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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?
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).
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.