This evolving project will model a 5 dwelling village where naturalistic architecture is employed using new versions of ferrocement technology for the construction of the homes and for the construction of key sustainable features.  Some of the main sustainable features are:

A.  Solar and Wind - Existing technologies for solar and wind electricity generation and storage.

B.  Gardening - Not just for nice veggies and herbs but also professional level designs for reliable production of food, herbs, fish, algae in the context of a successful business plan.

C.  Outdoor Dome Oven, Kitchen and Community Area - an outdoor community kitchen area based on a large multifuel bread/pizza oven.  Community bread ovens have roots in many cultures and can be thought of as a place in the Shambhala Village Design to balance or compliment the privacy and tranquillity orientated home spaces.  Historically these outdoor oven areas are where small communities are bonded in cooperation and in the appreciation of food - a good mortar for civilization perhaps.  Think calzones and pizza seared to perfection in three minutes in a one thousand degree bread oven. 

D.  Solar Heated Rainwater Reservoir -an insulated solar heated water reservoir that is filled by rainwater runoff and that also uses the water to store the collected energy of the sun for heating the homes and stabilizing soil bed temperatures for reliable plant production.  

E.  Air Flow Design - Variations of Arches and Domes define the architecture to large degree.  These shapes and the air-tightness of the medium naturally cause airflow design to be given more focus.  Earth tubes, curvilinear roof designs and designs that utilize the energy of the sun to create air flow all work together to move warm air and move cool air when needed for a more comfortable inside and outside environments and for energy cost savings.

At the heart of this evolving endeavor is a new building technique called the Parabolic Stress-skin Construction Process.  This system is a hybrid of cast insulating cellular concrete or recycled materials and ferrocement. The system is a very efficient use of this high energy material and if "Green" were a measure of the least ecological impact on the earth then this method would qualify as the "Greenest” because the resources used to replace less durable plant and mud based mediums must be considered. 

This construction technique has intrinsic ties to organic structural design themes, similar to the structural architecture of seashells and the interconnected principle expressed in living forms. This principal as expressed in natural habitat and shelter design is economy, multiple utility, independence, security, bounty, successful cooperation and unrestrained free expression and play in the world of form.

The method, by virtue of providing non-professionals access to a technical capability to explore curvilinear organic form with a material that can provide insulation when needed and water impermeability when needed, ties inseparable to, and provides a new architectural framework for, the creative drive behind emerging uses of sustainable technologies. It can be a plateform for helping the grass roots development for integrating existing technologies into communities; technologies for independent methods for fuel production, electricity generation, sustainable water usage methods, healthy sewage systems, cooperative community and food and medicine production.

These design themes naturally resonate with this free technology and free-form building method. This is because the medium is suitable for many needs and can be shaped into curvilinear shapes; Not only can you now easily build a low cost, insulated and maintenance free house that may look like a seashell, you can, among many other things, build key sustainable features.  The material is suitable for simple and sturdy rain gutter designs and sturdy earthen artistic forms for the garden. 

These new methods and materials will require less investment of time and energy than the traditional building technologies and has multiple uses. The insulated water reservoir can be a base for other creative expressions and for integrating more sustainable ideas, such as fish production, water plant production or just for enjoyment of the senses; perhaps a well-controlled green tank environment that utilizes zeolite filters for a balanced bioactive plant and animal habitat for swimming.  Indulging our imaginations in a base of practical sturdy design and construction can be an enriching exercise for many of us and should be recognized as a possible mechanism for adaptability and change.

This large volume, well insulated tank example, combined with an enticingly simplistic plumbing and electrical schematic for panel direct powered solar electric pumps and solar collectors for heating water, can provide a unique economic and body comfort advantage for this kind of insulated masonry home. The capital investment for these low-cost components will provide a total elimination of heating and cooling energy costs. A radiant floor heating system may not be adequate for wood frame homes but these fully masonry structures are insulated well in their foundations and provide other thermal advantages. These structures don’t leak air because they are cast as one solid piece. Air exchange and flow are integral parts of design so that air quality and thermal efficiency are high priorities. The building medium provides a unique balance of thermal mass and insulation. This balance helps store the heating and cooling energy while providing an efficient buffer from extreme temperatures outside. The one-piece monolithic casting of the roof and walls maximizes the body comfort and thermal performance by providing a larger thermal bank than just the floor and walls for thermal storage. 

Evolving Architecture with the Parabolic Stress-Skin Construction Process

By Doug Lacy - winner of the 2006 Innovations in Green Building Award from the New Mexico Recycling Coalition

This Construction Technique, especially as applied towards insulated, solid and low-cost homes, sets a new standard for structural integrity, thermal performance, and sustainable design. Outshining all of these qualities is the unbound freedom of architectural expression that is made possible by the flowing curvilinear capabilities that are intrinsic to this system. This new freedom to fully explore a range of architectural themes, especially those defined as "Evolutionary" by Eugene Tsui, "Silent and Healing" by Christopher Day, "Sacred Geometry" by Tohmas Twintress and Naturalistic and Sustainable by many others, is the foundation for how life quality is enhanced and is the main, although subtle, focus of this building technique instead of the medium composition and technique.

The Parabolic Stress-Skin Construction Process is a low-cost and low-eco impact building process that integrates several unique structural qualities.

The Forms: The forms stay in the wall/roof shell as important reinforcing. They are made from 10 gauge steel wire frame blocks. The remesh steel, that the blocks are made from, can be bought at most hardware stores. These blocks can be custom shaped but are typically one foot by one foot by five feet. These blocks are manufactured on-site using a special apparatus and then quickly woven together to create a rigid shape of the structure. The connecting blocks create double and single 10 gauge steel rods connecting the surface shells at tight and even intervals. This reinforcing prevents the surface shells from buckling inward or outward when under load and helps the shell components to act together as one solid piece, to create a true stress-skin effect like how an aircraft wing design achieves a high-strength to weight ratio.

After the wire form for the structure is made, installing electrical and plumbing in the open cage frame walls is simple and easy and saves time and money.

The Surface Shells: The high strength concrete surface shells are applied to an expanded metal lath fabric that is sewn onto this cubical internal reinforcing. Because the portion of the blocks that touch the surface are included in the high-strength thinshell composite concrete matrix, it is not possible for the surface shells to tear away or delaminate from the internal reinforcing. The cement bonds evenly to the 10-gauge steel reinforcing underneath the expanded metal lath and the expanded metal lath is sewn on tightly with steel wire. The surface shells are made of a high strength fiber and steel reinforced waterproof concrete. The high strength composite concrete is based on new cement technology. Compressive strengths exceed 15 thousand psi and the shell is more flexible.

Rebar is used in regular concrete and rebar in concrete provides passive reinforcing, meaning the rebar will only share a structural load or do work only after the cement is broken. This material, however, provides active tensile reinforcing that works to prevent cracking and breaking. This active tensile reinforcing is provided by the blend of PVA and Forta Ferro fibers, the expanded metal lath and the 10 guage welded wire steel fabric. The composite also utilizes a unique closed cell aeration that protects the steel from progressive oxidation (damaging rust) and protects the concrete from the damaging effect of moisture and ice. This closed cell aeration combined with the new age super cement mix designs that would otherwise have almost no porosity, sets a new standard for durability for concrete.

The stress-skin reinforcing works together with the internal cross-tie tensile reinforcing and the high strength composite surface shells to allow insulating low-density fills to be used to achieve a high strength to weight ratio and the required insulation value for a home. This stress-skin form makes monolithic casting possible and makes these structures one single, solid, self-supporting cohesive piece, similar to the hull of ship, with no separation between the walls and roof. Temperature Control: The curvilinear designs are far more durable than conventional flat geometries of box homes. The medium balances thermal mass and insulating qualities while the curvilinear designs work with sunlight and convection aerodynamics to enhance fresh airflow and to naturally stabilize inside temperatures within a comfortable range.

Recycling Possibilities: The structural requirements for the internal fill is very low so many types of fills, besides cellular concrete, can be used. Often, recycled glass is used but papercrete, earth, sand, pumice, EPS, and any recycled material are all good candidates. Green cement, a cement of different chemical composition, manufactured at lower temperatures and actually removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, is another alternative that is now available. *

The Cellular Concrete Fill: Cellular concrete is a cement and water paste that is expanded many times with tiny spherical air bubbles and hardens into a durable lightweight insulating material called "Neat Cellular Concrete", ‘Neat’ meaning no aggregate other than cement paste is used. What makes these homes low-cost and easy and quick to build is because 70 percent of the solid material that the walls are made of is available on the job site because it is air. The steel rolls of remesh wire expands 30 times as well so the volume of material needed to construct a home is very small. This makes it easier to build in remote locations. Tiny air bubbles are the primary component of this system when recycled or other fill materials are not used. The forms can be left hollow in many situations but filling the forms enhances the structural performance many fold. The air bubbles work as impact shock absorbers as well.

If you hit the medium with a sledge hammer, instead of cracking and breaking, the air bubbles collapse and absorb the kinetic energy and in the impact area forms a small dent. The military has recently switched to cellular concrete bullet traps because of its ability to cushion and stop bullets. Natural equivalents of cellular concrete, coral stone, are historically known for an ability to stop cannon balls in the same way. Cellular concrete is used in mining where shock waves from explosive charges need to be safely absorbed. The reinforcing, high strength shells and shock absorbing internal fill makes these structures more resistant to structural damage and is an appropriate method and material for earthquake, hurricane and tornado prone areas. The material derived from the more water-proof, durable, flexible and strong thinshell technology can be used to construct water tanks, water retaining garden plots, planters, ponds and just about anything in any shape that can be imagined.

Thinshell technology is very different from traditional concrete because it is many times stronger, has active tensile reinforcing, the shrinkage associated with regular concrete is almost non-existent with thinshell and thinshell is more able to function as a water reservoir than traditional ferrocement and concrete tanks.

Design themes for this construction method have a natural tendency to be those that are breaking out of the box of convention and repetition in more ways than just architecture. Independence from centralized support structures is an inseparable part of this system. The method implies design themes for independence and integration of independent methods to provide electric, water, sewage, sustainable community, food and medicine production. These design themes naturally resonate with this free technology and free-form building method.

Doug Lacy of Spiritpath Designs provides information, training and consultation about a new method for casting insulated walls and roofs as one piece and also demonstrates structural and artistic design principles in nature, where sustainability, economy, utility, independence and freedom of expression are intrinsic themes.

www.Shambhalavillage.com