Printed Homes

UT Arlington architecture Professor Shadi Nazarian is exploring the viability of 3D-printing homes in rural Alaska to provide economical, sustainable, and resilient housing.

Dr. Nazarian and colleagues plan to print homes using an innovative mix of cork and concrete, an approach tailored for the frozen grounds in Alaska. Such innovation will allow the homes to be built quickly and drive down costs. She aims to develop a seamless transitional material that can be printed at a large scale, making housing more energy efficient and accessible.

“Part of the goal is to think about how to build quickly and well enough for people to be safe and healthy, as the number of people living on Earth will dramatically increase in the next 20 years,” says Nazarian, the inaugural H. Ralph Hawkins, FAIA, Chair in Architecture.

This technology could eventually be used to address affordable housing issues in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, where housing prices continue to rise.

“Advancing construction technology and developing 3D printing is a necessity because it enables us to achieve the goals of providing housing much faster, safer, and stronger,” she says.

The Alaska project is funded in part by a $1.6 million matching grant program supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Denali Commission, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and the Rasmuson Foundation.