Azure ramping up to 3D print homes with recycled plastic

Culver City, Calif.-based Azure Printed Homes Inc. will use additive manufacturing and recycled plastic to create tiny houses, backyard studios, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — and maybe one day soon multistory modules.

Founded in 2019, the company is the first to 3D print a complete structure primarily using recycled material. It uses post-industrial glycol-modified PET from bottle and packing producers for its insulative qualities, printability, strength, stiffness and impact resistance.

Azure has produced two prototypes to date using robotic printers while it awaits delivery of some custom components for larger-print projects, including a 14-unit development at an extended-stay hotel.

Sixty percent of Azure structures will be made from recycled PETG with fiberglass, additives and UV inhibitors to increase strength and durability.

The units will meet California and International Residential Codes and be able to withstand snow and wind loads for much of the United States.

While the competition is either 3D printing panels for conventional assembly or erecting a printer on-site to print exterior concrete walls, Azure officials say their design and process creates the first self-supporting shell — the floor, walls and roof — in one layer.

Using a large-scale robotic arm, Azure will be able to 3D print some of its modules, which are 120-900 square feet, in less than 24 hours at the company's 15,000-square-foot factory. The next day, the structure's wiring and plumbing will be installed and spray foam insulation applied. The unit then will get a protective UV coating on the outside, windows, doors and wall finishes.

If a kitchen and bathroom are selected, then the module will take seven to 10 days to complete.

The finished units then can be delivered on a flatbed truck ready to be placed onto a foundation, bolted down and plugged into utilities, which takes in one to three days. Prices start at $24,999.

"The design was made as simple as it can be so the process is quick and easy for everyone and most importantly the person purchasing the unit," Azure co-founder Ross Maguire said in an Aug. 12 webinar.

Azure officials say they can 3D print homes 70 percent faster and 30 percent cheaper than traditional home construction methods. They see their modules addressing problems in a $17.5 billion market dealing with outdated building methods and materials, a labor shortage and a U.S. housing stock deficit of 3.8 million houses.

Maguire, a civil engineer who had a London-based construction company, and co-founder Gene Eidelman, who spent 30 years in construction and development, said it is time for gains in 3D printing technology and material science to replace building techniques that have been costly and wasteful for centuries.

"Efficiencywise, this is huge," Maguire said. "When you're framing a wall and then having to sheath it, waterproof it from the outside, add a roof, a layer of waterproofing, and do all junction details between the roof and siding, you're seeing multiple trades, multiple materials and multiple days and weeks to complete the process. To print all those trades and works so to speak in one go in one day is just a huge advantage."

Azure is getting ready to undertake its first big project. Earlier this year, the company was selected to create 14 pre-fabricated structures in Ridgecrest, Calif., for Oasis Development.

The orders have continued. In July, Azure took its 100th deposit on a pre-order and reached $11.5 million in pre-sales.

Azure has been featured in the Royal Institute of British Architects Journal, and company officials were asked to respond to a United Nations request for proposals for 3D printed homes from recycled materials, which they did.

"The problem we — and others — identified is that construction takes way too long," Maguire said. "It costs more than it needs to and it wastes way too much material, which adversely affects our environment. … It's stuck somewhat in the dark ages, and that's something we want to address."

The RIBA article says construction 3D printing is a sustainable process because it minimizes waste and reduces the number of material deliveries, or even eliminates them with on-site printing.

A growing emphasis on the circular economy and recycled content could strengthen the technology's credentials as a mainstream method of construction, the RIBA article also says.

Azure's product line starts with 120-square-foot backyard modules that cost $24,999 and can be used for a home office, artist studio, yoga room, meditation room, recording studio or gaming room. These modules are 12 feet in length, 10 feet deep, 10 feet high and weigh about 3,000 pounds.

The ADUs, which can serve as a guest house or rental income unit, start at $39,900 for a kitchen, bathroom and a living/bedroom in a 180-square-foot space. Azure's large ADUs start at $199,000 for a 900-square-foot module with two bedrooms, closets and a bathroom, kitchen and living room.

Buyers can select from options for floors, lights, kitchens, bathrooms, HVAC and a solar battery.

Of orders received to date, 50 percent are for ADUs, 30 percent for primary residence and 20 percent for backyard studios.

The Ridgecrest development will feature Azure's "D series" units. The roof, floor and two walls are printed in one day and assembled in the quality-controlled factory, leaving the two end walls for customization.

The structures will be installed at an extended-stay hotel, partly for vendors doing business at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.

Azure officials also envision taller structures and are designing ways to stack the units.

"This is the tip of the iceberg. There is room for a helluva lot more innovation and evolution for us as company," Maguire said. "This is going to mean we can produce homes faster, more affordably and in a better way for the environment. For us, 3D printing and using green recycled materials is the future of construction, particularly when there's a housing shortage across the world."

Azure officials are trying to line up more financing. They have enough funds to produce now from the Culver City facility and are looking to scale production further.

The company will begin printing backyard studios this year, followed by ADUs in 2023 and homes in 2024, according to its online crowd-funding pitch.

The Culver City facility has room for three production lines, which, Maguire said, should each be able to generate about $8 million in revenue annually.

He is not worried about sourcing enough PETG, even with the recent surge in pre-orders.

"We have actually had a lot of plastic manufacturers reaching out to us to see if they can join our supply stream," Maguire said in an email.

The company plans to open other manufacturing locations where they make sense. The second facility is likely to be in California. So far, 77 percent of the pre-ordered modules are from California and 13 percent are from Arizona, Texas and Florida.

Pop-up production sites also are possible in more remote places to create housing. By adjusting the print geometry, Azure can set the depth of the walls, the roof and the floors to improve the insulation for cold climate needs.

"We can program the printer to say, rather than doing a 6-inch roof, we're printing a 9-inch-deep roof, which is within our guidelines," Maguire said. "We're only improving the structure by deepening it. It allows us to add a deeper value of insulation."

The customization helps meet different energy and environmental requirements, depending on the destination of the delivery.

Azure units have been designed to withstand snow and wind loads for 95 percent of the country and the remaining 5 percent can be "catered for with some supplemental engineering," the company says.

The service life of the 3D printed modules, however, is yet to be determined.

"We won't know until we get to the end of a structure's life cycle, but if the structure is well maintained and is continued to be protected externally with a UV coating every 15-25 years, then there is no reason why it shouldn't outlast traditionally built homes," Maguire said. Theoretically, at the end of each structure's life cycle, the printed structure can be ground down and recycled for reuse, Maguire added.

After they optimize the efficiency of their process, Azure officials plan to open other production sites.

"We have had inquiries from Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa," Maguire said. "In time, once the evolution and the automation of the process is down to a point where we're ready to branch out across the globe, we'll take those steps. That's where we see this going."