Lightweight Concrete Construction
Concrete is a plastic medium and has incredible potential for creating fluid structural forms. Lightweight Concrete has been used in the United States for over 50 years. Although its compressive strength is not as great as ordinary concrete, it weathers as well and also offers better fire resistance and high insulative value.
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Grancrete
Sprayable Concrete builds shelters fast.
Spray Grancrete over a frame of Styrofoam, metal, wood-even woven sugarcane stalks-and in 20 minutes you have a waterproof, fire-resistant structure that has more than twice the strength of traditional concrete and can withstand extreme temperatures without cracking. A liquefied concrete-like mixture of sand, ash, magnesium oxide and potassium phosphate, Grancrete descends from a product developed to encase radioactive waste. And since it takes hours instead of weeks to build a home, it's poised to provide low-cost, high-quality shelter to the estimated one billion people who lack it. $20.50 to coat 15 square feet
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International Thin Shell Assoc
Domes have graced the world's architectural landscape since the earliest days of recorded history. From the classic facade of the Pantheon in ancient Rome to the futuristic renditions of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic shapes, domes have always intrigued and inspired. The modern incarnation of a dome is a thin-shell concrete structure. Through the innovations and efforts of the people listed here and others, methods have been developed to make domes stronger, less expensive, and more efficient than ever before. While they are far easier to build than old structures like the Pantheon, and are smoother and more versatile than a geodesic, today's thin-shell domes and structures owe a tip of the cap to each of these historical influences.
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Lightweight Concrete Construction
Lightweight concrete, weighing from 35 to 115 pound per cubic foot, has been used in the United States for more than 50 years. The compressive strength is not as great as ordinary concrete, but it weathers just as well. Among its advantages are less need for structural steel reinforcement, smaller foundation requirements, better fire resistance and most importantly, the fact that it can serve as an insulation material! It can cost more that sand and gravel concrete, and it may shrink more upon drying.
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Mark Ketchum's Concrete Shell Page
Thin shell concrete roofs for buildings - some photos and an ideabook for designers.
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