What’s most unusual about the home is that it was made with an 11-foot-tall three-dimensional printer. After a pandemic-related boom from printing objects like test swabs, protective gear and respirator parts, the 3-D printing market is forecast to be worth $55.8 billion by 2027, according to Smithers, a technology consulting firm. Nearly any object can be printed in 3-D; in construction, it uses concrete, foam and polymers to produce full-scale buildings. Single-family homes are a good testing ground for the durability of 3-D printed construction because they are small and offer a repetitive design process without much height, said Henry D’Esposito, who leads construction research at JLL, a commercial real estate firm. In March, Palari Homes and the construction company Mighty Buildings announced a $15 million planned community of more than a dozen 3-D printed homes in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The community has a waiting list of more than 1,000.The same month, Icon announced it had teamed up with the developer 3Strands and DEN Property Group on four 3-D printed homes in Austin, priced at $450,000 to $795,000. In Nacajuca, building a home with Icon’s Vulcan II printer looks much like a massive soft-serve ice cream cone: Layers of lavacrete, the company’s proprietary concrete mix, are poured one after another in long swirls. The printer is controlled by a tablet or smartphone, requires as few as three workers and can complete a home in less than 24 hours.

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