Lucas: 3D Printing Of Houses Adds Innovation To Address Our Housing Crisis

By Jay Lucas, NH Journal

As we at the Sunshine Initiative work to revitalize our small towns and communities, we are always on the lookout for the latest and most innovative approaches that can solve important problems and propel our communities forward. With this in mind, we are delighted to be sponsoring a visit to New Hampshire from Zack Mannheimer, CEO of Alquist 3D. Zack and his team are the leaders in the U.S. when it comes to 3D printed homes – they just produced the first 3D printed livable home in the country for Habitat for Humanity. CNN and Fox News have recently highlighted Alquist 3D’s amazing work.

These 3D homes are amazing. The first one was constructed in only 22 hours, and the cost was 15 percent less than the cost of a traditional stick-built home. And the company expects to increase that cost advantage to ’30 percent less’ in the near future. The houses are built of cement, thus less expensive than lumber, and only require a crew of 3-4 people. Moreover, very impressively, once built, the energy cost is 50 percent less than that of a traditional home.

Later this week, the Sunshine Initiative has invited Zack to do a presentation at a Manchester factory that’s recently been wonderfully renovated by Liz Hitchcock and her team – The Factory on Willow. On Friday, February 25th, he’ll address a group of people interested in helping solve our housing crisis. The event will bring together interested individuals representing a cross-section from business, government, nonprofits, and professional services.

Here is what Zack has to say about Alquist 3D:

“We bring a new vitality to smaller communities by creating affordable, sustainable, innovative homes. Using state-of-the-art 3D printing technology, Alquist helps lift economically distressed and under-served communities by lowering the cost of building the single-family, multifamily, mixed-use, and senior-living homes they need to thrive.”

We at the Sunshine Initiative are very excited to have Zack join us because his mission is so well aligned with our revitalization efforts which are now gathering steam in Laconia, Rochester, and the Westside of Manchester, in addition to our progress in Newport. When communities are struggling economically, they are usually also suffering from a ‘poverty of hope.’ That’s why the Sunshine Initiative, along with Alquist 3D, are excited to be working together to bring positivity and hope to communities throughout New Hampshire in the form of new 3D printed homes.

Please join us on Friday, February 25th at noon at the Factory on Willow, 252 Willow Street in Manchester, to attend this amazing presentation. Meanwhile, you might also enjoy watching these video links that share the remarkable story of Alquist and 3D printing:

Jay Lucas was born in Newport, NH. He lives with his wife Karen in Portsmouth, NH, where they work together, helping children and families of fallen veterans. In addition, Jay is leading efforts along with others to revitalize his hometown of Newport. He wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.