ICON Unveils the World’s First Village of Affordable 3D-Printed Homes in Mexico

3D printed village is the new affordable printed home in Mexico. It was designed by ICON and New Story for the development of Tabasco, Mexico.

In Tabasco, Mexico, a family living below the poverty line recently visited their future home: a 3D printed village, 500-square foot structure with two bedrooms, one bath, a wraparound cement patio, and an awning over the front porch. With an off-white exterior complemented by breeze blocks, the dwelling is earthen, compact, and even stylish.

It’s one of two fully furnished homes printed in about 24 hours and finished by local nonprofit ÉCHAL. It will soon make up a larger community of 50 dwellings with green spaces, parks, amenities, and basic utilities. Tabasco is a seismic zone, so the homes were engineered beyond standard safety requirements—and they’ll endure for generations.

Through the development and design process, families selected to live in the new community the ones in utmost need. They provided feedback to create homes that would best suit their lifestyles. “As we spoke to the community members, we realized that a single house design doesn’t respond to the needs and expectations of everyone,” explains renowned designer Yves Béhar of fuseproject, who worked alongside ICON and New Story for the prototype designs.

The Prototype Designs Of 3D Printed Homes

Each 3D printed home will come with two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen, and a living room. 

A modest kitchen offers the essentials: an oven with a range, a refrigerator, and shelving.

With ICON’s technology, New Story is proving that 3D printing can provide homes to families like the ones in Tabasco. ICON’s Vulcan II printer was specifically designed for the rigors of remote, rural printing. Where limited resources, unpredictable weather conditions, and unreliable power make traditional construction near impossible.

A bedroom features decor matched to the structure’s off-white walls.

In the past two years, they’ve spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours to find innovative solutions to build better homes faster.

The textured, off-white finish gives them an earthen charm. “The goal, as we continue to scale and deliver more homes, is that the efficiencies rise as costs go down,” the say. Families will move into the new homes in phases in early 2020.

ICON’s Vulcan II printer prints homes atop a cement pad. The 3D printed have been engineered to withstand harsh weather conditions and seismic activity in Tabasco.