A robot is laying down bead after bead of concrete on a stretch of Loop 410 in San Antonio, slowly raising the curved walls of what will become ASCO Equipment's new training and exhibition center. The project marks the largest commercial building yet for Austin-based Icon, the company behind the printer doing the work, and it's also Icon's first venture into San Antonio.
ASCO Equipment, a heavy machinery dealer, owns more than 60 acres at 1920 SE Loop 410, where it tests equipment, trains operators and hosts sales events, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The new 12,649-square-foot center is planned around those uses, with an open training floor, tiered seating and an upstairs lounge. CEO Brax Wright said ASCO wanted a place for equipment demonstrations, training and presentations on new developments in the Texas construction industry.
Curved Walls, Glowing Facade
Curved Walls, Glowing Facade
The building’s design combines curved printed walls with a steel frame, 100 feet of overhead doors facing the machinery demonstration field and a translucent exterior intended to admit daylight and glow at night, the Express-News reports. Icon’s architectural and structural engineering team develops concepts with clients, and its design team accounts for window and electrical openings before printing begins. The approach lets the ASCO project’s architecture and equipment-demo function shape the printed shell.
Before printing, Icon prepares the site and connects water and gas, according to the Express-News. Its robot then deposits the company’s proprietary Formcrete mixture in layers, each taking about 20 minutes; Icon adjusts the formula for temperature and humidity. The ASCO center is Icon’s largest commercial project to date, but requires no additional robots. Printing began this month, with that work expected to finish before Thanksgiving and the full project scheduled for completion by summer 2027.
From Vulcan To Titan
Icon is also pushing a newer printer, called Titan, out into the broader market. According to Axios, builders can reserve a Titan unit with a $5,000 deposit, with pricing starting at $899,000. Titan is designed to build walls for roughly $20 per square foot, a potential 40 percent reduction compared with conventional wall systems, and it can print structures up to 27 feet high, a jump from Vulcan's 12-foot ceiling. Texas is expected to be the first market for Titan next year, and Icon plans to sell the printer to outside builders rather than keep it in-house.
Military Contracts And Defense Ties
Military Contracts And Defense Ties
Icon’s defense and government work includes more than $360 million in contract awards, according to the Express-News. The Army awarded the company $62.8 million to 3D-print 10 training barracks at Fort Bliss and $67.9 million for a rotational unit billeting area and supporting infrastructure at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana. NASA awarded Icon a $57.2 million SBIR Phase III contract in 2022 to develop space-based 3D-printing systems. Hurd said the Fort Bliss project was printed three times faster and millions of dollars cheaper than typical construction; he also cited wall performance claims involving wind, termites, mold and fire. Icon Prime focuses on military, intelligence and space robotic construction. Hurd said Icon’s next San Antonio project will be for the Army at Camp Stanley but did not provide details.
A Track Record Beyond San Antonio
Icon is headquartered in Austin and has 3D-printed 270 structures since launching in 2018, including military barracks, rocket launch pads and a hotel in Marfa. The company and Lennar built a 100-home community in Georgetown, and in 2021 Icon partnered with New Story to print homes for families facing flooding and overcrowding in Tabasco, Mexico. Construction Physics reports that Icon has built more than 100 homes with 3D-printed walls and has worked with NASA and the military on building projects. The publication estimates Icon’s walls cost two to four times as much as an average conventionally framed wall, while noting the company’s claim that it achieved a cost of $34 per square foot on its Texas project with Lennar.
How Georgetown Differs From the ASCO Project
The Georgetown project is residential: ICON announced with Lennar on Nov. 10, 2022, that construction was underway on a community of 3D-printed homes, according to ICON. The article describes that development as a 100-home community, unlike the ASCO site’s single 12,649-square-foot commercial training and exhibition center. Georgetown construction was underway in 2022; printing on the ASCO center began this month, with completion of the full project expected by summer 2027.
Hurd, who lives in his own 3D-printed home in Austin, is overseeing the ASCO job as Icon's first project the company has managed from design through construction, enabling curved architectural designs that are traditionally more expensive to achieve with conventional construction. The company's broader ambitions keep growing too: the Austin Business Journal reported Icon aims to double its local footprint and hire hundreds of employees while quadrupling revenue this year, with new funding meant to support expanded manufacturing in America. For San Antonio, though, the more immediate marker of progress will be watching a translucent, curved-wall building rise bead by bead along Loop 410.
