Over the next 5 years, 3D printing construction company Alquist 3D plans to build 200 houses in rural parts of Virginia. If this undertaking — “Project Virginia” — is a success, it’ll be the best evidence yet that 3D printing could help solve America’s affordable housing crisis.
Owning a home is one of the best ways to improve your economic standing in the US, as it allows you to build equity and improve your credit score. In December 2021, Alquist worked with Habitat for Humanity to build the organization’s first 3D-printed home.
That build took just 28 hours, cutting 4 weeks off the schedule and reducing building costs by 15% per square foot. The savings were mainly due to the need for fewer workers and less lumber, which is both more expensive and harder to source than it used to be.
Alquist is now following up that build with Project Virginia, a plan to construct 200 similar homes in Virginia.
At least four different designs will be utilized for the project, and each finished home will cost $175,000 to $350,000, according to Alquist. The goal is to have several houses built by the end of 2022 and all 200 constructed within four or five years — that should give the group enough time to identify building sites, 3D print the exteriors, and complete all the other work that goes into constructing a house.
“There’s nothing different about one of our homes versus any other home except that the exterior walls are made out of concrete instead of wood,” Alquist CEO Zachary Mannheimer said
“These homes are built nearly identically otherwise,” he continued. “Our process just involves extruding concrete from a giant robot, which gives you savings in time and labor and material.”
Project Virginia kicked off on April 29 with a demonstration of the NEXCON printer in Pulaski, Virginia, where Alquist will start building the initiative’s first house — a single-story, 1,280-square-foot home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms — in the summer of 2022.
Pulaski and Roanoke were chosen as the first two cities in Project Virginia due to a recent increase in housing demand spurred by Volvo, Blue Star Manufacturing, and American Glove Innovations bringing 3,000 new jobs to the area.
“With migration patterns shifting due to pandemic, climate, and economic concerns, smaller communities like Pulaski have a huge need — and an amazing opportunity — to develop affordable housing for new residents,” said Mannheimer.
The success of Project Virginia could play a major role in bringing the vision of the future to fruition, and Alquist has the benefit of government backing for the project — the town of Pulaski actually contacted the company about 3D printing houses in the city and not the other way around.
