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Instant Buildings - Just Add Water
lawrencekhoo writes "Wired has an article about the newly invented
Building in a Bag. The structure is made from cement impregnated fabic, that is sealed in an easily transportable plastic bag. You literally just add water, and then inflate. Twelve hours later, you have a ready to use building. Possible uses include shelter for disaster areas, and instant field hospitals."
You're funny, but you're raising a valid point. They're thinking of using this for shelter for disaster areas, and instant field hospitals... Personally I think tents are better for these purposes, since you can actually dismantle them and reuse them in the future. Why would you for instance want to smack up 10,000 of these in a disaster area, just to have to tear them down a couple of months down the road?
Ever pop a hole in a ballon?
Ever pop a hole in a sidewalk?
TODO: Something witty here...
The fact that much of the US still builds by nailing drywall and siding to a bunch of wooden beams is not for a lack of new building techniques--it's simply still cheaper and easier, mostly simply because it's what everybody else does (=economies of scale).
It doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be 2k$ impromptu shelters, either. There are factory-development methods out there for building custom homes. You can have machines cut and assemble almost arbitrary floor plans, and ship out prebuilt sections of the house to assemble on spot.
Unfortunately, there's this stigma of "prefab housing" being small, low-quality, one-design "housing for the poor". It's kind of annoying seing such stereotypes standing in the way of progress to cheaper, higher quality housing. I mean, large buildings have been shifting a lot more to automated construction, and houses lend themselves even more readily to it because the sections are smaller and easier to transport.
"Here's a fun fact: the moon has turned to blood!" -- Newscaster, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
Well, I agree, technically, it doesn't have to be. But if you try to buy or build a new home, you will find that, in reality, in the US, most of your choices for something average-to-nice come down to traditional construction. Furthermore, you'll have problems with resale value if you buy prefab.
Don't people usually have problems with water during disasters? If you place contaminated water into the structure are you going to have problems?
What about areas where the problem is they have no water? Just some thoughts..
Obama = Socialism.
> what's wrong with a good old tent?? I can put one
> up in just a few minutes!
Never actually lived in a tent, have you? Do you like dry feet? Not having your home blow away?
> Are these thing sturdier?
Much, much sturdier.
> Lighter?
Much heavier. That's a _plus_.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.