Rapid Build
Our goal is to construct all the village homes and workplaces in 12 months. Is this realistic? Yes.
Most industries became more efficient in the 20th century, but the construction industry did not, perhaps because most of the time only a few buildings are built at a time. The parallel village needs to have a critical mass achieved at the beginning, which means all 4,000 homes and 1,000 workplaces need to be completed at the same time. This creates a great opportunity for a different approach to construction. We intend to set a goal of all construction of homes and workplaces in 12 months – weather permitting. This means 24/7 operations and mobile factories that cover the site with a roof and lights so three shifts of workers may keep the project going.
The village will use Variable Density Concrete (VDC) as the primary bulk material. We pour this flexible material in different precise densities based on engineering requirements. By making the walls thicker, VDC achieves insulation values without the extra steps and costs of conventional insulation. Instead of cladding, the VDC takes finishing renders (plaster, slurry, whitewash or bagging), or it can be left in its natural state. Doors, windows, pipes and conduit installation occurs before the pour, thus the VDC locks them in place, again realising cost savings, speed and less chance of insulation leakage. We use the same material for the foundations, slabs, floors, staircases and roofs. Most importantly, because it is essentially plastic when poured, it will mould itself to any form, thus a creative architect can have a mould carved in plastic (either by an artist or using a computer cutting system) to achieve almost any surface pattern or ornament.
With appropriate cranes and movable forms, this enables building walls to be set up and poured in hours rather than elapsed time in weeks typical of the industry. Bulk purchase and delivery of cement, aggregate and reinforcing enables the project to realise economies of scale that greatly reduce overall costs. Labour coordination becomes easier as a single trade handles the construction, rather than the logistical nightmare of a typical job site where perhaps a dozen different trades are required to erect a lock-up shell.
We built the industrial park, motorpool and freight depot first. We design the motorpool to serve as a temporary dormitory for workers (which later can be retained for emergency housing for civil defence, if appropriate). We encourage artisan makers of building ornament and detail to move to the industrial park so that future villagers have better choice of materials that make the difference between mediocre and something special. Carvers who make beautiful doors, lintels and other detail are encouraged to set up shop, for example. This gives such businesses a strong initial customer base that may later serve as the foundation for an ongoing local industry selling local to global.
As mentioned above, the moulding system enables beautiful buildings to be made affordably. The standing forms have a plastic insert, carved in the industrial park that provides a negative of the wall surface. The concrete fills the mould and when it is removed, the carving is rendered precisely. In some cases carvings will be hand-cut by skilled artisans for villagers prepared to pay a premium price as befits a one-off work of art. In most cases, computer assisted design (CAD) will use computer assisted manufacturing (CAM) to have a robotic cutter carve a precise 3D image into a soft plastic that can be melted and recut when no longer needed, The CAD-CAM image can be designed on the computer, or it can come from a 3D camera of an existing wall or other pattern.
