East 17th Residences

East 17th Residences

Program: Four 3-D Printed Residences
Status: Completed
Date: Summer 2021
Location: Austin, Texas

Client: 3Strands
Builder: ICON
Structural: Fort Structures
Interiors: Claire Zinnecker
MEP: Positive Energy

The architectural design of the East 17th residences is a concerto between the stereotomic stone-like nature of the 3D-printed concrete building bases and the tectonic, traditionally framed, upper volumes supported by their bases.  This duality, and the geometry informed by it, is inspired by the Neolithic Village of Skara Brae located on Orkney Island in the Northern Isles of Scotland. Skara Brae was built in 3,180 BC and was actively occupied for over 600 years. 

Although separated from the East 17th residences by five millennia, the challenges of the site and the epoch of the intervention upon it, as well as the inspiring optimism of human ingenuity remain the same for both projects.Skara Brae is a clustering of 8 preplanned stone homes, meticulously built and partially buried into the windswept seaward slope of Orkney Island, Scotland. The East 17th Residences are a clustering of 4 homes nestled into the urban fabric of East Austin with shared site amenities and careful consideration given to public vs. private space and community incubation. 

The prehistoric inhabitants of Skara Brae built furniture, lockable doors, sealed food storage, and indoor restrooms, all out of stone… a readily available material. These builders used the most advanced technology available at the time, stone tools, to incisively construct the homes that they needed, in precisely the shape that they required and were otherwise unconstrained by preconceived typological ideals or geometric constraints. The tectonic roof structures of the homes are thought to have been built with available lightweight thatch, driftwood, and whalebone, as very limited timber was available.

The East 17th residences development by 3Strands are the first 3D-printed homes for sale in the United States built using ICON’s proprietary technology and advanced materials, the twenty-first century equivalent of readily available stone. Like Skara Brae and the meticulous stone accomplishments of its builders, the design of the East 17th Residences is pushing the envelope for the capability of concrete and exploring the frontiers of what shape our new stone age should take.  And perhaps five thousand years from now, some future civilization will marvel at what 3Strands and ICON accomplished, with such primitive technology.