Sustainable Technology for the People
Membrane Sandwich Forming
for
Terrain-Integrated Sustainable Architecture
The core definition of ‘sustainable’ is that which endures. A truly sustainable housing technology now exists that specifically serves everyday people and green microenterprise while fostering economically resilient communities. There is a chance for a strong middle class if an escape can be made from the cheap labor treadmill of bank debt slavery and the obstacles imposed by a corporatized distortion of a government that may once again, stand for the people.
With this Terrain Integrated Sustainable Architecture, future generations might better appreciate and understand sustainable practices once they are fossilized in didactic and enduring lithic forms blended into the ecology and landscape with genuine belonging.
This method of design and construction is based on an emerging nano-composite technology for durable, thin, ferrocement membranes and a new framing method for efficient and sturdy curvilinear forms. This method focuses on efficient geometry, durability and no-frills-practicality but reveals, ironically, flowing artistic shapes that express profoundly beautiful organic forms. The naturally revealed architecture also expresses a respect for: ecological diversity; resource conservation; natural terrain conservation, water conservation, independence - the independent production of critical resources and goods; and an agrarian lifestyle that recognizes climate change as a primary challenge facing successful concentrated cultivation.
The framing is made from welded grid wire reinforcing fabric that is available at most hardware stores in 150-feet by five-feet rolls. These rolls are typically used for concrete reinforcing. This roll of 6-inch by 6-inch, 10 gauge welded wire grid reinforcing is expanded to nearly 30 times its volume when it is cut and formed into flats and wire frame blocks on the job site. These are then assembled into arc trusses. Trusses connect and outline the main insulating roof of the terrain integrated curvilinear structure.
Many things influence the shape and make it more stone-like in texture. Influences on form are: efficient structural curving, the terrain, body clearance, and solar effects for efficient cooling and heating and designs needed for efficient, home-based cultivation. These are naturally given careful consideration in the initial base design.
The welded wire flats are also used for part of the surface shell reinforcing that connects and blends the lattice of broad curved trusses in a single smooth shape. The main supporting arches, of the broad, insulating roof, converge to form trunk like pillars that flare upward and outward across arched entry walls spaced along the main room perimeter.
AWNING, VERANDAS, DECKS AND ROOF GARDENS - Single membrane ferrocement overhead awning details wrap the entire perimeter of the main structure on the exterior. The light, curving membrane forms are very sturdy because they are making short spans that are stabilized further with complex curves. This periphery of light, single membrane shell serves many functions. They supply a larger rain-catchment area, they provide shade and upper deck area and they provide deep pockets of soil for roof gardens. The lighter exterior shell can fully enclose entire sun-room porches and other smaller porch-like rooms and create extensive veranda porches. All these exterior forms are curving and made stable by the intersection of curves. The upper deck is made level with soil and gravel. The soil mass in the conical reservoirs on the outside of the main columns and the conical reservoirs inside the lighter columns that support the single membrane details help to buttress and stabilize the main roof.
LATH REINFORCING - Galvanized expanded metal lath is attached to the curvilinear metal frame in final preparation for the application of the cementitious composite mortar shell. The awning details, roof gardens, columns and roof are all coated with lath and readied for the mortar plaster. Two skins of surface lath are used for the main truss roof and a single skin of lath is used on the single membrane upper deck periphery. The expanded metal lath is the primary reinforcing for the composite because, when combined with the fiber reinforcing and the composite shell that has very little shrinkage, it provides the shell with the most active tensile reinforcing, (stretch resistance) and anchoring to the internal steel framing.
SURFACE SHELLS - On these metal reinforced surfaces a ½ to ¾ inch shell of fiber reinforced, high performance composite is applied. The shell mix is enhanced for durability and flexibility with: a refined micro silica flyash called Micron 3, a special polycarboxolate water reducer that contains dispersants to prevent segregation while preserving workability (Eucon SPJ), 2 complementing types of fibers - poly vinyle alcohol (PVA) and Forta Ferro fibers, and the mix contains closed-spherical cell, micro aeration that provides enhanced workability and provides special protection in the cured shell from rust damage, ice damage, water intrusion and impacts that would otherwise crack a brittle, high psi, thin cementitious mortar shell instead of just denting it. The rust and ice protection is greater with spherical cell aeration than it is with standard capillary air entrainment added to mortar for workability and freeze thaw damage. This is because air entrained capillaries are twisting networks of connecting passages that are more vulnerable to water intrusion and damage by internal strains from expanding ice or rust because of the tighter spaces between some of the aggregates and the more open, moisture flow pathways. Closed spherical cells hinder moisture intrusion and provide ample room for ice and rust expansion, inside the more geometrically globular spheres that create larger areas between the aggregate. These spherical cells absorb internal strain from any chemically induced internal expansion while functioning to a degree as a moisture barrier.
INTERNAL FILL - After the shells are applied, the hollow interior of welded wire framing is pumped full of a low-density cellular concrete that is comprised mostly of air. The interior of the wall/roof may also be filled with landfill diverted glass and other readily available and chemically stable materials including regular loose soil and rubble. Cellular concrete is usually more cost effective than even site-available loose rubble in the US because the amount of paid labor or work energy needed to fill the hollow interior with site located materials of rubble and loose soil, is greater than the costs of mixing and placing cellular concrete. Cellular concrete can be injected in the entire structure via a single, 2 -inch hole in a surface shell, a hole that can be easily repaired. Loose rubble would have to be broken from the earth, transported to the site and then lifted above many large holes in the in the walls. Or, the fill material would have to be shoveled in after shallow lift sections of the shell form is completed adding to costs in other, organizational ways.
FLEXIBILITY OF MAIN MATERIALS - Where work labor is more available and less costly, loose rubble material blended with bottles and other compactable recycled items, may be the best choice for wall fill in the Membrane Sandwich Form. The choice of fill material is very flexible and mainly depends upon the available resources of the specific building situation. Many different kinds and blends of materials will satisfy the structural needs for this primary volume of building medium because it need only prevent the surface shell from buckling inward during a point load or bending strain. Loose rubble fill is more than adequate for this purpose. The surface shells cannot buckle outward because of the internal lattice of steel wire framing. The entire form and fill creates a solid and uniform monolithic effect that is very stable and can still flex and bend without cracking during earthquakes and similar strains.
DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION STAGING - The arched entry walls are left open for the time being for a second phase of design and construction. This allows for a dialogue with the physical situation so a better understanding of the form in its context will be revealed over time. Concentrating first on the main roof, shade awnings and open entry walls simplifies the designing and building process and achieves many more purposes. This is because all the complex details, relating to plumbing, doors, windows, planters, electrical, fire places, solar equipment and so on can be excluded from the main roof and foundation design for simplicity. Instead of wiping away the natural world to better accommodate a surreal abstraction of Euclidian geometry and our imagined needs that are not carefully thought out, you build a simple roof and columns that allows for an evolution of perspective while taking care of the basic needs related to body clearance, shade and sun relative to a range of possible finish floor heights. Then each entry detail can be given careful and thoughtful attention from a perspective of true light, directly observed airflow and human traffic tendencies and countless other purposes and built from a protected and sheltered interior.
Building the entry walls later allows for careful consideration of other materials such as cob and straw bale. The sturdy ferrocement roof establishes a singular monolith form that will endure and protect lighter construction below from strong winds, sun and rain.
If the entry walls erode away over time, the shelter can be easily repaired because the roof, supports and roof gardens will likely be intact because they are structurally blended elements that support each other. The materials for the main roof, awnings, and planter reservoirs are designed to endure for many centuries and possibly millenniums. Durability is the most important aspect of sustainability because resources will not have to be wasted to rebuild in only a few decade or a single century.
The architecture of roof garden structures blended into the uneven, natural terrain suggests a culture of practical and rugged agrarian culture that posses technologies that supports and sustains economically resilient small communities – so much more than just a time capsule for artistic value.
COST - The cost of the method is less than stick-frame and the method requires less equipment and the materials are available to anyone.
MICROENTERPRISE - Sustainable microenterprises, such as water purification, solar hot water production technology for food production, fuel production and distillation are all implied lifestyles of the architecture and method but the building skills themselves can be a microenterprise of its own. People who achieve a level of skill with the method may find self-employment by providing construction skills for garden walls, sculpture, fountains and ponds. Using the skill set to provide construction services for homes is possible as well, but this method is better suited for owner-built homes where the owner takes full responsibility for stages of design and construction.
A professional contract construction service for potential homeowners is a relationship that should be avoided with this system because it separates the homeowner from the process of design and construction of their own home. This diminishes the significance of homeownership by placing a price tag on something that carries value beyond two dimensional dipstick measures of capital worth. A home expresses your future heritage and chosen place within the framework of the ecology and community. Catering to markets that buy and sell homes for only profit will bastardize the cultural significance of independence through homeownership and self-reliance and feed a non-sustainable point of view. Anyone can own a Membrane Sandwich Terrain Integrated home, even a blind quadriplegic person, but it will take more involvement than simply writing a check. Skilled construction labor is abundant and it is better that a person take on a supervisory roll over workers and take responsibility for the budget, planning and execution directly. Sustainable Technology for The People, outlines how to do this through budget control and design/construction phasing.
Since this construction method involves an initial stage of building a simple roof and foundation columns first, it does become possible for a person to offer a contract service for this phase only. A structural engineer should be utilized as the project principle if permits are needed. The project should not be called a home in permits and such because it is not. For bureaucratic reasons that cause impossible obstacles to sustainable development, permits should describe an outdoor, open-walled pavilion or gazebo with verandahs, since this is what it will truly be for a time until it is time for the second stage planning. It is not deceptive to avoid bureaucracies that trap people in deception and endless debt through conventional housing methods that are hopelessly entangled in mortgage finance, capitalistic tyranny and ecology destruction.
The project should be considered complete in design before any entry wall details are initiated. This is important for the proper relationship between the 'Pavilion' owner and the 'Construction Manager'. The Pavilion Stage makes this possible. The homeowner may then choose to build the entry wall details from cob, adobe, strawbale, compacted tires, bamboo, Membrane Sandwich Forming whatever the owner wants and the costs and options available can be more accurately evaluated from the completed, open-walled, Pavilion point of view. This keeps things in a realistic perspective and creates an opportunity for better working relationships. It also creates the opportunity to explore intricate quality designs that may not have been seen in a complete blueprint that signifies a submission to a belief in a reality of Euclidean geometry based concepts of surreal abstraction.