious-based material the company calls “Lavacrete,” were printed in only two weeks of the six-month construction schedule and are insulative, self-supported, and save time and material when compared to traditional construction. The calibrations that ICON makes during the printing process allow for control of environmental factors such as humidity and balancing the viscosity of the mixture to create a structurally sound and esthetically uniform finish that is at once graceful and playfully sinuous.
When you contrast the organic nature of the concrete – the beads of material,
Melodie Yashar, VP of Building and Design Performance, ICON
in particular – with the rectilinear geometry, the balance is really astonishing.
As a case study, the home represents a concrete step toward making these construction methods accessible to architects and homeowners alike.
Looking to the future, ICON is leveraging its expertise in several aspirational initiatives, including an innovative, 100-home planned community, bespoke hospitality accommodations at El Cosmico in Marfa, and a collaboration with NASA to design 3D-printed buildings on the moon.
Around Town
The Long Center recently unveiled a new performance pavilion, also 3D printed by ICON.
Did You Know?
ICON’s ‘Initiative 99’ is a global architecture competition that is accepting entries envisioning the future of affordable, 3D-printed homes.
Contact:
iconbuild.com
220 E St Elmo Rd.
