NOME, Alaska — September 2025 — History is being made in Nome, where workers and engineers are in the midst of constructing the first 3D-printed house in Alaska. The project, a high-tech test case for new building methods in extreme Arctic conditions, is backed by the Rasmuson Foundation, the Denali Commission, and federal and state partners.
Layer by layer, the new residence is being formed by a giant robotic arm that extrudes a special concrete mixture into long, narrow wall segments. Hollow cavities left behind will later be filled with spray-foam insulation, giving the house an extra layer of thermal protection against Nome’s harsh winters.
For project supporters, this pilot is about much more than one house. Standing on the construction site, Rasmuson Foundation Vice Chair Natasha von Imhof reflected on the broader potential:
“Ideally we can build 70 to 100 homes here in Nome to take advantage of the growth of the port,” she said.
Her comments came just days after Nome secured a $399.4 million port expansion contract, a project expected to drive major economic growth in the region.
“Just with the port, the tourism, the military, the transportation, with Northwest Passage, Nome is going to be the hotbed,” von Imhof added.
When completed, the three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot house will feature a kitchen, laundry room, and utility space. The builders are also debuting what they call the first-ever 3D-printed Arctic box—a specialized component that simplifies water hookups to the home.
But getting here wasn’t easy. The project’s price tag—over $2 million for a single home—reflects the challenges of transporting crews and equipment to Nome. The team flew in specialists from Pennsylvania, excavated six feet of permafrost, and poured a radiant-heat concrete slab foundation engineered to double as the home’s floor.
“Dare I say this is probably the most sturdy foundation in all of Nome,” designer Jeff Berlin said with a smile.
The construction system, developed by X-Hab 3D and the nonprofit Xtreme Habitats Institute, is designed for adaptability. The specially formulated concrete includes fiberglass additives for strength and is engineered to flow smoothly through the machine’s two-inch hose.
Keith Comstock, Executive Director of Xtreme Habitats Institute, said machine stability was one of the most difficult engineering puzzles:
“It’s really heavy because we need to be precise. And when you have the leverage of that arm being fully extended, you know, it can get really wobbly and unstable, and so we need millimeter precision.”
To handle Nome’s uneven terrain, the printer sits on tank treads and can self-level with four hydraulic arms. Despite weighing 12,000 pounds, the machine is designed to collapse into a shipping container, an innovation X-Hab 3D hopes will one day allow them to print housing anywhere—even on Mars.
The team plans to finish printing and install a metal roof before the onset of winter. Interior work will continue into next year, after which the City of Nome will take ownership and test the house as temporary lodging for visiting workers.
If successful, the project could mark the start of a wave of 3D-printed housing in Alaska, helping address the state’s housing shortages while reducing reliance on costly imported materials. Future plans include using locally quarried rock in the concrete mix to cut costs.
For Nome, a city poised on the edge of a transformative port expansion, the house may serve as both a symbol of innovation and a model for resilience in one of the harshest building environments on Earth.
Originally reported by Ben Townsend in KNOM
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