El Cosmico, Marfa’s quirky hotel and event space, will undergo renovations and launch El Cosmico 2.0, home to the world’s first 3D-printed hotel. This new project will revolutionize the construction industry and make its mark with a stand-out design and unique construction. Spanning over 60 acres—an upgrade from the current 21-acre site—the project will retain its tent and trailer accommodations and add 43 new hotel rooms and 18 homes, all 3D-printed.
The new West Texas project has broken ground and is expected to be opened by 2026. Reservations remain closed, but El Cosmico encourages visitors to enjoy the current site “for old time’s sake,” which will remain open until the summer of 2025.
ICON, a large-scale leader in 3D printing, has joined forces with El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert and world-renowned architecture firm BIG (Bjarke Ingles Group). The design will incorporate striking, rounded arches, domes, and vaults, which would be significantly more costly to produce using traditional construction methods.
ICON’s 3D printer, “The Vulcan,” will print 43 hotel rooms and 18 homes, for which El Cosmico is currently accepting inquiries. Lavacrete, the unique cement mix for the project, will be piped out of the printer’s mechanical arm at a max wall height of 12 feet. The printer weighs 4.75 tons and stands at a whopping 15.5 feet. The execution of this project will tie together Marfa’s need for housing and the construction industry’s growing demand for sustainability efforts.
The behind-the-scenes teams for El Cosmico 2.0
For Liz Lambert, the project is all about creativity and breaking the mold of traditional hotel construction. “Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again,” she says. “I’ve never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity … just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It’s a crazy way to build.”
ICON is also currently developing a nearby neighborhood with 3D-printed homes. According to construction technology researchers, the slow rise in demand for 3D printing in construction could displace specific skilled laboring jobs. Still, the possibility of increased jobs in the 3D printing space and a drive for sustainable development could be worth the trade-off.
Charles Darwin University lecturer Milas Bazil, science and technology, comments, “I think from the social point of view and the effect on the economy in terms of the local jobs, especially in remote areas, that will be one of the challenges that we need to consider when we’re going to the 3D printing method.”
Current photos of the project build site show the rooms’ wide, beautiful curving bases, but the area has an unconventional construction look without the usual scaffolding, heavy equipment, and cranes.
El Cosmico 2.0 homes start around $2.29 million, and hotel rooms will range between $200 and $450 per night.
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