This Houston company is 3D printing homes with eco-friendly materials

future of construction

HIVE 3D is bringing science fiction to reality with this Texas project. Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

While it may be true that the mother of invention is necessity, in today’s startup market, a more important factor is disruption. That’s where HIVE 3D, a Texas-based leader in constructing eco-friendly 3D printed homes, flourishes.

HIVE 3D was already revolutionizing the home-builder industry with its lightweight gantry system and mobile robotic arm system to 3D print its homes, but it took a giant leap further with its partnership with Utah-based Eco Material Technologies, North America’s leading producer of sustainable cement alternatives.

Together, they are building the world’s first near-zero-carbon, 3D-printed homes. Using Eco Material’s cement mixture called PozzoCEM Vite, which has 92 percent lower emissions than traditional concrete that can set in just a few minutes, they are focusing on providing a sustainable, cost-efficient and affordable housing solution.

“We want our homes to last 1,000 years,” Timothy Lankau, CEO, Hive 3D CEO, tells InnovationMap. “We want archaeologists to dig them up and wonder what they were. I mean, you go to the Parthenon in Rome, and it looks similar today to how it did 2,000 years ago because the materials are so stable.

“Concrete's just a very stable material. It doesn't change over time, and that's also why building with stone and masonry is important for the future. We think it's more sustainable because it's ultimately going to be better in terms of longevity.”

Key collaboration

Eco Material Technologies and HIVE 3D’s collaborative mission began through a mutual desire to develop sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for the construction industry.

“Both companies recognized the pressing need to reduce the environmental impact of traditional construction materials and processes and the need for affordable, high-quality housing,” says Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. “The partnership between the two companies began when Eco Material Technologies reached out to HIVE 3D to explore the potential of incorporating their eco-friendly materials into 3D printed construction.

“HIVE 3D recognized the opportunity to combine their expertise with sustainable material solutions. The finished product of this collaboration is an eco-friendly construction material that can be 3D printed into various structural elements like walls, floors and columns.”

Proof of concept

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

HIVE 3D’s first full project, a 3,150-square-foot home located in Burton, Texas, was printed with a rotating team of just four people using PozzoSlag, which replaces 50 percent of the portland cement in concrete and has been used in roads and bridges in Texas for over a decade.

The home used several innovations that hadn’t been used in a 3D printed house before, including parametric wall designs, foamcrete wall insulation, and pigmented concrete layers.

“Our product is more sustainable because it utilizes proprietary technology that allows for the use of alternative materials to replace the clinker and processes from traditional cement that contribute to its high emissions,” says Quasha. “It is estimated that the portland cement industry contributes to 8 percent of global emissions annually, but by utilizing Eco Material Technologies' cement replacement solutions ... builders can significantly decrease their carbon emissions without compromising on the product's setting time or long-term strength."

Each ton of portland cement replaced by a ton of Eco Material's products, PozzoSlag or Pozzocem, reduces emissions by close to one ton, Quasha explains.

The Calais project, located in Round Top, Texas, behind the Halles, an antique shopping and design destination, broke ground in March 2023 and will feature a collection of tiny homes known as casitas, including studio, single-bedroom and two-bedroom models, ranging from 400 to 900 square feet.

“These small homes will serve as a model for affordable and eco-friendly housing throughout the country,” says Lankau. “We plan to build them at a speed and cost point that is unprecedented in the affordable housing space.

“Ultimately, we want to build houses at a disruptive price point. We want to be vertically integrated and put our homes on the market at a significant discount to market wherever they are. And by significant, we're talking 20 or 30 percent. That's our goal.”

The right resources

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

HIVE 3D worked with CyBe Construction to create a mobile construction 3D printer and mixing system that allows the printing mortar to be mixed onsite, which eliminates a significant amount of labor and time, which means those savings can be passed on to the consumer.

“We worked with a company called CyBe in the Netherlands to build a robotic arm, and that arm has about an 11-foot reach, and it can go all the way in a circle around itself,” says Lankau. “So, it drives around the foundation of the house, printing sections of the house at a time. So, it'll print a section, drive to the next section, and print the next section.

“So instead of having this many different materials and these many different traits, people that do all these different things, we have a machine that just uses one material and prints the wall.”

HIVE 3D has an internal engineer that works through all of the structural issues that may come up on projects and helps them build homes with monolithic, foot-thick concrete walls with rebar and steel supported in them.

According to Lankau, their 3D printed homes are tornado-proof, hurricane-proof, pest-proof, bullet-proof and can virtually withstand anything because of the sustainable materials used to build them.

“They're everything-proof,” says Lankau. “Just because of the natural strength of the concrete and the steel we use to create them, they can support millions of pounds. So, it's actually a stronger material than a typical house. By a factor of 100. Like I said, it's bulletproof and tornado-proof. You could drive a car into it, and it would total the car. I mean, it's a very, very sturdy structure.”

A bright future

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

Moving forward, HIVE 3D would like to continue to innovate and advance its 3D printing technology by leaps and bounds.

“The science fiction goal here, which is maybe a five-year goal, is to be able to drive onto a site, press a button, and watch the robots work,” says Lankau. “We want to be a significant home builder. So, in five years, we want to be building a lot of houses quickly and affordably and we want to continue to automate more and more of the process.”

Right now, there is no formal process for commissioning a HIVE 3D printed home. Perspective customers are directed to the website, then put in a request to build a home, go through a screening process and if the project is a good fit, they'll put that project into their pipeline.

“We can build them quickly. It's just a matter of getting to them,” says Lankau. “We're also going to be doing some developments in Texas probably to start. We also have some international things that we'll be looking into next year. But right now, it's mostly in Texas. We'll be building some developments and putting those homes on the market. We hope to have some out this year and then a bigger chunk next year as we get more machines working. Those will be announced on our website.”

As HIVE 3D continues to find ways to scale its business model, there is a laser focus on the diminishing idea of the “American Dream,” where young families are able to purchase their first home. With the rising costs of supplies and labor, those families have been priced out of the market.

“That’s almost all we think about,” says Lankau. “Homeownership and that part of the American Dream is really struggling right now because the affordability gap between what the average person makes and what the average house on the market costs is just getting wider and wider.

According to Lankau, there are a lot of options to address the supply gap, but there aren’t an equal number of options to solve the affordability issue. Their goal is to find the best ways to deliver real cost savings over both traditional construction and other automated technologies.

“About three weeks ago, we kind of hit the inflection point in our current project where we printed a little house in three days. The cost of the house was what we wanted the cost to be, which is a disruptive amount less than what you could do traditionally or with any other construction technique. And we said, okay, now we're far enough along. We have this system. It's a scalable system. So, we're right now putting some capital together to go out and buy, build more of these machines and get out and start doing these truly affordable housing projects. Because that's where our heart is. Our heart's on the affordable side.”

HIVE 3D’s project in Burton, Texas isn’t available for sell yet, but it will be listed on Airbnb for interested customers to go and experience when it’s completed.

Additionally, the Casitas units in Round Top will be short-term rentals for festival patrons.

“We’ll go directly to market with our next projects,” says Lankau. “And then we'll sell that big house property in Burton at the end of this year.”

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Houston researcher secures $1.7M to develop drug for aggressive form of breast cancer

cancer research

A University of Houston researcher has joined a $3.2 million effort to develop a new drug designed to attack a cancer-driving protein commonly found in triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most difficult-to-treat forms of cancer and accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. The disease gets its name because tumors associated with it test negative for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and excess HER2 protein, making it difficult to target. Due to this, TNBC is often treated with general chemotherapy, which can come with negative side effects and drug resistance, according to UH.

UH College of Pharmacy research associate professor Wei Wang is developing a drug that can target the disease more specifically. The drug will target MDM2, a protein often overproduced in TNBC that also contributes to faster tumor growth.

Wang is working on a team led by Wei Li, director of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy’s Drug Discovery Center. She has received $1.7 million to support the research.

Wang and UH professor of pharmacology and toxicology Ruiwen Zhang have discovered a compound that can break down MDM2. In early laboratory models, the compound has shown the ability to shrink tumors.

Wang and Zhang will focus on understanding how the treatment works and monitoring its effectiveness in models that closely mirror human disease.

“We will study how the drug targets MDM2 and evaluate the most promising drug candidates to determine effective dosing, understand how the drug behaves in the body, compare it with existing treatments and assess early safety,” Wang said in a news release.

Li’s team at the University of Tennessee will be working on the chemistry and drug design end of the project.

“This work could lead to an entirely new class of therapies for triple-negative breast cancer,” Li added in the release. “We’re hopeful that by directly removing the MDM2 protein from cancer cells, we can help more patients respond to treatment regardless of their tumor type.”

10+ Houston innovation leaders in the spotlight at SXSW 2026

where to be

Houston's innovation scene will be well represented at South by Southwest (SXSW) this month.

The week-long, Austin-based conference and festival will spotlight some of the Bayou City's leaders in health care, energy, space and more. The event kicks off today, March 12, and runs through March 18. The SXSW Innovation Conference will feature keynotes, workshops, mentoring sessions and more throughout various venues in the city.

Here's who to see and when and where to find them:

March 12

Aileen Allen, venture partner at Mercury Fund

Mentor Session from 4-5:15 p.m. at Hilton Austin Downtown

Allen will host a mentoring session focused on funding, marketing, advertising, PR and the future of work.

March 13

Heath Butler, partner at Mercury Fund

SXSW Pitch-Smart Cities, Transportation, Manufacturing & Logistics from 2:30-3:30 p.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Butler will judge five innovative startups as they pitch their solutions to advance smart cities, enhance transportation systems, modernize manufacturing, transform logistics, and strengthen government infrastructure and civic operations.

Jonathan Cirtain, CEO and president of Axiom Space

The Clock is Ticking for Space - Replacing the ISS from 4-5 p.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Cirtain will discuss Axiom's pursuit of building the world’s first commercial space station.

March 14

Jesse Martinez, founder and CEO of LSA Global

SXSW Pitch-Intelligent Systems, Robotics, & Multisensory Technology from 10-11 a.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Martinez will judge five innovative startups as they pitch their technologies that aim to enhance the way people connect, communicate and share unique life experiences with those around them in a digital ecosystem.

Jennifer Schmitt, head of operations at Rhythm Energy

Powering Texas with Reliable Integrated High-Demand Energy from 10-11 a.m. at Marlow

Schmitt will join a panel to discuss how EirGrid, the state-owned electric power transmission operator in Ireland, is pioneering solutions as the country works toward 80 percent renewable integration by 2030.

Saki Sasagawa, director of business development for JETRO Houston

Now is Japan's Time: Leading the Future with Deep Tech from 10-11 a.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Sasagawa joins a panel that will share real-time insights from diverse perspectives on the forefront of Japan’s deep tech and IP businesses.

March 15

Bosco Lai, CEO and co-founder of Little Place Labs

SXSW Pitch Alumni: Where Are They Now? from 10-11 a.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Lai joins a panel of four former SXSW Pitch winners to share how they leveraged the platform to take their startups to the next level.

Tara Karimi, cofounder and chief science and sustainability officer at Cemvita

South by South America: The Rise of Southern Brazil Tech from 2:30-3:30. p.m. at The Line

Karimi will participate in a panel to discuss how Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state, is attracting elite talent and AI infrastructure and share insights on navigating the next wave of South American tech growth.

March 16

Dr. Pavitra P. Krishnamani, emergency medicine physician at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Viva La Revolution: How the Digital Age is Transforming Wellness from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Hilton Austin Downtown

Krishnamani will discuss the latest advancements and policies that can accelerate the digital age of health care, such as wearables, telehealth and artificial intelligence.

March 18

Charlie Childs, co-founder and CEO of Intero Biosystems

Spinning Out: What It Takes to Build a University Startup from 2:30-3:30 p.m. at The Line

Childs will join founders who spun their companies out of the University of Michigan to share the real story of navigating IP, early capital, team building, market validation and the “valley of death.”

Dr. James Allison, regental chair of immunology and director of The Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Padmanee Sharma, professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Beyond Checkpoints: Immunotherapy’s Next Act from 2:30-3:30 p.m. at the J.W. Marriott

Allison and Sharma will sit down with 21-year-old, Stage 4 cancer survivor Sharon Belvin and Time Magazine journalist Alice Park will discuss the future of immunotherapy and what challenges remain.

Last year, Houston startups Little Places Labs and Helix Earth won top prizes in their respective categories at the prestigious SXSW Pitch event, held this year from March 13-14. No Houston startups were named finalists to compete in this year's event.

NASA revamps Artemis moon landing program by modeling it after Apollo

To the moon

NASA is revamping its Artemis moon exploration program to make it more like the fast-paced Apollo program half a century ago, adding an extra practice flight before attempting a high-risk lunar landing with a crew in two years.

The overhaul in the flight lineup came just days after NASA’s new moon rocket returned to its hangar for more repairs, and a safety panel warned the space agency to scale back its overly ambitious goals for humanity’s first lunar landing since 1972.

Artemis II, a lunar fly-around by four astronauts, is off until at least April because of rocket problems.

The follow-up mission, Artemis III, had been targeting a landing near the moon’s south pole by another pair of astronauts in about three years. But with long gaps between flights and concern growing over the readiness of a lunar lander and moonwalking suits, NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman announced that mission would instead focus on launching a lunar lander into orbit around Earth in 2027 for docking practice by astronauts flying in an Orion capsule.

The new plan calls for a moon landing — potentially even two moon landings — by astronauts in 2028.

“Everybody agrees. This is the only way forward,” Isaacman said.

The hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems that struck the Space Launch System rocket on the pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in February also plagued the first Artemis test flight without a crew in 2022.

Another three-year gap was looming between Artemis II and the moon landing by astronauts as originally envisioned, Isaacman said.

Isaacman stressed that “it should be incredibly obvious” that three years between flights is unacceptable. He'd like to get it down to one year or even less.

Isaacman, a tech billionaire who bought his own trips to orbit and performed the world’s first private spacewalk, took the helm at NASA in December.

During NASA’s storied Apollo program, he said, astronauts’ first flight to the moon was followed by two more missions before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. What's more, he added, the Apollo moonshots followed one another in quick succession, just as the earlier Projects Mercury and Gemini had rapid flight rates, sometimes coming just a few months apart.

Twenty-four Apollo astronauts flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972, with 12 of them landing.

“No one at NASA forgot their history books. They knew how to do this," Isaacman said. “Now we're putting it in action.”

To pick up the pace and reduce risk, NASA will standardize its Space Launch System rockets moving forward, Isaacman said. These are the massive rockets that will launch astronauts to the moon aboard Orion capsules. At the same time, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are speeding up their work on the landers needed to get the astronauts from lunar orbit down to the surface.

Isaacman said next year will see an Orion crew rendezvousing in orbit around Earth with SpaceX's Starship, Blue Origin's Blue Moon or both landers. It's similar to the methodical approach that worked so well during Apollo in the late 1960s, he noted. Apollo 8, astronauts' first flight to the moon, was followed by two more missions before Armstrong and Aldrin aimed for the lunar surface.

“We should be getting back to basics and doing what we know works,” he said.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel recommended that NASA revise its objectives for Artemis III “given the demanding mission goals.” It’s urgent the space agency do that, the panel said, if the United States hopes to safely return astronauts to the moon. Isaacman said the revised Artemis flight plan addresses the panel's concerns and is supported by industry and the Trump administration.

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