Helping communities find what makes them unique

Zack Mannheimer says his work into creative place-making happened completely by accident.

More than a decade later, he remains on the cutting edge.

What began as the creation of the Des Moines Social Club back in 2007 morphed into working to help communities grow by figuring out what made them unique — beyond the ideas of breweries and murals. After touching hundreds of communities, his work even includes robots.

Mannheimer will kick off a week of sessions focused on creative place-making in Iowa. It’s a topic Mannheimer has looked at from numerous perspectives. He’s helped communities across Iowa figure out what they’re known for — often fusing arts and culture with economic development.

“Arts and culture is a heavy part of it, but it goes beyond that,” Mannheimer said of creative place-making. “It’s about what makes your community truly unique and you can’t just say things like ‘The people,’ or ‘We’re on a river’ or ‘We have some murals.’ It needs to be truly distinct.”

Mannheimer will speak about how to build momentum with place-making and the long view that is needed for some projects to succeed.

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Mannheimer’s firm, Alquist 3D, started work Friday on the state’s first 10 3D printed homes, which are being built in Muscatine. They’ll start on the state’s first multi-floor building in Iowa City — only the second in the United States — later this summer.

“It doesn’t matter how cool your community is if you don’t have any place to live — housing is at the base,” Mannheimer said.

The need for housing has been a challenge in almost every community where Mannheimer has worked. While the team plans for the process of 3D printing homes will speed up as they work, Mannheimer is as excited about the learning that will happen and the partnerships that have been built to make these homes reality.

“It’s a new robot, a new material, a new climate and a new team of people we’re working with,” Mannheimer said of the Muscatine project, which has been in the planning stages for two years.

Rural communities have been struggling with building new residential units for years. The rapid-changing 3D printing technology will eventually help bring down the construction costs, Mannheimer said. Given the learning and the changes, it will take a while to realize the potential.

“We’re still early on in this adventure. This is a significant advancement and disruption of one of the biggest industries in the world,” Mannheimer said.

But 3D printing of homes also figures to help with workforce issues too, Mannheimer said. Working with Muscatine Community College, they’ve built an eight-week certificate program that launches this Fall.

“The labor shortage that these communities see are in people to frame the home,” Mannheimer said. “Anybody can learn this, there’s no prerequisite needed. We see this as the major workforce development movement Iowa should have, other communities should have.”