3D Printable “Eco-concrete” Lends Affordability to Housing

According to real estate brokerage Redfin, U.S. home prices were up more than 13% year-over-year in September with a median sale price of around $375,000. It’s data like this that makes it safe to say that homeownership, once a foundational element of the classic American Dream, has become increasingly out of reach for the average person. And with high real estate prices comes high rental rates, resulting in economic challenges for everyone along the spectrum — not least of which are those who can’t afford either. Marieh Mehran, an Iranian-born architect who first came to the United States to study at UCLA, was first struck by the homelessness she saw in the Los Angeles area despite the wealth and resources that exist here in the U.S. The idea that homelessness was such a global problem drove Mehran to use her skills to work toward developing a solution that could create better access to cheaper, more sustainable building materials.