A 3D printer could build your next home, affordably

Virginia Tech researchers are helping the dream of a home with a white picket fence get a fresh new face — and a new price tag.

With a $1.1 million grant from Virginia Housing, an organization dedicated to providing affordable housing for the commonwealth, experts in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering and the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design are partnering to build more affordable homes, and they are using a 3D concrete printer to do it.

The interdisciplinary team aims to create 10 homes over the next two to three years while laying the groundwork for hundreds more. 

The research took center stage Nov. 14 at the Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference in Virginia Beach, where the team unveiled the printer and its push to help make the future of homeownership more accessible.

“This is just the start. We want to see this technology deployed as more communities work to address the commonwealth's and nation’s affordable housing crisis,” said Andrew McCoy, director of the Virginia Center for Housing Research and associate director for research and innovation at the Myers-Lawson School of Construction. “We see this as a grassroots effort to partner with communities and nonprofits throughout the commonwealth.”

In Virginia, nearly one-third of people spend half of their paychecks on housing. Currently, about 154,000 families are priced out of homeownership, according to the National Association of Homebuilders' 2024 Priced-out Analysis.  

“A lack of affordable housing is a huge issue facing communities,” said Chris Thompson of Virginia Housing. “We need creative solutions to solve this crisis, and 3D printing is the kind of forward-thinking we are looking for.”

For Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the lack of housing options propelled a recent executive order that pairs economic development proposals with plans on where people hired for those new jobs will live. He estimates the commonwealth needs to create half a million homes to meet the current demand and another 30,000 each year to keep up with growth.

Collaboration is crucial

Virginia Tech is taking a multidisciplinary approach to curb the crisis, bringing together researchers within the building construction, construction engineering and management, and civil engineering programs and the School of Architecture’s Center for Design Research for a multifaceted approach they are calling 3D4VA, a nod to the 3D printing approach to solve Virginia’s housing affordable housing crisis.  

“This is a novel collaboration between these two recently reorganized colleges,” said Nathan King, co-director of the Center for Design Research. “The collaboration combines transdisciplinary expertise that links technical knowledge with an understanding of the potential real-world impact of new technologies for design and construction. The potential afforded by this work impacts ongoing regional, national, and international projects and provides opportunities beyond disciplinary boundaries.”

Along with several graduate students and a postdoctoral scholar, there are five main researchers and experts involved in the project:

• Alexander Brand, assistant professor in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is lead researcher for the project. He is investigating the materials science of concrete, concrete material innovation, and alternative concrete mixes. 
• Andrew McCoy, the Yvan J. Beliveau Professor in Building Construction, is the leading expert on affordable housing and the economics around it.  
• Kereshmeh Afsari, founder and managing director of the ARCADE Lab and assistant professor in construction engineering and management, is the expert on robotics in construction and developing and training the workforce to use this 3D concrete-printing technology.
• Philip Agee, assistant director of the Virginia Center for Housing and assistant professor in building construction, is the expert on how humans interact with technology and the buildings around them. He’s also focused on the long-term performance of the building.
• Nathan King, co-director of the Center for Research Design, is the expert on the connection between digital design workflows, industrial robotics and automation for the construction of buildings and infrastructure.

Together, these researchers are looking at how to use a concrete mix as a more affordable building material, how to scale the size of a home to fit the buyer’s budget, and how to train a growing workforce on using this technology. 

“This type of work could not exist without that type of collaboration across many faculty. Bringing everyone together allows us to advance this project in a way one person could not have managed,” said Brand. “There are so many moving pieces, and we need this breadth of expertise.”

The team is also partnering with consultants who have built and designed 3D concrete houses with McCoy before. Mike White with Crain Company, Craig Meadows with Williamsburg Builder Consultants LLC, Mike Matthews of the Structures Group Inc., and Habitat for Humanity Peninsula Greater Williamsburg will assist with site operations, zoning and planning, building code requirements, structural design, and the printing process.

A Hitt Hall fixture

3D-printed homes aren’t a new concept for the Virginia Center for Housing Research. In 2020, McCoy printed homes in the Williamsburg and Richmond areas. The difference with this printer is its mobility and access to students.

The two-story, glass-window Procon Innovation Center inside of Hitt Hall serves as home to the 3D concrete printer and its robotic arm. The newly dedicated collaborative space is designed to attract interdisciplinary work to create comprehensive solutions.

“The Procon Innovation Center is a great space for us to begin our research. This kind of technology is rare for many college campuses and our students can watch it come to life,” said McCoy. “We can take this machine to off-campus jobsites to conduct larger printing, but we envision a future where we can create benches, planters, and tables for students to be able to use nearby." 

By having this technology on campus, students will receive hands-on training and become experts in 3D-printed housing, making them more competitive candidates for the job market in this evolving field. The buck for affordable housing doesn’t stop in Blacksburg, however. Part of the grant is designed to teach builders and nonprofits how to implement the technologies in their own communities.

"We see this type of building process creating jobs and redeveloping the workforce, especially for people who may have limited opportunities for employment in their communities," said Afsari. “As we train more people and highlight the benefits of this new way to build, we can create lasting change and a net positive impact for the commonwealth and beyond.”