Known for its collection of historic buildings, housing antique and vintage stores, Round Top’s newest houses, ‘Las Casitas,’ have been made differently with 3D printing.
The Texas-based construction company Hive3D Builders for The Halles at Round Top is behind the print job. The company leverages 3D concrete printing technology from CyBe Construction in the pursuit of making construction more cost-effective and sustainable.
CyBe Construction is a Dutch manufacturer who has developed CyBe Robot Crawler, the portable 3D concrete printer used as part of its project. The machine uses a robot arm for precise material placement.
By creating a building system around CyBe’s technology that prints many times faster and at a lower cost than other 3D construction printers, Hive3D Builders was able to build Las Casitas with improved cost-effectiveness, as well as durability.
“We completed these houses at a cost to the client that was significantly less than it would have cost them to build similar structures using traditional methods,” noted Timothy Lankau, CEO of Hive3D Builders. The buildings are also constructed with 10-inch-thick concrete walls (25cm thick concrete walls), making them more durable and energy-efficient than framed structures.
The Las Casitas project
The Las Casitas project consists of five small houses, built for short and long-term rental housing. The largest building is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, measuring an area of 800 square feet (74 m2). The others, one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments and studios, are between 500 and 600 square feet (46 and 56 m2). These rental houses will give occupants the opportunity to experience the feel of living in a 3D printed home. A sought-after experience, as the first house already has its initial tenants. Rentals aren’t uncommon in the tourist town of Round Top, as the town serves as a venue for year-round events. Though having only 100 residents, the town has over 200 rentals listed on AirBnB only. Like most rental units in the tourist town, Hive3D Builders’ Las Casitas are located just outside the historic center, a press release says.
The houses will be owned and managed by Starred Sky Development, which will collaborate with the additive manufacturing company on future projects.
Remember, you can post job opportunities in the AM Industry on 3D ADEPT Media free of charge or look for a job via our job board. Make sure to follow us on our social networks and subscribe to our weekly newsletter : Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram ! If you want to be featured in the next issue of our digital magazine or if you hear a story that needs to be heard, make sure to send it to contact@3dadept.com