Concrete Canvas - new material for quick, safe and durable shelters

[Dover]

http://www.concretecanvas.co.uk/

Concrete Canvas Shelters are rapidly deployable hardened shelters that require only water and air for construction. The 16m2 variant can be deployed by 2 people without any training in under 40 minutes and is ready to use in only 12 hours.

The key to CCS is the use of inflation to create a surface that is optimised for compressive loading. This allows thin walled concrete structures to be formed which are both robust and lightweight.

The Need
“While starvation occurs over a period of weeks, death from exposure can occur in a single night”
UN Co-ordinator for Afghanistan

There are currently over 35 million refugees worldwide. The aid agencies and troops that help save lives in emergency situations require accommodation, field offices and medical clinics. Current solutions are either soft-skinned and offer inadequate protection, or are expensive and difficult to transport. For example, in Afghanistan the useable life of some tents has been less than 3 weeks due to wind damage.

Concrete Canvas Shelter (CCS) has 2 major advantages over tents:

1) Operational: CCS enables a hardened structure from day one of a crisis. It provides much better environmental protection, increased security and vastly improved medical capability. Crucially, CCS can be earth bermed to protect against small arms and shrapnel.

2) Financial: CCS has a design life of over 10 years, whereas tents survive for only a few years and must then be replaced. CCS is a one stop solution, saving effort and cost over the lifetime of medium to long term operations.


Brochure Pics: http://www.concretecanvas.co.uk/docs/CCS.pdf
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[democrank]

1. Interesting article. Thanks.

Good to know that someone is working on the problem of durable shelters for refugees, clinics.

[Dover]

2. Actually there are MANY people working on that puzzle.

In my state the AIA (Architects) are currently having a design competition for disaster relief structures with specific guidelines, and I think there are similar competitions and assignments in various architecture schools and municipalities...like this:
http://www.hambleside-danelaw.co.uk/SixCities.pdf

It's a hot topic all over the world. Here are some more:





Millions of people today live without adequate shelter. In slums, favelas, refugee camps and other seemingly hopeless places the world over, people exist without one of the most basic human needs – adequate shelter.

Many organizations want to help solve this pressing issue. The problem is that a shelter solution has not been found that is economically feasible while at the same time providing a long-term shelter suitable for years of use by its inhabitants.

The IADDIC SR1 shelter solves these problems.

The IADDIC SR1 is built to last. Constructed utilizing a revolutionary process, the SR1 can be mass produced quickly and efficiently.

The IADDIC SR1, because it is made from flexible materials, can be imprinted to resemble any material that is culturally "normal" for housing construction.
It is perhaps the world’s most rapidly deployed and easiest to erect housing concept – and it is designed to last as long as a normal dwelling does in similar developing environments.

The IADDIC SR1 is literally a complete “building in a bag.” The IADDIC SR1 uses a revolutionary approach to solving one of the main barriers to delivering quality shelters in mass quantity – shipping cube and weight. A completely assembled IADDIC SR1 is shrunk down and vacuum-packed in a small, compact 8"-tall bag that is about the dimensions of a living room rug. This means many completely constructed shelters can be shipped in an incredibly small footprint.

Using a revolutionary, patent-pending new concept in housing fabrication, the IADDIC SR1 is built from extremely flexible materials which are impregnated with a moisture-curing resin. When the house is removed from the packaging, the flexible materials return to their original shape. The resins cure and the structure solidifies and develops a durable exterior coating...>

http://www.iaddicshelters.com/

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Origami House





http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/07/07/prefab-friday-global-village-shelters/

[loudsue]

6. Dover, you just blow me away.

Where do you find all these things you share with us?? You're a veritable information clearing house.

:hug:

[Dover]

7. lol!

Hey loudsue!...you've been awfully quiet girl...or away. Good to see ya!

:hug:

Just things I run across in my own research that I enjoy sharing.
I know DUers will be receptive to most of it, particularly if it's innovative, amusing or profound.

Don't be such a stranger!:hi:

[loudsue]

15. I'm not THAT strange! LOL!

:hi: Renovating an old house, and trying to stay one step ahead of my (republican, lying, crooked, misogynist) business partners. Working with this type of person reduces productivity for everyone, because they're so busy trying to out-maneuver everyone that nobody can get anything done.

But I'm usually on DU every day...at some point! When I'm here, I'm usually too busy catching up to post much, but I read every thread I can, and throw in some smart-ass comments when I can't stop myself. :rofl:

Keep on sharing those things you come up with! You're like a mind-expanding drug, and I'm an old hippy! :thumbsup:

[formercia]

13. A good use for old newsprint

Think of it as a pinata big enough for people to live in.

[Dover]

3. I wonder why more tipis and yurts aren't used?

They are relatively easy to put up too, though not as compact as the ones listed above.
And they have certainly been time-tested by native people.

[formercia]

14. Zoning laws.

There are people here in Maine that live in them year-round. In Mongolia, it's standard construction.
I can see the code enforcement officer now after a couple of calls from neighbors worried about their property values....

[madokie]

4. I want some of that.

[Dover]

8. What would ya do with it?..n/t

[madokie]

10. as an Ole concrete finisher I can see all kinds of things to build with it

for instance we are moving our swimming pool closer to our house and this would be a good way for me to get real creative with the new one. Rather than just putting an above the ground pool in the ground as I did the last time some 12 or so years ago but we have since bought and moved to the house next door so I have just this fall removed it and plan to put it back in the ground over here. why in the ground you ask, so as to help in stabilizing the water temperature as well as the aesthetics too. We have friends who have above ground pools and the water temp gets way to warm for me right when I really enjoy a pool the most, July, August and Sept. an in ground pool with a ground level deck is much more pleasing than an above ground one is with an elevated deck to me too. I know cause we just had one, damn nice too.

[Dover]

16. I've never heard of anyone moving their below ground pools to a new location.

You mean a gunnite pool that was built into the ground? Or one of those readymade types that you drop into place?

Anyway, I'm sure there are all kinds of creative things to do with this concrete canvas material.

[Olney Blue]

5. Thanks for the story- shelter and clean water make the difference

between life and death.

[formercia]

9. Ferro Cement

The same idea using wire mesh and concrete has also been used. People in 3rd world countries have been making fishing boats with the material for decades with good results.
It should work well for shelters as well.

[madokie]

11. The Vietnamese make concrete boats and have been for years

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/98154403/

take one of our inground concrete, gunnit pools and drain it during the rainy season and you'll have a concrete boat here shortly ;-)

[formercia]

12. and on a grander scale....

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/trlout/TRA22190.html

--snip--

The British response, largely directed and driven by Churchill, was to construct two huge artificial harbours that could be built in sections and towed across the Channel for final assembly at the main Allied beachheads.

Codenamed 'Mulberry,' the harbours consisted of floating concrete sections (Phoenixes) that when joined together formed huge quays and cargo-handling platforms for the US and the British beaches.

Absorbing some 2 million tonnes of concrete and steel, the artificial harbours also contained a complex infrastructure of pier heads (Spuds or Lobnitz to the Americans), around 16 km of floating roadways (Whales) supported by pontoons (Beetles) enclosed within a 'lagoon' of specially constructed breakwaters (Bombardons) and 70 scuttled ships (Gooseberries). Rhino pontoon ferries and DUKW ('Duck') amphibious trucks would supplement the port .

--snip--