El Cosmico, a hotel and campground site in Marfa, Texas — about an eight-hour drive from Dallas — is building two model units using a giant 3D printer. These examples will form the basis of the site’s 40-acre expansion, including 43 rooms and 18 residences, all built using ICON’s Vulcan 3D printer. While many buildings have already been built using 3D printing techniques, Reuters says these structures would be the first to be deployed in the hospitality setting.
“Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again,” El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert told Reuters. “I’ve never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity, and just the curves and the domes and the parabolas, it’s a crazy way to build.”
The Vulcan’s versatility has allowed El Cosmico, ICON, and Bjarke Ingels Group, the architects behind the project, to use curved and rounded lines throughout the project — something that would take a lot of time and resources to build using traditional construction techniques. ICON CEO Jason Ballard told Reuters that 3D printing gives them much more room to experiment with organic forms and shapes, giving the El Cosmico hotel expansion a unique layout with its rounded rooms, curved walls, and even wavy hallways.
3D printing technology has come a long way since its inception in the 1980s. Today, we can 3D print metal parts in space at the International Space Station, create parts smaller than a thumbnail using a chip-based 3D printer with no moving parts, and have every other kind of 3D printer in between.
Aside from creating unique architectural pieces, 3D printers also excel at prototyping, where creators do not have to spend countless hours building their designs and making changes. They’re also helpful for small-batch manufacturing — like when you need to create a replacement part for a classic car that hasn’t been in production in decades. So, if you want to dive into the world of 3D printing and get one, check out our list of the best 3D printers in 2024, with options starting at less than $250.
Although 3D printing has opened up new avenues for creators and constructors alike, it also brings new challenges. For example, Charles Darwin University lecturer Milad Bazli told Reuters that 3D-printed construction could displace some skilled labor jobs. Nevertheless, despite giant 3D printers requiring less labor to build a home versus traditional construction methods, we still need people to operate the machines, monitor their progress, and handle any interruptions or troubleshooting. And, at the very end, we still need the delicate movements of human hands to finish any 3D printed piece — whether a tiny desktop figure made with resin or a structure built with concrete — into a complete, finished product.
