Clayton Teams Up With ORNL to Build 3-D Printed Concept Home

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Sept. 25, 2015 - The Clayton home building group (Clayton) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have teamed up with two other companies to design and build a 3-D printed concept home, showcasing the possibilities of 3-D printing and illustrating advancements in energy management. The four entities unveiled this revolutionary achievement in 3-D printing at a ceremony in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Sept. 23.

The project, officially titled Additive Manufacturing and Integrated Energy (A.M.I.E.), came to fruition as a partnership among Clayton, ORNL, carbon fiber manufacturer Tru-Design and architecture firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM). SOM designed the concept home, Tru-Design pre-assembled and coated the structure, ORNL printed it and Clayton assembled all of the pieces together. The four organizations came together to produce a 200-square-foot concept home that includes compatibility with a 3-D printed car that allows the home and car to transmit electricity between each other wirelessly.

"We now deliver homes in every state and are committed to be the most innovative housing company in America," says Kevin Clayton, CEO of Clayton. "3-D printing may become a radically innovative way to push the envelope on design and affordability for our customers."

Although this advancement does not signal the start of a new homebuilding process any time soon, the partnerships forged will allow Clayton to remain at the technology forefront of the homebuilding industry. For ORNL, the partnership means having access to Clayton's advanced homebuilding process and to the understanding of how technology and innovation can work together to create something completely new and revolutionary.

"Working with Clayton and architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, we developed a building design that fully demonstrates new innovations to current construction and building practices. The use of additive manufacturing techniques in the A.M.I.E. demonstration project allows us to break with convention, while also reducing the amount of waste typically amassed during a typical construction project," said ORNL's Roderick Jackson, who led the A.M.I.E. demonstration project.