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ICON Founders Alex Le Roux, Evan Loomis, and Jason Ballard Are 3D Printing Homes to Save Lives

Photo credit: Buff Strickland
Photo credit: Buff Strickland

From House Beautiful

Photo credit: Hearst Owned
Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Having a vision is one thing. But it's what comes next—the risk-taking and recruiting, the sleepless nights and countless hours—that turn that dream into a reality. House Beautiful's 2020 Visionaries have done all that and then some, creating innovative brands and companies that will come to change the way we decorate.

3D-printing technology can be bewildering. We can print guns now? Human organs? ICON, founded by Alex Le Roux and college friends Jason Ballard and Evan Loomis, has cut through the fuss to seize an opportunity: They 3D-print entire houses—because doing so might actually save lives. ICON built the nation’s first 3D-printed house in Austin, Texas, in 2018, and in 2019, it began creating an entire neighborhood of 500-square-foot homes for families in Tabasco, Mexico, who were living in extreme poverty. Says cofounder and CEO Jason Ballard, “Frankly, it’s time for humanity to think about a new paradigm.”

Learn about more House Beautiful 2020 Visionaries

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