Design project will be Southfield's first 3D printed concrete home

Work underway for Southfield's first 3D printed concrete home

It's a mission focused on the future of design and construction using more durable materials - which will hopefully lead to more affordable housing.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - At 165 millimeters-per-second they are printing concrete - showing off the material and method for the first 3D printed concrete home in the City of Southfield.

"We've been designing all summer - we're actually developing a whole series of different houses," said Karl Daubmann.

Daubmann and Sara Codarin are the architects from Lawrence Tech behind the project.

"We think it's important to develop this technology here in Michigan because of the ecosystem - there's so much capacity for manufacturing," Codarin said.

It's a mission focused on the future of design and construction using more durable materials - which will hopefully lead to more affordable housing.

"We've been actively looking to bring new housing to our community," said Rochelle Freeman. "As you know the city - like the rest of the country - is short of affordable housing and housing in general."

Freeman is the business and economic development director for the City of Southfield.

"Fresh new housing units always bring new families and that's what we're looking for," she said.

It's not yet decided where the new home will be located, but they're hoping to get started in the spring and have the home completed within a year - and who knows what, after that.

"These technologies allow us to be able to customize things so different homeowners - different sites - different views - all of these different things could actually allow us to produce a customized home for people," Daubmann said. "And I think as we talk about affordable housing, what we're really interested in as designers is kind of dignity for a person that lives there."

Daubmann says affordability means more than just price.

"We're not going to talk about how cheap the house will be," he said. "But how long it's going to last - what it's going to mean to maintain it - how efficient it will be to operate, and just how inspiring it will be to live in the house."

If you are interested in learning more about this whole 3D printing process, it will be on display through the end of the month. It is Detroit's Month of Design - you can visit 1001 Woodward to check it all out.