The world’s first 3D printed community is currently underway in a remote area in Mexico. The printer has been created as a solution to minimise homelessness and provide safe and adequate shelter for individuals.
New Story, a not for profit organisation, which was founded five years ago, aims to provide adequate shelter/housing for people exposed to extreme poverty and unsafe housing. New Story, to date, have constructed 2,700 homes catering for 15,000 people located in areas such as Haiti, El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico. For these homes they have used traditional construction methods and in the past two years have started to explore innovative construction solutions for faster building production that caters for the ever changing social housing sector and housing crisis.
The company’s strategy comprises of three steps to help minimise the effects of homeless and can be summarised through the concepts of ‘create’, ‘prove’ and ‘share’. The first step involves creating homes/ communities for those in need in more efficient and effective ways for faster construction methods. The second step encourages the innovation of strategies and techniques that contribute to the not for profit organisations and thirdly to share these new techniques with other not for profit organisations.
Having recently teamed up with ICON, a construction technologies company, New Story have been developing a project that has recently started to take shape in Tabasco, Mexico. They have currently completed the first two 3D printed homes in what is to be a community master plan scheme for the area. This community proposal will aim to produce a total of 50 homes using the 3D printer referred to as the Vulcan II.
The Vulcan II is designed to build resilient single-storey homes at a faster rate than traditional construction methods. The machine uses a cement-based mix to produce the walls and has the capacity to build a 2000 sqft home if required.
The homes that are built/to be built are 500 sqft in size and the general layout will consist of a living space, kitchen, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The families who will live in them have provided feedback on what they require for the community and the homes themselves. The families that were chosen to receive these homes are the ones that were in the most physical and financial need, some surviving on as little as $76.50 a month. The designs are built to be resilient against difficult climate conditions such as seismic activity and flooding.
CREDITS
New Story: US-based nonprofit organisation who builds communities using traditional construction around the world for families in extreme poverty. This is our community in Mexico.
ICON: Construction technologies company partnered with News Story on this project. Aside from News Story they have developed additional 3D projects as well. The technology and Vulcan II Utilised throughout the project is ICON's.
ECHALE: Is News Story's local nonprofit partner in Mexico who assists with family selection, community support, building process and additional support required.
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