In the wake of historic, devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area earlier this year, residents who lost everything are beginning to rebuild.
With the help of Azure Printed Homes, a modular home company, many will be able to return to their properties even faster.
The company, which specializes in 3D-printed tiny homes, says its methods are 70% faster than traditional construction, printing the exterior walls of a home with a combination of fiberglass and recycled plastic in just about one day.
Speed is of the essence for approximately 12,000 Los Angelenos working to rebuild.
In fact, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency executive order earlier this year that eliminates regulatory hurdles for accessory dwelling units and similar structures, allowing people to easily return to their properties as they navigate rebuilding their homes.
To meet this demand — and do so with quality construction — Gene Eidelman, the co-founder of Azure Printed Homes, said the company has tripled its capacity.
In 2024 — before the wildfires — Azure’s California facility began 24/7 operations to meet the need.
“Clearly the need and the demand for high quality, sustainable and weather resistant tiny homes has never been higher,” Eidelman wrote in an op-ed for Fast Company in February.
“We are 3D printing homes from recycled polymers and fiberglass to create units that are energy efficient and sustainable, as well as weather-resistant.”
According to a report from Spectrum News, about 100,000 plastic bottles are recycled for every 120 square feet the company prints. Additionally, because there are no seams, the home’s exterior is automatically leak- and insect-proof.
But plastics are flammable. So Azure offers additional fire-retardant materials for extra resilience.
Factoring in both the printing and additional construction required, like insulation and finishing, it takes about three to five weeks to complete a unit from Azure. Once the tiny home is completed, it is transported from the company’s facility right into the yard or property of the person or family in need.
“The unit just came, and within a couple hours, it was lifted over the house,” Bogdan Popa, an Azure customer in L.A. told CBS News. “It’s so well made that probably the house will crumble before this one does.”
Azure’s smallest units start at a cost of about $35,000, but the company has launched a $4.2 million crowdfunding campaign to scale production and provide support to families rebuilding after the fires.
“If we were to try to rebuild after the Palisades fires, traditionally, it would take years,” Eidelman told Spectrum News. “There are lots of entrepreneurs here in L.A. It’s a get-it-done spirit, so that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
The company’s other co-founder and CEO, Ross Maguire, said that the automation is part of the beauty of what Azure offers, perfecting the method once and programming with the same kind of precision in the printers for all future projects.
Not only does this make for speed and efficiency, but it gives Azure the time and resources to help those in need.
“The recent LA wildfires have left thousands of families without homes, and Azure is committed to being part of the solution,” Maguire said in a statement.
“This new funding campaign underscores our commitment to rapidly scale our capacity and to bring affordable, climate-resilient homes to all buyers, and most especially, to those who need them most.”
Header image courtesy of Azure Printed Homes
