What is Digg?Sponsored by Activision
Band Hero view!
guitarhero.com - The biggest event music event of the year is now in your living room.
49 Comments
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@dusingaz:
In a refugee situation, it's not the first couple of hours, it's the long days, weeks and even months spent exposed to the elements while people wait to get back to their homes. - lgringo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Burning man will never be the same...
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Here's the no-flash version:
http://s146224806.websitehome.co.uk/cc/index_nonflash.html - duke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why concrete rather than a polymer resin? Nowadays if you get a cast for a broken bone, the doctor tears open a bag and wraps the fracture with something like a sports wrap and wets it down. The embedded polymers react with the water and form a hard shell in just a few minutes. Why couldn't you have a similar material wrapped around an inflatable rubber bladder, blow it up, wet it down, and have something that's stronger and lighter in less time? Seems like concrete would be excessively heavy to transport to the site.
duke - GrahamStw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Very interesting, but the website is very light on the details (plus it's all in Flash... yuk). It doesn't offer any details of testing, photos, specifications etc. I'd be interested to see whether the concrete gets properly mixed and how strong the resulting structure really is.
But dugg because I like the basic idea. - chrisdelta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sounds like it'd be perfect for the first human missions to Mars... =)
- dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 There was something similar to this shown on the Discovery Channel. An inflatable bag was used with rebar on top of it. They only made domes, big ones probably twenty feet high and diameter of about twenty feet also.
Possibly these people: www.domtec.com - lioozher, on 10/07/2009, -0/+1Much of the time it's not true that the military use tents so they can pick up and move when they need to. Very often militaries now try to create a permanent or long term presence. This type of shelter could also be used as a shelter for vehicles in regions like mine that are hurricane prone (where lighter shelters would get blown away) and for numerous other uses.
- MrScruff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This was on a program over here in the UK called Dragon's Den where designers try to get funding for their products in an Apprentic sort of way. It actually looked pretty neat but the people didn't buy into it.
- dusingaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"allow 12 hours for the concrete to set"
-Yeah i think the "countless" numbers of lives will be more countable. - weirdone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0horrible layout and like the first guy said very light on pictures and details. Only concepts and stuff which makes me wonder if they even really have a product yet or are looking for capital.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They won the Saatchi & Saatchi Award For World Changing Ideas ($100,000) and several other awards which gave them an initial £40,000 in seed funding.
http://www.saatchi.com/worldwide/innovation_award.asp
The product is definetly better than the website, though. - D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hate these websites that care more about design than actual content, which this is lacking. Still an excellent concept, so I will digg.
- frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this was in the newspaper a while ago, good to see it online.
- 5m0k3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That could make a nice portable basketball court, especially with the increase in portable basketball goal purchases.
http://techblaster.blogspot.com - weirdone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1well how can you invest in something like this really? They're trying to market it as like permanent refugee housing. I'm sure the profit from refugees must be huge. No one would really buy into that. Military already use tents so they can pick up and move if they need to, so they wouldn't buy into this. So they're marketing thousand dollar tents to the world's poorest people.
- ChrisW75, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Fantastic product, if they get it off the ground, it'll be great.
- d1e1m, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You have to remember that this is marketed towards the biggest spenders in the world: the US and other UN/NATO governments. These guys will burn through more cash in one week that entire companies spend in a year on stuff like this. It's like Mattel, what do you think is their biggest money-maker, the dolls or the m-16s?
- futurekill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Saw this a while ago and the concept/implemenataion is still pretty cool...
- robotplague, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I had this idea just last week. I thought to myself "man, why hasn't something like this been invented". I didn't think much of it, what a coicidence.
- ikkebra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>>These inflatable buildings last a minimum of 10 years
so if you go that route, you are stuck with them for 10 years? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Oh, and can't forget the Dome of a Home in Pensacola, Florida:
http://domeofahome.com/
Saw this one on CNN just a few weeks before Katrina hit, they were interviewing the owners/builders, and explaining how it was built: Again, almost exactly the same construction technique. - ironbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's elegant and simple. If it actually works, there could be an excellent commercial market for it, actually. I'd love to be able to have such a simple to erect and durable structure on my remote property.
- rynTAU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This style of construction is not new. It was developed by Dante Bini in the early 1960's. Check out http://www.binisystems.com/ for more info on the Binishell system. These guys are just taking their ideas from him.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, I saw that too, Dhughes, and this is a pretty damn old concept. They were doing in in the 1960's, and apparently, there's a huge field out in australia full of them where they were practicing getting the forumula right.
No digg, because this really is rehashing an old idea, and presenting it as new. - sargant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think these guys appeared on an episode of Dragon's Den in the UK
(for the unfamiliar: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/ )
I seem to remember them being told to go away due to a distinct lack of prototypes... - rchtr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0cessax YES this is a super old method. What the hell....
- Eaglefire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Why concrete rather than a polymer resin?"
How much did it cost the last time you got your broken bone wrapped up? I know there's substantial markup, but concrete is dirt-cheap. Polymer resins and plastics will no doubt be more expensive.
I'm pretty sure they were going for cheap as opposed to maximum strength-to-weight ratio. - panique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Why concrete rather than a polymer resin?"
Because you can add water to solidify the wessel.
This kicks ass. - coffeegeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does anyone know what happened to that "House of The Future" in Florida somwhere. It was made out of some kind of foam that was hardened...You could tour it..I've been dying to know what happened to it...That was like 20 yrs ago...
- floorman56, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think these guys appeared on an episode of Dragon's Den in the UK
(for the unfamiliar: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/ )
Oh damm.... the next U.S. reality show - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The Military will be trying these out for sure.
- Meshyf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sounds like a cool idea, but I'd really like to see it in action. Site has no content at all.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0
Actually, my wife and I are thinking about building a home with this technology.
More info here on how to make homes:
http://www.monolithic.com/ - mafiax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Flipping awsome. GREAT IDEA!!
I want an inflatable geodesic dome house with a honeycombed shell for skylights. - connerfitz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Problem is there is no profit doing this thats why there is no money to do it. Similar to how Pharmeucitcal companies do not invest large sums of money for AIDS research."
Firstly I think you might be retarded, billions is spent on AIDS research, infact it's disportionate to how many AIDs kills.
Slightly less obvious but there is money in this product I know the guys who product it is, they are talking to both aid agencies in Africa; quote Oxfam "If you had these ready, we'd buy 10 today" they've also been speaking to the US Army who like them, they can hold 10 tonnes they can have sandbags piled on to, so to be a fortification.
"That has to be the worst designed website EVER."
I'll pass this along for you
And for anyone who cares they were just 2 21 years who had a good idea, entered it into some challenges and got lucky. - gODfall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If i lived in the states i'd buy one.
- cjhowe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is an excellent idea if it were aimed at hunters and sportsman
- TomJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+02 21 years who took a good idea
- anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"This was on a program over here in the UK called Dragon's Den where designers try to get funding for their products in an Apprentic sort of way. It actually looked pretty neat but the people didn't buy into it."
In addition, one of the main reasons why they didn't get funding was simply because of the fact that once it's up, it's up for good. Once the disaster is over, you can't just put these in a bin. Who wants a city covered with lots of these useless huts?
Oh and by the way, it has no door. - MAG1CO, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I would digg this but I saw those two guys put accross the design and whole idea to a bunch of potential inverstors on a BBC tv program. They wernt good enough, they nearly got the £250000 (was something like that) they wanted but I cant remember exactly, but it's not thought out fully. It has SO much potential - just needs more work. Il try find a link for the video, it was on "the dragons den" bbc tv show - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/
- cessax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this technique has been used for years already...on superdomes, stadiums, etc.
- TibarNapies, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good to see them using some of the Bini concepts for a good cause. I wish them the best and hope they can start getting these out to those who need them.
And to those bitching about the site, get a life. It gets the point across therefore it works. They aren't out to impress you with their web design, thats not the point. I swear you people will bitch about anything, just for the sake of making yourself feel cool. - Sargasso_C, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If it lasts ten years then it's rather longer than the average, new New Zealand home is expected to last (can you believe, we don't need to use treated timber in houses, here?). It is a wonderful idea in cold and snow climates, as concrete has a higher thermal inertia than canvas and the dome shape is excellent for distributing compressive loading - so it will withstand a heavy snowfall.
- draxen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This is old news. I think it was on Slashdot a year or two ago.
- OandA, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Problem is there is no profit doing this thats why there is no money to do it. Similar to how Pharmeucitcal companies do not invest large sums of money for AIDS research.
- KevinJ, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0OMG A SITE METER THOSE ARE COOOOOOO:LLLLL
- txrat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Uh....to tell the truth, there just isn't enough detail to make it look real..
not saying it isn't possible, or that these guys can't do it..
but it doesn't look like it's there yet...
I HIGHLY doubt there is a physical product yet... - inotocracy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0That has to be the worst designed website EVER.
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is