3D Printing Affordable Housing
Current Research
Project Team: Max Jarosz, Architect
Catalina Cabral-Framiñan
Guiliano D’Arrigo
Michaela Urteaga
Amber Kountz
Stephen Matthew Wisniew
Robert Sims Duboy
The Coconut Grove 3D Printed House Initiative started through a collaboration between the University of Miami and Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade to help rebuild a house for a family in Coconut Grove whose house was damaged during a hurricane. Shortly thereafter, the couple was enrolled in a program with the City of Miami to rebuild the home. Cost overruns and delays following the Covid-19 pandemic led to Rebuilding Together, Miami-Dade, and the University of Miami School of Architecture to partner together, where the two collaborated on a proposal using 3D printing technology to rebuild the house. The initiative began in September of 2021 and has continued to move through a research and design phase.
The initiative aims to utilize digital fabrication, in particular concrete 3D printing to rebuild the shell of the house and traditional construction to build the interior of the house. The team for this project consists of a range of students from the M.Arch, B.Arch, Construction Management, and Real Estate programs acting through the Double-C Research Unit to think through the project on a wide range of issues. Students have met with the owners of the lot to discuss the aesthetics, culture, constructability, and economics related to the project. At the same time the students have been investigating the opportunities and limitations provided by using a large format 3D printer to print at full scale.
