The bedroom inside the BioHome3D looked like any typical bedroom.
Brittany Chang/Insider
In November, the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center 3D-printed a bio-based tiny home.
The modular and prefab one-bedroom house was printed using recyclable pellets.
I toured the unit and was surprised to see it looked like any traditionally built home.
One overcast April afternoon, I traveled from New York to Bangor, Maine to visit one of the quiet college city's newest tiny homes, the BioHome3D.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Hoping on a nearly two-hour flight just to tour a 600-square-foot home may be unreasonable, but this isn't any typical unit.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The home was created by the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC).
Brittany Chang/Insider
And its floor, ceiling, and walls were 3D-printed using durable bio-based recyclable materials.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Much to my surprise, this sustainable home didn't look like a futuristic attempt at housing.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Instead, it was cozy, traditional, and a sign that a shift towards 3D printed homebuilding doesn't have to clash with our understanding of what houses should look like.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The last complete 3D-printed home I stayed in was Icon's 2,000-square-foot luxury home, House Zero.
Icon's over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider
When I visited in early 2022, I was astounded by what a 3D printer could accomplish.
Icon's over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The home's curved walls — with a layered look and a trendy concrete aesthetic — were one of the most unique architectural features I had ever seen.
Icon's over 2,000-square-foot House Zero in Austin.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And it set the bar high for future 3D-printed home viewings. Luckily, the University of Maine's new tiny home didn't let me down.
Brittany Chang/Insider
It was no House Zero: The BioHome3D doesn't serve as a designer show home.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Instead, it's a prototype for ASCC, a project that allowed the center to test its proprietary printing material, the printer, and printing techniques.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The home was unveiled in November 2022.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And the sensor-lined unit is still undergoing testing to see what should be changed in future printing projects.
Brittany Chang/Insider
As is the printing material: ASCC is now testing the material's ability to be recycled five times over.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Environmentally conscious alternatives don't always have the best reputation for durability (I'm thinking of paper straws that disintegrate before you start drinking).
Brittany Chang/Insider
But so far, this project has been a success. The home successfully survived Maine's snowy, rainy, frigid, and windy winters.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And unlike House Zero, it isn't lined with concrete walls.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Instead, it was printed using pellets made of wood waste and a plastic binder, creating a fully recyclable printing material and subsequently, home.
Brittany Chang/Insider
When a spokesperson for ASCC showed me the pellets, they looked akin to bird food.
Brittany Chang/Insider
ASCC's printer — the world's largest polymer printer — then uses these pellets as ink, creating what could be one of the most environmentally friendly homes I've ever been in.
Brittany Chang/Insider
"Our number one priority is to alleviate the societal problems [like housing and sustainable construction] we are facing right now," Habib Dagher, the founding executive director of the center and principal investigator of this project, told me when I visited.
Brittany Chang/Insider
"There's an opportunity here to harness these biomaterials and help solve these problems," he said.
Brittany Chang/Insider
When I picture a 600-square-foot abode, I think of a "large" New York City apartment.
Brittany Chang/Insider
But when I first walked into BioHome3D, the tiny home felt larger than I expected.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The home had three separate rooms: a bathroom, bedroom, and open-concept living room and kitchen. All three rooms had plenty of windows, opening up the interior.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The bedroom felt surprisingly spacious.
Brittany Chang/Insider
There was plenty of room to maneuver around the bed, storage (including built-in closets), and a desk under the air conditioning unit.
Brittany Chang/Insider
With the right furniture, it looked like a typical trendy California bedroom complete with art on the walls and a faux plant on the dresser.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The walls were also printed at an angle, creating a slanted pattern that curved seamlessly into the ceiling.
Brittany Chang/Insider
It was the first time I had ever seen a 3D-printed ceiling in person. Most companies only print the walls on-site.
Brittany Chang/Insider
But ASCC printed the walls, ceiling, and floor inside its manufacturing site just a stone's throw from this home.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And it was all built in a modular prefab style.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Instead of printing and moving a full home, ASCC printed four insulated and pre-wired 200-square-foot modules.
Brittany Chang/Insider
These modules were then transported to the final site on a flatbed truck and installed onto a concrete foundation, a half-day task.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And after an electrician connected the home in two hours, the BioHome3D was ready to go in under a day.
Brittany Chang/Insider
However, it's not connected to plumbing, the center told Insider in January.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Looking at the home, it's nearly impossible to tell that it was built in four modules. All of the rooms flowed seamlessly together.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And besides the walls that curved into the ceiling and the unique layered texture, this bedroom looked like any typical room.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Onto the next room. The bathroom had all of the typical amenities finished with modern matte black detailing reminiscent of the farmhouse aesthetic.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The living room and kitchen across the way were similarly finished.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The stainless steel appliances, clean white cabinets with black matte finishes, and open shelves made for a kitchen that looked like ones I've seen inside traditionally built homes.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And the attached breakfast bar added some much-needed counter space.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The dining table, TV, and leisure seating area were across from the kitchen and comfortably spaced apart from the rest of the room.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Like the bedroom, the biggest focal point of this space was the large wall that curved into the ceiling.
Brittany Chang/Insider
But unlike the previous room, this layered wall looked more parallel, the result of a different printing technique.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Besides the unique wall, the living room looked average and livable.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Overall, the home wasn't trying to be excessively flashy.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Instead, it looked like any typical appropriately furnished home. Nothing was ostentatious.
Brittany Chang/Insider
While it wasn't as showy as Icon's House Zero (there was no designer soap in the BioHome 3D), the University of Maine's ASCC has proved that 3D-printed homes can be just as livable as a traditionally built home.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The texture of the layered walls, the primary indication of the construction tech, was subtle while still being visually enticing.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Unlike other 3D-printed homes with cold concrete walls, the walls and ceiling of this tiny home were a familiar warm wood-toned brown.
Brittany Chang/Insider
It looked more like a stack of ropes. And with help from the natural light, these brown walls didn't feel suffocating and stuffy.
Brittany Chang/Insider
"[It's not] just the engineering of the home but the livability aspects," Dagher said, adding that visitors have "loved" features like the curve of the walls.
Brittany Chang/Insider
"Those kinds of livability and ergonomic aspects of the house are very interesting to us and we now have the tools to do it cost-effectively," he said.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The walls weren't perfectly smoothed — I still noticed a few bumps. But it wasn't a cause of concern for me.
Brittany Chang/Insider
This is ASCC's first home, after all. And it won't be its last.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Next year, it'll break ground on an extension of its current manufacturing site.
Brittany Chang/Insider
When complete, its first project will be a planet-friendly neighborhood of nine homes.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And if these future homes look anything like this BioHome3D, future residents can expect a traditional home with a unique backstory and a promising future.
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