Luigi Frascati Concrete Canvas is a sack of cement-impregnated fabric that morphs into an emergency shelter with the addition of two simple ingredients: air and water. Cost in the USD $180's. Additionally, the insulating characteristics of concrete make the Canvas suitable for setting first-aid, emergency shelters as well. The objective is to facilitate quick assembly of structures that are much stronger and more durable than tents. On the other side of the spectrum there is SYSTEMarchitects, an American firm from New York City, inventors of the Parish House, a computer-generated kit concrete mixer truck cleaning home. The Parish House is a new approach to an old idea first introduced in 1908 by Sears Roebuck. But Peter Brewin and William Crawford have figured out the way, by observing the compressive ceramic structure of an egg. Its rapid deployment, strength and durability have captured the military's attention. Stuffing a building into a bag is no easy task, nor is erecting a concrete structure in less than an hour. There are no posts, no beams, no nails. The pieces of plywood are assembled and held together by a series of stainless steel fasteners. It is a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,000 square feet bungalow whose structural system consists of 1,100 pieces of laser-cut plywood. The builder fills the sack with water, then inflates it. Ease of assembly and time-saving are the two main characteristics: the boards can be cut locally and filter press Manufacturers shipped to the construction site on two flatbed trucks. The hut hardens and is ready for use just 12 hours later. What do the Pentagon, an egg and the Brits have in common? It turns out quite a lot more than scrambled eggs for breakfast, in fact. Two British engineers have developed Concrete Canvas, a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for construction. And the applications are varied: for one thing the military is interested in the Canvas for food and equipment field storage. The hut can be deployed by a single untrained person in less than an hour.
