Zachary Mannheimer is the Founder and CEO of Alquist 3D and also the CEO at Atlas Community Studios. He is an inspiring entrepreneur who never gave up on trying something new. The story of his journey impressed us with how he kept looking around and finally started Atlas Community Studies. Being a major in Theater and Philosophy, Zachary Mannheimer is a creative person who always stays motivated.
Through Alquist 3D, Zachary Mannheimer creates exceptional designs while also helping to lessen housing costs. Alquist 3D is printing affordable housing across the nation, starting with the first owner-occupied 3D home in the world in Virginia.
The company does all the designing and planning through 3D printing technology. Every homeowner craves innovation, and Alquist 3D aims to satisfy and fulfill those cravings with sustainability and affordability. You can also find Alquist 3D on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
With more than 10 years of the market, Zachary Mannheimer and his team are working towards building a better present and future. Furthermore, their 4 years of knowledge, experience, and expertise in 3DCP make them stand out compared to their competitors.
Learn more about Zachary Mannheimer and his interesting journey that we learned about through the interview with him.
Explain the background of you and the company in detail.
I grew up in rural southeastern P.A. Armed with degrees in Theater and Philosophy from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, I had zero job prospects, so I moved to London to pursue theater.
Two years later, my visa expired, and I did what every other American theater major does – I moved to N.Y.C. I spent 8 years in Brooklyn running theater companies and working in restaurants to determine that N.Y.C. didn’t need another theater or restaurant. I looked around to see that I was in a homogeneous bubble.
Knowing many people thought differently than I did, I went on a 22-city road trip across America over the summer of 2007 and settled in Des Moines, IA. Knowing no one in Iowa, I worked with several artists and found the Des Moines Social Club in 2009, a non-profit arts and education center that hosted thousands of arts-related events. In 2020, along with my partners, I created Atlas Community Studios, a placemaking and economic development group working in 25+ states. I founded Alquist 3D at the same time to solve the rural housing crisis.
In addition, I serve on the boards of Iowa Public Radio and the Iowa Rural Development Council. I live with my wife Sarah and our three kids, Mira, Benjamin, and Fiona, in Iowa City.
I am an Opinion Contributor for The Hill, and my work has been written about in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, N.B.C. News, C.B.S. Evening News, Axios, Time Magazine, Architectural Digest, The Independent, Politico, The Atlantic, and dozens of community publications. I love exploring rural communities, producing new pieces of theater, creating restaurant concepts, and harbor an unhealthy passion for the Philadelphia Eagles.
What are your goals?
Alquist 3D aims to bring new vitality to smaller communities by creating affordable, sustainable, and innovative homes. Using state-of-the-art 3D printing technology, Alquist helps lift economically distressed and under-served communities by lowering the cost of building the single-family, multifamily, mixed-use, and senior-living homes they need to thrive.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/company right now?
Our biggest strength is our knowledge of the market. For the past 10 years, we have been working with our sister company, Atlas Community Studios, in rural communities in 27 states. Atlas has created economic development and creative placemaking plans for 100+ communities, but the #1 need is housing, so we formed Alquist. Again, our knowledge of the problem and solutions helps us stand out.
Additionally, we have nearly 4 years of experience and knowledge in the 3DCP world, which sets us apart from other 3D companies.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company?
I started Alquist to meet the needs of Americans who could not afford to put a roof over their heads. The American dream is broken. Housing prices are through the roof, and many rural communities are struggling to keep up with the constantly rising prices of and demand for homes. We want to provide affordable homes to allow rural and underserved communities to thrive.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Working in an emerging industry is by far the biggest challenge. We are creating best practices in many ways rather than learning from them.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
Motivated.
What makes you excited about Mondays?
A fresh week is always exciting. The other side of creating the best practices is positive – we get to create a whole new industry with our colleagues. Every week is different, every week, we learn more, and every week we get to solve one of the largest global challenges in affordable housing.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
We are truly mission-driven. Yes, our solution to the U.S. housing prices is 3D printing, but our team is ready and willing to shift gears if a better solution comes along. At the end of the day, we want to solve the housing crisis and will do whatever we can to make that happen.
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
Our first project in Virginia was the epitome of being innovative and creative. Everyone working on the project, including our partners at Virginia Tech and Virginia Housing, had never worked with 3DCP equipment before. As a result, we were troubleshooting on the spot every day.
What are your company’s strategies, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
One of Alquist’s main strategies is partnering with rural communities to build affordable homes and keeping the communities involved every step of the way. Many of our competitors are more focused on the tech and less focused on making sure underserved communities are taken care of. Yes, we could use our 3D printers to build mansions in L.A., but our focus is on re-building the American dream of affordable homeownership.
What are the key values that helped you overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership?
My goal has always been to create community. I’m trained in theater production, and for years I produced theater in N.Y.C. and London before moving to Iowa, where I founded a non-profit arts organization. After that, I began doing placemaking work in smaller towns and building creative amenities. I found that the largest problem in all of these communities, regardless of size or location, is housing. We can’t build a community without housing, so we started Alquist.
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Alquist is named after a character in the 1920 Czech play R.U.R. – the first piece of literature that created the term “robot.” In the play, the robots revolt over their surroundings, but the only person who believes that humans and robots can coexist peacefully is the engineer named Alquist. I named the company after him as a reminder that while we are creating change and helping people, we are also automating and replacing human jobs. Therefore we created a workforce development training program where we can create far more new jobs than those that are lost to technology.
Alquist is one of the only printing companies globally that do not make their machines or material. We see at least 50 more companies like ours coming online in the next 2-3 years, and we are offering licenses and partnerships to companies to help them get started. We also see every construction company employing some type of 3DCP machine on their job sites by 2025.
Finally, we see a material change. Concrete is great, but it is far from the most environmentally friendly. We see advances in plant-based materials like hempcrete and using more recycled materials in our mixes. We want our homes to be carbon negative.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
Alquist has years of experience working with and researching the 3DCP world. Our clients are getting that experience and new ideas that we can offer.
What services/solutions or products are offered by your company at par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
Alquist offers a solution to the current U.S. housing crisis through 3D-printed home construction. We are currently working on multiple projects where we will create unique and vibrant 3D printed housing for rural communities in the U.S.
Find Zachary Mannheimer on LinkedIn!