Zuri Gardens will eventually comprise 80 detached homes built from a combination of low-carbon concrete mixes.
Developers around the country continue to experiment with 3D-printed homes, many of them in Texas. In Houston, the city’s first hybrid 3D-printed housing community is now taking shape. Zuri Gardens will be a “100-percent affordable” subdevelopment in the city’s Minnetex neighborhood built from a combination of low-carbon concrete mixes produced by Eco Material Technologies and resilient siding, subflooring and other products made by LP Building Solutions. The development team is rounded out by Texas-based HiveASMBLD, which provides the 3D-printing technology, and Cole Klein Builders.
The two-story, 1,360-square-foot homes strike a simple silhouette, with 12/12 pitched roofs and efficient, elongated floorplans that suggest a familiarity with urban infill development. Their facades showcase an innovative materiality featuring vertical wood siding stacked atop a first story of grooved concrete.
According to HiveASMBLD’s co-CEO Ethan Wong, the use of 3D-printing tech and affordable home building go hand in hand. “The big advantage is you can have economies of scale,” he said in a recent interview. “You have high-quality homes built out of concrete that are energy efficient and low carbon, that are going to be more comfortable and durable over time but also don’t look like they just rolled out of the factory.”
HiveASMBLD, which is supplying the printing systems at Zuri Gardens, said “3D printing has the potential to reduce construction timelines, labor requirements and material waste—three of the largest cost drivers in affordable housing.
“Zuri Gardens reflects a shared goal of demonstrating that advanced tech can work together to deliver practical, scalable, affordable housing solutions.”
Home prices in Zuri Gardens will start at $280,000, and qualified buyers will be able to receive up to $125,000 in down payment assistance from the city. Eighty percent of the homes are reserved for buyers earning less than 120 percent of area median income.
Image: HiveASMBLD
