Event Recap: Where We Live Tour at MADCO3D
- Seacoast WHC
- Sep 26
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 29
On September 18, 2025, engineers, architects, bankers, municipal officials, and members of the WHC community gathered at MADCO3D in Rochester, NH. Alongside co-founder and Executive VP Dan Bernard, this Where We Live Tour gave exclusive access to MADCO3D’s facility and the opportunity to see the future in action. The tour was followed by a Housing Happy Hour hosted at Back Hill Beer in Rochester, further boosting community and connection.
MADCO3D is a new kind of developer, making great strides and reenvisioning home construction using an innovative technology: 3D-printing concrete and assembling modular homes at a fraction of traditional costs. The company’s mission is to provide a new approach to affordable housing, one that is efficient and sustainable, both from an environmental and cost standpoint. By harnessing robotic and large-scale 3D printing technologies, the MADCO3D team – comprised of architects, engineers, and operations experts – is turning their ambition into reality.
During this WHC Where We Live Tour, we got an exclusive look into the process.
The MADCO3D Story: How to 3D-Print a House
As many great entrepreneurship stories begin, MADCO3D was created by friends with a variety of backgrounds that came together to solve a complicated problem. As Executive VP and Director of Operations Dan Bernard recalled, the ability to pull from diverse skillsets has been integral to creating their existing process and product today.
Still, Bernard was quick to point out that the company has gone through many iterations; he highlighted a robot that they currently use for printing which had once lived in his garage. Today, the MADCO3D manufacturing occurs both in their Rochester facility located at Gonic Mill, where our visit took place, and a space at the University of New Hampshire campus in Durham. President and architect Adam Kushner is based out of New York City, where a skyscraper is being built in partnership with MADCO3D.
Despite the growth in publicity and scale, Bernard emphasized the importance of local partnerships for the success of their business. At UNH, for example, students are included in the construction and printing process, giving them the opportunity for hands-on learning and honing unique skills before going into the workforce. These strong community relationships also create trust and legitimacy for innovative technology. As 3D-printed homes become recognized by regulators such as Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, local support will be critical to actually getting projects into development and increasing the housing supply.
First of its Kind: The Manchester Home
As our group entered the main manufacturing space, we were immediately struck by the full-scale replica of a 3D-printed home. Built with a combination of stick-built construction and layers of 3D-printed concrete, this “hybrid house” is an example of MADCO3D’s adaptable and customizable designs.
Its sleek, modern look and the almost too-good-to-be-true efficiency of assembly sparked technical questions around durability and sustainability of the materials. As Bernard explained, each aspect of the construction meets the safety and aesthetic requirements of a stick-built home, and often exceeds them. After all, concrete is known for its impenetrable surface, fireproof nature, and ability to withstand high pressure.
All this, Bernard noted, will be tested with their first home which is set to be completed in Fall 2025. Following the hybrid-house design, the construction can be found in Manchester, NH and will be available to rent, ideally at affordable rates.
As creating affordable housing is one of the ambitions of the company, the efficiency of the construction process itself allows for lower costs to begin. This is because fewer hours of human labor need to be put in over a long period of time, and assembly occurs all at the same time.
“You can have the robot printing over here, and the electrician can be putting in wiring over there as the concrete dries,” Bernard noted. Bernard also suggested that their quick process of housing construction could even be used for disaster recovery or temporary housing for those facing homelessness, circling back to the importance of community in their work.
What the team hopes to accomplish with this multi-faceted approach is to get people into homes faster at naturally lower prices, accelerating a solution to the housing supply crisis.
A Futuristic Solution to the Current Crisis
In addition to a focus on efficiency and affordability, Bernard emphasized the importance of sustainability in their designs and building processes. Furthermore, MADCO3D has also embarked directly in the environmental space, using a sand depositing 3D-printing method to create artificial coral that can be introduced to marine ecosystems at risk of coral reef degradation. Their technology can also be used in creating custom sea walls for communities facing the threat of rising sea level.
The socially focused nature of 3D-printed housing has inspired companies across the world to get involved with this technology. MADCO3D, the first of its kind in New England, has garnered attention from news outlets, stakeholders, and even a Congressional delegation.
It’s clear that 3D-printing is the future of modular housing. MADCO3D is pushing the envelope on innovation while keeping affordability, sustainability, and efficiency at the center of their conversations and decisions – and bringing New Hampshire to the forefront of this emerging technology.
We are so thankful to Dan Bernard, Darren Winham, and the rest of the MADCO3D team for showing us around their facility, for their thoughtfulness in our discussion, and for all the work they have done so far in advancing diverse housing opportunities for those on the Seacoast and beyond. Thank you to Peter Laplante and the folks at Back Hill Beer in Rochester for hosting our post-event Housing Happy Hour. And finally, thank you to the participants in this event for your engagement in and support of WHC’s events and mission!
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