Techie Tuesday: Instant Building

Shelter Skelter 


With all the disasters in the world, medical services and refugee camps are in dire need of quickly built shelters. Well here s an idea whose time has come:

Need a Building? Just Add Water "Soon, there will be such a method. A pair of engineers in London have come up with a 'building in a bag' -- a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Twelve hours later the Nissen-shaped shelter is dried out and ready for use.

A pair of engineers in London have come up with a 'building in a bag' -- a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Twelve hours later the Nissen-shaped shelter is dried out and ready for use. This schematic shows how the Concrete Canvas shelter is delivered and constructed, just with the addition of air and water. The sterile structure can be set up by a single person in 40 minutes and be ready for use in 12 hours.

The structure is intended to improve upon two current methods of providing emergency shelter: tents, which provide only poor protection, or prefabricated, portable buildings that are expensive and difficult to transport. Dubbed the Concrete Canvas, the shelter incorporates the best aspects of both forms. It is almost as easy to transport as a tent, but is as durable and secure as a portable building."

(Via Boing Boing)