A 3D printed community is sprouting up in Mexico, part of a project working to end global homelessness.
The nonprofit behind the project says it’s the world’s first 3D printed neighborhood.
New Story, which builds shelter for families in need, says that after 18 months of planning, two homes have been completed. The nonprofit has plans to build 50 500-square-foot 3D homes in Tabasco, Mexico, which is located in a seismic zone and prone to flooding.
The 3D printed homes, which are engineered to last generations, have two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bath and are designed with feedback from the families who will live in them. Each of the two homes that have been built took 24 hours to print, New Story said.
The nonprofit teamed up with ICON, which developed the 3D-printing robotics, and ÉCHALE, a nonprofit in Mexico, which is helping identify local families living in extreme poverty and “makeshift, unsafe shelter” to live in the homes, New Story says.
Families are selected based on need. The median family income in the Mexican community is $76.50 a month and the community has some of the lowest-income families in Mexico as a whole.
New Story says it has built more than 2,700 homes, using traditional construction methods, in places like Haiti, El Salvador and Bolivia.
The move to 3D printing allows New Story to “impact more families faster, while simultaneously improving quality and design flexibility,” the nonprofit says.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
