Icon, a 3D printing construction company based in Austin, suffered extensive damage from a fire Friday morning.
At 3 a.m., firefighters responded a fire at Yard. The Yard is a mixed-use community on East St. Elmo Road near Ben White Boulevard in South Austin. This development houses the Icon facility as well St. Elmo Brewing Company, Spokesman Coffee Roasters and an Austin Winery.
Austin-Travis County EMS nurses were leaving an Austin hospital at the beginning of Friday when they saw smoke and alerted firefighters. Stephen Truesdell, a division head for the Austin Fire Department, stated that some had noticed smoke and called 911.
More:Austin startup Icon plans to develop 3D-printed homes for the area
Truesdell explained that “it had been burning for quite some time at that point.” According to Truesdell, the building consisted of two warehouses that were stacked side-by-side. One was used as an office while the other was used for printing.
According to the Fire Department, although the facility was in renovation at the time of the fire, printing equipment was still present.
Nearly sixty firefighters battled to control the blaze. Austin Travis County EMS was also present at the scene. Truesdell stated that firefighters initially struggled to control the fire because it was so large.
More:Icon in Austin’s latest project will allow NASA to simulate life on Mars.
The incident resulted in no injuries, but it is not known what the cost of damage will be. Truesdell stated that fire investigators were working Friday to determine the cause of the fire and estimate the damage.
Representatives from Icon stated that they didn’t expect any significant impact on the company’s future activities Friday.
Jason Ballard co-founded Icon and displayed its 3D-printed home at South by Southwest 2018. It has used Vulcan 3D-printing technology since then to build numerous homes and structures, including barracks in Texas Military Department. And it is working with NASA to develop habitats on the moon.
Icon recently announced plans for its 3D printers in order to build 100 houses at Wolf Ranch by Hillwood in Georgetown. Hillwood is a master-planned community. According to the company, the community will be the largest-scale 3D-printed housing project in the United States.
3D printing is increasingly popular in the construction of structures. This technology uses computer-aided design to create three-dimensional objects using a layering process. This process can be used with a variety materials. Icon uses Lavacrete as its proprietary cementitious-based material.
Ballard has said he sees 3D printing as having the potential to revolutionize the way homes are built by offering versatility, range, speed and lower costs than traditional construction. According to Icon each giant robot printer can print approximately one house per day.
