
Renderings of MADCO3D’s new hybrid house
MADCO3Dis a small company located in a quiet corner of Gonic Mills that is working toward a new approach to meeting New Hampshire’s crisis-level needs for workforce and affordable housing.
Dan Bernard, one of the founding partners of MADCO3D, said the company can use robots to print 3D houses in a week.
The company is in talks with the city of Rochester to develop a 40-unit residential development made entirely of 3D-printed sand concrete homes. It will be located on council property on Chesley Hill Road.
Rochester City Manager Katie Ambrose said a feasibility study is underway and hopes to present a proposal to the City Council next year.
“We have 46 acres,” Rochester Mayor Paul Callaghan said. “We’re interested in building workforce housing. There’s a real need for that.”
Bernard said MADCO3D is also in talks with other area developers such as John and Maggie Randolph, who recently built a community and opened it to tenants small villa In Dover.
How does a 3D printed home work?
“We have a large industrial robot and will soon have two more,” Bernard said. “The robot can print an 800-square-foot house in a week or less. A larger house will take more time, but nothing beats the construction schedule required to build a more traditional house. .”
Bernard said they already have demand for more than 100 homes in the state. Costs will vary based on style and size, but Bernard said they will meet market rates for affordable housing. If parts of the house, such as window frames, require other materials such as wood, use upcycled materials when possible, Bernard said.
How did MADCO3D come to Rochester?
MADCO3D has been based in Gonic Mill since 2018 and is headquartered in New York. It was launched by architect Adam Kushner with partners Dan Bernard, Steve Bernard and Brian Marshall. The company has nine employees but expects to add more jobs as the local business grows.
“We had a vision and now it’s a reality,” said Dan Bernard, a self-proclaimed nerd and science geek. Prior to MADCO3D, his career was in green technology. “We saw what others had done with printed sand concrete and we said, ‘Why not do this?'”
In addition to homes, the company is also working to rebuild and save coral reefs. It also creates works of art. Company leadership says the future is limitless.
Bernard said the homes have a smaller carbon footprint than other homes. Over time, he said, they save energy, are fire and insect resistant and can withstand harsh weather.
MADCO3D partners with UNH
Bernard said MADCO3D is working with the University of New Hampshire through John Roth, director of the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center in New Hampshire.
Roth said interns work at MADCO3D, helping with the printing process and design.
“Some of this will happen soon at the University of New Hampshire,” Ross said. “Most of the interns are studying civil engineering and mechanical engineering. We don’t have a program like this at the university, so this experience is great for our students.”
“We will soon be operating at the University of New Hampshire,” Bernard said.
Part of MADCO3D’s work with UNH and environmental groups focuses on saving coral reefs and their fragile ecosystems.
“We can already 3D print cement reefs, but we are also working on creating living reefs,” Bernard said. “People like (famous New Hampshire inventor) Dean Kamen are bioprinting living tissue, so we knew this was where we were in the mix.”
Bernard said MADCO3D is working on coral reefs around the world, including in Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic. He said the company is also working with The Nature Conservancy to study plans for New Hampshire’s Oyster River.
SBA leader Shaheen funds companies like MADCO3D
New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman visited MADCO3D on December 8.
Shaheen, who recently took over as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said she’s excited to see the innovation the company is showing.
“It’s environmentally friendly,” she said. “It has the potential to meet a major housing need in this country and in New Hampshire.”
Guzman said she was pleased the SBA was able to help MADCO3D.
“Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers are abroad, and this company thinks globally,” she said. “We dole out $20 million in start-up capital every year through the (National Trade Expansion Program), and this company is the type of innovation we are looking for.”
The New Hampshire Office of International Business received $444,366, its largest STEP grant for 2023. Sebastian Roa, communications director for the Senate committee, said the STEP program has provided $235.5 million in grants to 13,000 small businesses over the years.
This article was shared by partners of the Granite State News Collaborative.For more information, please visit collaborationnh.org.
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