Could 3D printing help solve the housing crisis?
From a distance, the home under construction blends in with its Tempe, Arizona, neighborhood – modest residential blocks landscaped with pebbles and cactuses. The ranch-style house is even topped with a traditional wood-frame roof, hiding a surprise below.
Earlier this year, a massive printer oozed out row upon row of gray, toothpastelike ribbons of mortar that have hardened into walls. The site is considered the first 3D-printed home created by a U.S. affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, the global affordable-housing nonprofit.
“This is such a unique house,” says future owner Shawn Shivers, sporting a hard hat on-site.
Advocates say 3D-printed homes could provide what the Shivers family seeks: affordable housing. As with any new industry, there
