Army barracks are not well-regarded within the Department of Defense. Even the Advanced Individual Training barracks at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, are not up to Air Force standards; the Inter-Service Postal Training Activity sometimes has last-minute spots open up in classes because airmen arrive and refuse to stay in the barracks. However, at Fort Bliss, Texas, the Army is leading the DoD in additive manufacturing for the construction of facilities—the first 3D-printed barracks.
On January 29, 2025, an official ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the DoD’s first 3D-printed barracks. The ceremony was attended by Fort Bliss and 1st Armored Division leaders as well as Lt. Gen. David Wilson, deputy Army chief of staff, G-9 (Installations), and Sgt. Maj. Michael Perry, his senior enlisted adviser. The “Home of America’s Tank Division” is now also the home of 3D-printed barracks.
The new barracks, located on West Bliss, are one of two new sites on the post that feature this innovative military infrastructure. They are the first 3D-printed structures to comply with the Defense Department’s updated Unified Facilities Criteria, a mandate updated annually that provides construction guidance DOD-wide and now reflects standards for additive manufacturing, or 3D-printed, facilities.
The project was spearheaded by ICON out of Austin, Texas. According to the company, the buildings each encompass 5,700 square feet. When construction began in 2024, these barracks were the largest planned 3D-printed structures in the Western Hemisphere. Three buildings were opened at Fort Bliss: two in the Pershing Heights area and one at Camp McGregor on the Fort Bliss Training Complex in New Mexico. While the structures were built privately, the Fort Bliss Garrison Directorate of Public Works and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ensured safety certifications during the process.
After the barracks were designed, ICON used a five-ton Vulcan 3D printer to lay a proprietary concrete-based material called Lavacrete. The material can be tailored for specific environmental factors, including humidity and temperature. The newly opened facilities will initially house troops deploying to Fort Bliss in support of the installation’s Mobilization Force Generation Installation mission. Fort Bliss processes and trains approximately 70,000 service members annually, with support from Army Reserve and National Guard units that deploy to Fort Bliss for annual rotations. Each building can house up to 56 soldiers.