ICON’s New Wimberley Springs Project to Feature 3D Printed Homes from CODEX Catalog

Additive construction (AC) firm ICON continues to push forward America’s homebuilding industry. Now, the firm announced a project consisting of eight single-family homes for the community of Wimberly Springs, Texas. The houses, officially on sale today, can be customized with one of four floor plans from ICON’s CODEX digital architecture catalog, ranging in size from 2,800 to 4,000 square feet and featuring four or five bedrooms. Per ICON’s statement about the project, some of the floor plans were designed by longtime collaborator the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).

Rendering of one available floor plan

ICON boast’s that in its CarbonX material, when paired with ICON’s wall system and robotic construction methods, has produced “the lowest carbon residential building system to be used at scale.” If true, this project represents a significant breakthrough in reducing the carbon footprint of home construction. Homes will be certified to the EnergyStar standard by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ICON states that its homes typically receive a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rating between 40-55, making them 45-60% more energy efficient than standard new homes. The final HERS rating will be field-verified and will vary based on floor plan and field test results.

With prices beginning in the high $800,000s, ICON’s homes are priced competitively for an area where both land and finished builds are regularly listed for one million dollars or more, with the area featuring a $9.8 million dollar listing in 2021. The last fifteen years have transformed the area into what’s been dubbed a “millionaire’s playground” by the San-Antonio Express News. Easy access to the private San Marcos airport allows Texas’ jetsetters get to the peace and quiet of Wimberly, but keeps Austin and the rest of Texas’s urban spaces in close proximity,

A rendering of an ICON home in Wimberly Springs

While this project may lack any record-setting characteristics, like many of the AC stories we regularly cover, it does represent the first home designs from ICON’s CODEX digital architecture catalog, which is a potentially paradigm-shifting moment in homebuilding. It also demonstrates ICON’s continued ability to deliver localized, small-scale construction projects to a specific consumer base. Is it possible that the comfort of 3D printed second homes will inspire ICON’s customer base to push down the barriers preventing 3D construction from taking root in America’s urban areas? Only time will tell.