AMES, Iowa — It's a problem being felt across the state— the housing market just isn't keeping up with the demand for affordable housing. To help fix the problem, the College of Design at Iowa State University is 3D printing houses.
The college received $1.4 million from the Iowa Economic Development Authority to work on the project that's happening in Hamburg. The community has suffered through a massive disaster during the 2019 floods.
"Now, we're just introducing it to the United States as a commercial project. So we have probably about a half a dozen examples, companies in the country that are scaling up this capability to be able to deliver housing and buildings in different areas," said Pete Evans with the college's Department of Industrial Design. "And we're very excited to be able to bring that in and work that technology into Iowa."
Not only is this technology cool, but it's also efficient. Officials say it can improve the speed of a build two to three times over. Researchers developed a method to help cut down on building costs.
Evans also said the lack of affordable housing across the country trickles down to other aspects of life.
"There's a shortfall of housing across the country, here in Iowa as well, that impacts workforce. It impacts the communities, and we're trying to use new technologies to be able to impact the making part of the house," Evans said.
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