Page 34 - Green Builder Magazine Jul-Aug 2021

Alquist This builder has a 3D answer to the nation’s

rural housing shortage.

S 15% Two-person,
T

A per square foot two-day job
T
Savings with a 3D printer The team and time needed to assemble
S
vs. conventional construction an Alquist 3D-printed home

MOMENT THE BUILDING industry has been construction methods make the house about 50 percent more
waiting for: the 3D printed house. Alquist, a 3D efficient than Virginia’s 2015 International Energy Conserva-
printed home construction company, is currently tion Code (IECC) requires.
A building a 1,550-square-foot market-rate concrete While 3D-printed homes have taken off around the world,
house in Richmond, Virginia. The three-bedroom, two-bath there are only a handful of companies focusing on these types
bungalow-style home will be sold for $210,000 when it is of buildings in the United States, and most of these are build-
completed this fall. ing in urban or commercial areas. Alquist wants to change
Virginia Tech’s proprietary Raspberry Pi-based monitoring this, particularly in rural areas.
system, developed to track and maintain indoor environment “Many of the regions facing the biggest housing challenges
data that enables a series of smart building applications, exist in rural America,” says Zachary Mannheimer, Alquist’s
will be standard in all Alquist homes. The system can save founder and CEO. “That’s why we partnered with Virginia
homeowners money if they modify their behavior according Housing and the Virginia Center for Housing Research
to the system’s findings on energy consumption and air (VCHR) at Virginia Tech to build homes for people who
quality, among other features. live outside of the places where most funding for housing
A combination of this technology and the airtight concrete programs is spent.”

Bold print. This home, built with COBOD’s BOD2 modular 3D
construction printer, can be assembled in four hours. Here, a crew prints
a test wall for the Richmond build. Using printed walls means builders
wouldn’t have to ship large, pre-built modular pieces to their job sites.
COURTESY OF ALQUIST
32 GREEN BUILDER July/August 2021 www.greenbuildermedia.com