Sparks (link to his blog at end of post) has joined fabprefab, and just posted a six-container-home project being built on a hillside in the small community of Cuastecomate, just outside of Melaque on the southern coast of Jalisco, Mexico. Just look at that view! I'll be watching and waiting to see how this project progresses....
Post on Costalegre Community Forum
Grancrete is a tough reinforcement-free ceramic building material, created by Jim Paul as a replacement for concrete, and it is made from an environmentally friendly mix of locally available materials: 50 percent sand or sandy soil, 25 percent ash and 25 percent binding material. Binding material is composed of magnesium oxide and potassium phosphate, the latter of which is a biodegradable element in fertilizer. If Grancrete were to decompose (its lifespan is calculated at 100 years+) it would revitalize the soil. Early in the development stage, Mr. Paul had problems with cracking, so he turned to Arun Wagh (an amazing man!) of The Argonne National Laboratory, who in 1996 created a material called Ceramicrete, originally developed to encase nuclear waste, and has since led to many other uses.
Grancrete is 20% lighter than and twice as strong as concrete, is fire resistant and can withstand both tropical and sub-freezing temperatures. It has the ability to set quickly in a much greater range of temperatures than concrete. It has a short curing time (15 to 20 minutes), is pH tolerant, impervious to water (including salt) and even cures underwater. It bonds to all surfaces, except glass and plastics, and will not expand or contract, meaning no control joints are necessary.
Grancrete can be sprayed, poured, troweled, coloured, painted, whatever you can dream up. It shall be fascinating to see what develops in the future.....
Early photos of Gancrete being sprayed over a styrofoam structure:
Inspired by mid-century modernism, the Minimalist concrete tile line by designer David-Michael for Smith-Laredo is suitable indoors or outdoors. Minimalist offers the durability and easy maintenance of a standard concrete made with Portland cement (which is not a green material), but the difference with these tiles lies in their composition: they are made from crushed limestone, sand, water and aggregate quarried near the firm's San Diego base, and pigments are derived from naturally occurring oxides. NO energy is used to fire these tiles - they cure naturally over a period of three weeks.
Minimalist is available in seven colors, and comes in four sizes: 18"x18", 18"x9", 9"x9", and 4.25"x4.25". Brilliant.
Gigacrete is a new, eco-friendly cementitious building material that uses no Portland cement; rather, it consists of a proprietary nontoxic binder, and a filler utilizing waste ash from coal fired power generation stations, of all grades, not just the fly ash currently used as a ten percent filler in concrete. Other fillers include waste paper, cardboard and plastics, styrofoam packaging, sludge from paper mills, and agricultural waste fibers (leftover from food crops like rice, corn, wheat and other grains). Since most of these materials would just end up in a landfill (sacrilege!), they instead make a great alternative building material. All of the above materials become totally fireproof and can be made very lightweight, yet are as strong as traditional concrete, sometimes even more so. Gigacrete composites do not shrink or crack like concrete, they're fireproof and water/insect/vermin/mold/hurricane/earthquake resistant. Products include: PanelSystem, Stuccomax, StuccoMax-E (Environmental), Floor Overlay, PlasterMax, GigaCast and GigaPatch. The site is definitely worth a look-see.
From the site:
PanelSystem is the basis of a complete panelized building system with many residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Utilizing new manufacturing technology, the PanelSystem is vertically cast in a factory and delivered to job sites ready for rapid installation. The PanelSystem is engineered to be fireproof and water, insect, vermin, mold, hurricane, and earthquake resistant. While GigaCrete™ panels have minimum compressive strengths of 1,200 PSI, the panels are a fraction of the weight of most Portland-based concrete panels and require only hand labor to move and construct. The GigaCrete PanelSystem can be molded for structural walls, interior walls, floors, and roofing - providing a turnkey building system that significantly reduces the time and cost of construction.
Voted one of the top 25 "Best of Green Design", by Popular Mechanics
The first time I saw this method of passive cooling was in a house on the island of Mallorca (it worked! It really worked!), the architecture of which was heavily influenced by the Moors..... it is an ancient idea going back in the mists of time, but an absolutely relevant one in this day and age.
Passive Air Conditioning, from The Farm. Don't know The Farm? You're in for a hippie treat!
Passive Cooling, from PermacultureTokyo Blog
Passive Cooling Techniques, from Build It Solar - I've written about this site before. The last word in green technologies. Go to their main page and get a real education.
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