A machine weighing 4.75 tons is using a special cement-based material called Lavacrete to ‘print’ the hotel’s walls
By Eamonn Crowe
El Cosmico, a hotel and campground in Texas, claims it is building the world’s first 3D-printed hotel rooms.
The hotel, located in the small desert city of Marfa, is in the process of expanding its accommodation offering, building 43 new hotel units and 18 residential homes over a 40 acre plot – all with a 3D printer.
The hotel’s owner Liz Lambert has partnered with Texas-based 3D printing company ICON and architects Bjarke Ingels Group for the project.
ICON’s Vulcan, a 46.5-feet wide 3D printer standing 15.5 feet and weighing 4.75 tons, is using a special cement-based material called Lavacrete to ‘print’ out curved, beige coloured walls for the new rooms.
The single-story, 12-foot high walls of the first two units under construction are a three-bedroom residential space and single-room hotel unit.
Construction workers are required to adapt the ingredients based on weather conditions, as humidity, temperature, and irradiance can all affect the material’s behavior and even its final color.
Lambert told Reuters: “Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again. I have never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity … just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It is a crazy way to build.”
She also said the units can include architectural features that would normally be too expensive to replicate on a large scale with traditional construction.
The expansion of El Cosmico is set to be completed by 2026 and the new hotel units will range between $200 and $450 per night.
ICON is also working on a 3D-printed neighborhood of homes near Austin.