ICON developed its Vulcan I 3D printer over a period of about two years. The gantry-style printer on rails is mobile and weighs about 2,000 pounds.

Set on an east-west axis, the home stays cool with shading south-facing glass, minimal west-facing glass, and operable windows that allow for natural ventilation. Energy recovery ventilators also bring fresh air into the home.

A Seattle family tasked Atmosphere Design Build with creating a sustainable dwelling in Nevada City, California, the matriarch's hometown and a historic mining community. The firm's material-driven approach channels the pioneer spirit of the gold rush, without compromising comfort or high-efficiency standards.

“The Low Poly Pokémon project started as a challenge,” says their designer Flowalistik. “I wanted to try to transform the low-quality graphics the first Pokémon video games had into a 3D model." The resulting forms can be printed in a wide range of materials—it depends on your local 3D printer—though the plastic seen here is most common.

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

Components for low-cost prefab homes designed by Habitat for Humanity and the firm Minarc for South Central Los Angeles were trucked in and assembled over three days. Photos by Art Gray.

The impression of a 3D relief was overwhelming with this pattern.

Rice surfs the net at the built-in desk.

Sleeping nooks that look like the grooves in a block of cheese.

Made from ABS plastic, a common 3D printing material, the Bristol Chair capitalizes on the complexity possible with additive manufacturing. "When talking to designers," says Bitonti, "I try to impress that [3D printing] has its own unique materials and process... they try to design for injection molding but they need sensibilities and knowledge appropriate to this medium. Additive processes are their own thing with their own advantages."

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

Vintage Alvar Aalto Table Model 91 “I thought it would be interesting to include a piece of vintage furniture, since that’s where we got our start. It’s a bold and big table for such a restrained designer, with chunky legs and decorative veneer. It’s big for 1930’s standards, and still has labels and stickers on the bottom, including one from Harvey Nichols, the original importer.”

A view of the installation at the House for Contemporary Art in Belgium.

Numen's Net, occupied by gallery attendees.

The first room of the project, currently a three meter-high, 180-kilogram sample, is on track to be completed this summer, and the entire site is open to the public to view the progress and welcome ideas. Photo courtesy of DUS Architects.