Zachary Mannheimer ’99, a theatre and philosophy double major, is founder and board chair of Alquist 3D, a company that 3D prints commercial and residential buildings.
After graduating from Muhlenberg, Zachary Mannheimer ’99, a theatre and philosophy double major, directed and produced theatre for a decade, in London and then New York. When he wanted to reach a new audience, he sought a mid-sized city with an emerging arts scene. He landed in Des Moines, Iowa, where he established a nonprofit cultural and arts center that he ran for nearly 10 years. Rural areas saw that success and wanted similar revitalization for the vacancies on their main streets.
He and colleagues launched a company that helped small towns set up art spaces, breweries, and other businesses, then expanded into assisting with master planning for other infrastructure needs. A need every town had was more housing. When Mannheimer attended a lecture by a futurist who mentioned 3D-printed houses, he was inspired. He spent a few years learning about this fledgling industry, and in 2020, he launched Alquist 3D, now based in Greeley, Colorado. Alquist 3D has printed concrete commercial and residential buildings, including the first 3D-printed home to be owner occupied, and is working to bring more developers and workers into the industry.
“If you had asked me when I graduated Muhlenberg if I would be 3D printing housing in rural Colorado, I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy,’” he says. “Doing a major like theatre, especially at a small school like Muhlenberg, prepares you for every possible outcome life can throw at you. We are trying to create community. Instead of doing this through theatre, we are trying to make more affordable, sustainable housing wherever we go.”
“If you had asked me when I graduated Muhlenberg if I would be 3D printing housing in rural Colorado, I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy.’ Doing a major like theatre, especially at a small school like Muhlenberg, prepares you for every possible outcome life can throw at you.”
Muhlenberg Magazine: What’s been a challenge that Alquist 3D has sought to remedy?
Zachary Mannheimer ’99: You can’t go on the street and find people who have experience 3D printing houses. So, we created a curriculum. It’s one of the first of its kind. We’ve had nearly 100 students go through our certificate program at Aims Community College in Greeley, and it’s coming to other colleges around the country now. In about 70 hours, students can get all the training they need to be hired by a company like ours.
A commercial structure in the process of being 3D printed
MM: How does Alquist 3D see its role in the industry?
ZM: One of the big hurdles to this industry is cost. You’ve got to spend a lot of money to buy the printers and get the material and undergo training. So, we’re licensing the technology to other general contractors and developers around the country. There are only a handful of companies in America doing this work. We need hundreds more to make a dent in the housing shortage, especially when the situation keeps getting worse when natural disasters hit.
MM: What’s the next big problem to solve?
ZM: Creating low-cost, high-strength, carbon-neutral or negative material. How do we make this material from our own backyard? In the first “Back to the Future” movie, when Doc is grabbing stuff out of the garbage bin and throwing it in [the DeLorean] for fuel, that’s what I want the material to be. Not necessarily out of beer cans, but whatever waste is available locally. The material we’re printing in Colorado is going to be different from what we’re using in Alabama or Arizona. There are a lot of universities studying this, and we’re engaged with many of them. I hope by the end of this year, we will have a carbon-negative material that is permitted to use commercially.
Zachary Mannheimer ’99, a theatre and philosophy double major, is founder and board chair of Alquist 3D, a company that 3D prints commercial and residential buildings.
Muhlenberg’s 23rd varsity team had a successful first season, and the pool of recruits is only expanding as the sport continues to grow at the high school level.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies Tiffany Montoya explains how she chose to study philosophy and, specifically, the concept of flourishing.
