After months of planning, the two groups are only a few weeks away from construction. In celebration of this new and community-led housing initiative, key stakeholders and Community Foundation Board members gathered on the jobsite at Arbor Commons, a new neighborhood development in Muscatine that is adjacent to Discovery Park.
"We are excited to bring this prove, innovative technology to Muscatine as a supplemental housing development tool, and collaboratively improve the housing stock in Muscatine County." Ron Monahan, Housing Initiatives Manager for the Community Foundation said following the groundbreaking.
The plans regarding these new 3-D printed homes were first announced in 2022, with the process being seen as an efficient way to provide affordable and sustainable housing that could be just as resilient to natural disasters as other types of housing while also taking less time to build.
When it came to this new type of housing in Muscatine, it was decided that Hagerty Earthworks, a local general contractor, would manage the home development while Alquist 3D, an Iowa based company, will subcontract to 3D print the exterior walls of the home.
"Our goal at Alquist 3D is to help build community, and this project defines this process," Zachary Mannheimer, Founder and CEO of Alquist 3D stated publicly. "City leaders in Muscatine have come together to bring the future of construction to Iowa. We look forward to demonstrating the future."
According to Monahan, the team at Hagerty will begin laying down foundation for the new homes in just a few weeks, doing so sequentially. Then when the 3-D printer arrives, which is expected to be in late April or early May, walls for each of the homes will begin to be printed out.
"The printer will be moved from one foundation to the next foundation. Once the printer is on site, it won't leave until it's done (with all the walls)," Monahan assured.
The rest of the homes' construction is expected to be finished in fall 2023. For the first four of these new homes, it has been decided that the exterior envelop of the home will be 3D printed with an enhanced concrete mix while the interior walls will be built with traditional wood framing. The homes are anticipated to be 1,300 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an oversized, attached two car garage, and a large front porch.
When asked about the use of both 3D-printed walls and wood framing, Monahan explained, "The outside walls are the important walls, that's where you gain the efficiencies. We believe these homes will be in the neighborhood of probably 50 percent more efficient than traditional-built homes. I think later on, there's a potential of building some of these houses with the interior walls printed also, but our initial builds will be traditionally built on the inside."
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