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Space-Age Houses
An anonymous reader writes "The dream of building the Jetson's Skypad Apartment may come to true because technology designed for space could become the basis of the
new German Antarctic station. The same ultra-light composites that ESA uses onboard its spacecraft for antennas and solar panels, will be used to make a self-supporting lightweight shell-like structure able to withstand severe earthquakes. This approach is in sharp contrast to many contemporary design solutions that use ever more steel and concrete..."
So a light, shell-like structure would just ride the earthquake, as it does not have enough inertia to generate destructive internal stresses. But does this mean that anyone and anything inside the building would be shaken like beans in a maraca?
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How often does Florida get winds that exceed 220KM/h? That pretty much requires a Category 4 hurricane, not very often, and these are probably more resistant than mobile homes.
As a ferniture deliverer I see a problem. How the heck do you get large things like couches in it? A crane?
Moo!
Because that technology was designed by there space program, doesn't mean that the space program has to waste time manufacturering it or using resources in order to put it in antartica. For instance, I doubt NASA is currently involved in the manufacture of Tang even though they developed the stuff. This won't waste any money of the space programs its just using technologies they developed(plans, documentation and practices on how to make that etc etc.)
Think about never having to pay an utility bill again!
Just like our empty dreams of VoIP causing the untimely death of the telcos I have a feeling that the utility companies would have nothing better to do than find a way to charge us for harnessing the sun's energy and recycling our drinking water.
How about typhoons and hurricanes?
There's some housing in the Florida keys built on concrete pilars which look a bit like this, except they're square, built to withstand trailer shreading winds and stay above the water.
I wonder how durable in extreme cold this stuff would be, particularly in cold climates, as much aluminum developes stress fractures. More surface area on the outside means more area to insulate, too.
BTW, if you've ever considered living in a geodesic home, consider that the roofing costs about 3x what a regular house does. I wonder what mantenance would be like on these in the long term.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
And your space-age refrigerator would have to be really curvy, alas. This is one of the reasons we still have boxy houses in this day and age: you can't put, say, a typical couch flush against the wall of a spherical house. And you might bang your head on the inwards-curving ceiling a lot, too...
"Why can't everyone just be straight with me?"
"Because we live in a bendy world, dear."
Well, the design goals that support these idea include :
- must be assembled in situ. So transporation dictates that the components must be fairly lightweight. Starting out lightweight also means that additional highly effective insulation materials can be added to minimise heat loss to the environment.
- must withstand cold. Space proven materials can already stand up to the extremes of cold.
- aerodynamic design. Carbon reinforced plastic is great for forming into non-flat shapes. Note that all the pictures in the article show structures that look like they are designed to have low wind resistance when compared to traditional cabin shapes.
- non-polluting at end of life. Lightweight structures that may be dissassembled and released from their ground tethers are better than traditional buildings that may have to use concrete foundations.
I wonder if this style of building is something that will spread to normal life. If it could be made low cost, then it would sure beat having a mobile home !!
Come to think of it, the Texas coast, just south of Galveston has some houses that look a bit similar to this, though the ones I've seen look more like they are made of sheet metal.
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
And where do you get repair materials, when the roof is punctured (by hail, or space debris, or whatever)?
Sounds like geodesic domes, hyperbolic parabaloid roofs, etc. These structures work okay in places like Antarctica, but for typical residential use they fail three important tests: 1) Will my local building inspector--who only understands sticks-n-stones construction--approve the thing without a ton of paperwork and appeals? 2) Will my rectangular furniture fit? and 3) Can I repair it when it breaks?
TFA does not say that they advocate replacing ALL current building methods with this. If you did RTFA you would have noticed this:
This was NOT designed for Florida, it was designed for Europe/Antarctica.
Hooptie
"Heavens, it appears that my weewee has been stricken with rigor mortis!" -- Stewie Griffin
>10 out of 10 Terrorists agree - Anybody but Bush in 2004
A troll, because it's so easy to find out what the terrorists have to say about the man who let bin Laden get away.
For example, from the June 3 2004 issue of The Economist:
"A communiqué from a Saudi jihadi group expresses the hope that George Bush will be re-elected because his "haste to use force, his lack of wisdom and religious fanaticism have roused the Islamic nation"."
If that sig were a legitimate political statement instead of a troll it would say something like "Afghanistan is free of the Taliban", "Cheney is better qualified than Edwards", "2/3 of al Qaueda's leaders are now in Guantanamo or in Hell", "Support traditional values -- vote Bush", or something along those lines.
Sorry, but nonsense offends me.