“Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again,” Lambert said. “I’ve never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity ... just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It’s a crazy way to build.”
The units can include architectural features that would normally be too expensive to replicate on a large scale with traditional construction, according to Lambert.
The single-storey, 3.7-metre high walls of the first two units under construction are a three-bedroom residential space and single-room hotel unit. The curvy, beige-coloured walls are being piped out by Icon’s Vulcan, a 14.2m wide 3D printer standing 4.7m and weighing 4.3 tonnes.
A print technician monitors Vulcan as its robotic arm and nozzle glide through the work site on a gantry.
The “ink” of this 3D printer is a special cement-based material called Lavacrete, a proprietary mixture designed for strength, affordable scale and printability. Icon chief executive and founder Jason Ballard said workers adjust and blend the ingredients depending on weather conditions.
“The magic happens in the admixtures that allow us to continue printing,” Ballard said, adding that humidity, temperature and irradiance affect the material’s behaviour and even the final colour.
Icon is also working on a 3D-printed neighbourhood of homes near Austin.
In the long term, 3D-printed construction could displace some skilled labouring jobs, said Milad Bazli, a science and technology lecturer at Charles Darwin University in Australia.
“I think from the social point of view and the effect on the economy in terms of the local jobs, especially in remote areas, that will be one of the challenges that we need to consider when we’re going to the 3D printing method,” Bazli said.
The expansion of El Cosmico is set to be completed by 2026. The hotel units will range between US$200 ($317) and US$450 per night.
Reporting by Evan Garcia, Writing by Rosalba O’Brien; Editing by David Gregorio.
