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Concrete But Different #2: Inflatable Houses
By Aart van Bezooijen - Mar 30, 2008
We featured "Concrete Curtains" earlier but what does concrete have to do with lightweight architecture? Researchers at the Kassel University are exploring new synergies of constructions and materials - including a combination of membrane constructions and concrete.
To create this lightweight building out of concrete, a flexible skin with an embedded membrane structure is inflated with air and filled up with a special concrete mixture such as UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete). Once the substance is hardened a solid concrete skeleton allows the building to be finished from the inside.
Instant housing such as these concrete-based Concrete Canvas Shelters are made to save lives in refugee camps. If Kassel's research works out well, building a solid house might become as quick and easy and as blowing up a big balloon?
Aart van Bezooijen
Aart van Bezooijen is a Dutch optimist and motivator for materials in design. He lives and works in Hamburg where he founded Material Stories (2005) to inspire and enable the best use of materials to make design more competitive, creative and sustainable. 2011 he explored sustainable solutions from around the world during the "It's Not Easy Being Green" project with graphic designer Paula Raché. He co-organized the Materials Café exhibitions at the Hannover Messe in Germany,...
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6 Comments
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Google monolithic domes You will find all you need to know.!Report as spam
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Now this type of thinking I like a lot. I've been advocating for change in home building for quite awhile and I am helping to train our youngsters in our schools to think "out of the box." Something of this order will have to be done with our Martian Colony and quickly to protect those we are going to send there. Good Article.!Report as spam
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didn't a student from the RCA do this a few years ago?!Report as spam
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Here is an example of the same building method being experimented with over 60 years ago. http://www.bookofjoe.com/2007/03/wallace_neffs_s.html More info on this house can be found in a book called "Homes by the Million" published in 1946.!Report as spam
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heres the thing.....its inflatable wich means air has to stay inside and the people in it would eventually suffocate from lack of oxygen. and if they make windows for sunlight to hit plants inside of it, it would eventually get extremely hot,like a oven inside. but if it is like jus concrete embeddedon a elastic surface wich would be torn down after the concrete hardens and then added to would most likely work!Report as spam
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It's kind of a geodesic dome, isn't it? Buckminster Fuller would be proud.!Report as spam
Continued Reading
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By Aart van Bezooijen - Mar 26, 2008
Concrete But Different #1: Concrete Curtains
The next weeks we'll be featuring new applications of well-known materials to refresh our material thinking. We are starting off with a very usual material indeed: concrete!--Please update your bookmarks if you are still filing concrete under "rough and clumsy". The Concrete Curtain by Memux architectural design from Vienna redefines...
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By Aart van Bezooijen - Mar 19, 2008
HEAT Changes Everyday Objects With High-Performance Plastics
Ultrason is one of the high-performance plastics by BASF which is usually found your car's headlights or engine parts. Inspired by the materials properties, the designers at IDEO (Munich) were invited to conceptualize more everyday applications. The HEAT project reinterprets everyday objects such as a hairdryer, lampshade, toaster, kettle and...
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By squirrelbait - Feb 29, 2008
SMIT in the Limelight
The sustainable materials and resources community Ecolect has just launched Limelight, a monthly series dedicated to featuring Ecolect members doing extraordinary sustainable design. The debut designer is Teresita Cochran, CEO and co-founder of SMIT, or Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology. In addition to checking out its Grow hybrid energy device at...
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By Rain Noe - Feb 19, 2008
Bamboo, Part II: What's so good about the stuff?
Anyone know why bamboo is becoming so popular? As we've seen in Bamboo, Part I, it's a total bitch to process, so why not stick with wood?The short answer is it's green, sustainable, strong, plentiful, and profitable. As it has been for a while--people have been using it for millenia...
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