Two of three newly opened 3D-printed barracks at Fort Bliss, Texas,
  Jan. 29, 2025. Lt. Gen. David Wilson, deputy Army chief of staff, G-9
  (Installations), and Sgt. Maj. Michael Perry, his senior enlisted
  adviser, joined 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss Garrison leaders
  for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. They are the first 3D-printed
  structures to comply with the Defense Department’s updated Unified
  Facilities Criteria, a mandate updated annually that provides
  construction guidance DOD-wide and now reflects standards for additive
  manufacturing, or 3D-printed, facilities.

  Two of three 3D-printed barracks opened at Fort Bliss, Texas in late
  January. David Poe

  Soldiers headed to Fort Bliss, Texas for annual training rotations will
  live in 3D-printed barracks built by a five-ton printer using a form of
  concrete.

  The Fort Bliss building is now the largest 3D-printed barracks in the
  U.S. with each building able to house 56 soldiers within its roughly
  5,000 square-foot interior. In late January, three 3D-printed buildings
  were officially opened at the base: two in the Pershing Heights area
  and one at Camp McGregor on the base’s training complex in New Mexico.

  The base hosts around 70,000 service members annually for training and
  includes Army Reserve and National Guard units that deploy there for
  annual rotations. The first occupants of the Pershing Heights barracks
  will be the 382nd Military Police Detachment, an Army Reserve unit from
  Massachusetts, which is scheduled to travel to the base for the
  installation’s Mobilization Force Generation Installation mission.
  Army leaders, stakeholders and guests tour one of three new 3D-printed
  barracks at Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. According to ICON, an
  Austin, Texas, company that spearheaded the project, the buildings each
  encompass 5,700 square feet. When construction began in 2024, these
  barracks were the largest planned 3D-printed structures in the Western
  Hemisphere. Army leaders, stakeholders and guests tour one of three new
  3D-printed barracks at Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. Army photo by
  David Poe.

  To 3D-print a building, computer-aided design software was used to
  design the structure which was “virtually sliced into horizontal layers
  and vertically rejoined,” according to a [1]DVIDS release.

  ICON, the company in charge of the project, then used its five-ton,
  16-by-47-foot wide Vulcan printer to build the barracks with a
  proprietary concrete-based material called “lavacrete.” According to an
  [2]Army release, lavacrete can be tailored to the local environment’s
  humidity and temperature and is meant to last longer than traditional
  building materials.

  “One of the most compelling aspects of 3D printing is its ability to
  print high-quality structures faster and more cost-effectively than
  traditional methods of construction,” Lt. Gen. David Wilson, deputy
  Army chief of staff for installations said at the ribbon-cutting
  ceremony for the new barracks. Wilson added that 3D printing brings
  down the cost by reducing the amount of labor, allowing for
  customizable designs, simplifying the construction process and reducing
  waste.

  However, the cost of the 3D-printed barracks at Fort Bliss was not
  immediately clear. Army officials referred questions about the
  project’s cost to ICON, which did not respond to requests for comment.
  An example of the facilities in one of the new 3D-printed barracks at
  Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. According to ICON, an Austin, Texas,
  company that spearheaded the project, the buildings each encompass
  5,700 square feet. When construction began in 2024, these barracks were
  the largest planned 3D-printed structures in the Western Hemisphere. An
  example of the facilities in one of the new 3D-printed barracks at Fort
  Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. Army photo by David Poe.

  This is the latest example of the Pentagon using modern methods to
  build troop housing cheaper and faster. Up north, at Fort McCoy,
  Wisconsin Army officials recently undertook their own cost-effective
  housing endeavor by physically [3]moving World War II-era barracks
  across base.

  In recent years, the Department of Defense began [4]investing in 3D
  printing, or additive manufacturing, to build spare parts for weapons
  faster and cheaper — even [5]sending one to Ukraine to help Ukrainian
  forces print replacement pieces for U.S. military equipment.

  More recently, the Pentagon updated its construction criteria to
  account for it and is looking at 3D printing as an “expeditionary
  solution in forward deployed locations,” Wilson said.

  “This post has evolved with the times, embracing new technologies, new
  strategies, and new ways of serving our country,” Wilson said at the
  ceremony. “It’s fitting that we gather here today to open new barracks
  that embody the same spirit of evolution and progress.”
  An example of the facilities in one of the new 3D-printed barracks at
  Fort Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. According to ICON, an Austin, Texas,
  company that spearheaded the project, the buildings each encompass
  5,700 square feet. When construction began in 2024, these barracks were
  the largest planned 3D-printed structures in the Western Hemisphere. An
  example of the facilities in one of the new 3D-printed barracks at Fort
  Bliss, Texas, Jan. 29, 2025. Army photo by David Poe.

  ICON, the company doing the 3D printing, was previously contracted to
  build barracks at [6]Camp Swift Training Center in Bastrop, Texas in
  2021 and even signed a $57.2 million [7]contract in December 2022 with
  NASA to develop technologies for building landing pads, habitats, and
  roads on the Moon.

  The 3D-printed barracks at Camp Swift were built as an energy-efficient
  option intended to reduce maintenance and operations costs, replacing
  temporary buildings that “exceeded their intended lifespan,” Wilson
  said.

The latest on Task & Purpose

    * The Army is moving [8]WWII-era barracks across a base to house
      visiting troops
    * Army [9]Black Hawk pilot killed in mid-air collision remembered as
      a ‘volunteer patriot’
    * A National Guardsman lost their rifle when it [10]fell off a truck
      on a Delaware highway
    * [11]3rd Infantry Division identifies two soldiers killed in
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    * Air Force [12]shaving waivers will soon expire under new policy

References

  1. https://www.dvidshub.net/news/489989/army-g-8-team-bliss-open-dods-first-3d-printed-barracks
  2. https://www.dvidshub.net/news/489989/army-g-8-team-bliss-open-dods-first-3-d-printed-barracks
  3. https://www.taskandpurpose.com/history/army-moving-barracks-fort-mccoy/
  4. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2712969/dod-promotes-additive-manufacturing-expansion-standardization-training-through/
  5. https://defensescoop.com/2023/09/15/pentagon-arms-ukraine-with-industrial-size-3d-printers/
  6. https://www.iconbuild.com/projects/3d-printed-barracks-at-camp-swift
  7. https://www.taskandpurpose.com/news/army-3d-printed-moon-habitat-nasa/
  8. https://taskandpurpose.com/history/army-moving-barracks-fort-mccoy/
  9. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-pilot-rebecca-lobach/
 10. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/national-guard-rifle-missing-found/
 11. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-fort-stewart-soldiers-identified/
 12. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-beards-waivers/

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