In order to promote the construction of affordable, resilient houses, the future is concrete

Wood is by far the most frequently used material in the USA for single -family house construction.

However, the wood construction is not designed for long -term durability and below average below average, especially in view of the increasingly extreme weather events.

In response to these challenges, I believe that mass houses can offer affordable, resilient living space in the USA with mass productions by using the latest innovations of the prefabricated specific industry. This type of homebuilding can meet the needs of a changing world.

Wood climb to power

Over 90% of the new houses built in the United States rely on wooden frames.

Wood has deep historical roots as building materials in the United States, which are based on the earliest European settlers that constructed animal shelters using the abundant timber building. One of the best -known typologies was the log cabin, which was built from large tree trunks that were notched in the corners for structural stability.

In the 1830s, timber construction was significantly changed with the introduction of the balloon frame. Standardized, sawn, wood and mass-produced nails used this system, so that a lot of smaller wood components can replace the earlier heavy wooden frames. It could be put together by unskilled workers with simple tools, which means that it is both accessible and economical.

In the early 20th century, balloon frames developed into a platform frame, which became the dominant method. By using shorter wooden lengths, the platform -Framing platform made it possible for each floor to be built as a separate work platform, simplifies the construction and improved its efficiency.

The distribution and development of the wood construction helped the nation's architectural and cultural identity. For centuries, wooden houses have defined the American idea of ​​the home-so very much that the Americans are still made of wood, even today when they imagine a house.

Today, light timber construction dominates the US living market.

Wood is relatively affordable and easily available and offers a inexpensive solution for homebuilding. Treaty is familiar with wood construction techniques. In addition, building regulations and regulations have long been tailored to wooden frame systems, which further reinforces their prevalence in the apartment industry.

Despite its advantages, the Holzhell frame construction presents several important restrictions. Wood is susceptible to fire. In the hurricane and tornado attacks, wooden houses can be damaged or destroyed.

Wood is also very susceptible to water -related problems such as swelling, distortions and structural deteriorations caused by leaks or floods. Susceptibility to termites, mold, putrefaction and mildew affects the durability and safety of wood structures, especially in damp or poorly ventilated environments.

The case for concrete

In the meantime, concrete revolutionized architecture and engineering in the past century. In my academic work, I studied, written and killed the many advantages of the material.

The material offers unsurpassed strength and durability and at the same time enables design flexibility and versatility. It is inexpensive and low -maintenance and has high thermal mass properties, which relates to the ability of the material to absorb and store warmth during the day and to slowly release it during the cooler nights. This can reduce heating and cooling costs.

Correctly designed concrete housing offer an extraordinary performance against a wide range of dangers. Concrete can withstand fire, floods, mold, insect infestation, earthquakes, hail, hurricanes and tornados.

It is usually used in many parts of the world to build housing, such as Europe, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina as well as India and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Despite their diverse advantages, concrete single -family houses in the USA are rare

This is because most of the specific structures are created using a process that is referred to as cast in -place. In this technique, the concrete is formed and poured directly on the construction site. The method is based on integrated forms. After the concrete has been poured and healed for several days, the formwork is removed.

This process is labor -intensive and time -consuming and often creates considerable waste. This is a problem, especially in the USA, in which work is more expensive than in other parts of the world. The material and labor costs can be up to 35% to 60% of the total construction costs.

Portland cement, the binder in concrete, requires considerable energy, which leads to considerable carbon dioxide emissions. However, these environmental costs are often compensated for by the durability of concrete and the long service life.

The flexibility and the structural integrity of concrete are particularly effective for large -scale structures. In the United States, you will see that it is used for large commercial buildings, skyscrapers and most motorways, bridges, dams and other critical infrastructure projects.

But when it comes to single -family houses, concrete concrete poses a challenge for contractors. There are higher initial construction costs and a lack of subcontractor expertise. For these reasons, most builders and contractors remain what they know: the wooden frame.

A new model for the housing buildings

However, concrete concrete offers a promising alternative.

In contrast to concrete concrete, pre -made systems enable under controlled conditions outside the location. This improves the quality of the structure and at the same time reduces waste and contractions.

The Crete House, a prototype on which I worked together with a Washington University team in St. Louis in 2017, showed the advantages of a ready -made household.

In order to build the FECAST Concrete Home, we used Ultrahohe performance concrete, one of the latest progress in the concrete industry. Compared to conventional concrete, it is approximately six times stronger, practically uncontrollable and more resistant to freezer bag cycles. Ultrahohe performance concrete can take several hundred years.

The strength of the Kretershaus was tested by turning a piece of wood at 193 km / h (193 km / h) to simulate flying debris from an F5 tornado. It was unable to injure the wall that was only 5.1 centimeters thick.

Building on the success of the Kreter Haus, I designed the compact house as a solution for affordable, resilient apartments. The house consists of a modular, prefabricated concrete system of “rings”, which can be connected with the entire structure flakes, walls and roofs, airtight, energy-efficient houses. A number of different rings can be selected from a catalog to deliver different models that can range from 270 to 990 square meters (25 to 84 square meters).

The prefabricated rings can be transported on flat bed trailers and gathered in one day into one unit, which drastically reduced the work, time and costs on site.

Since they are built with permanent forms of concrete, the house can easily be produced in mass production. If pre -made concrete houses produce in mass production, the costs with traditional wooden houses can be competitive. In addition, the houses are designed in such a way that they take well over 100 years – much longer than typical wooden structures – while they significantly reduce the supply calculations, maintenance costs and insurance premiums.

The project is also intended as an open source design. This means that the shapes – which are expensive – are available for every feature manufacturer to use and change them.

Use of an existing network

Prepare two important restrictions on the specific construction are the size and weight of the components and the distance to the project point.

Fe -prored elements must correspond to the standard transport regulations that restrict both size and weight in order to survive under bridges and prevent road damage. As a result, the components are usually limited to dimensions that can be transported safely and legally with trucks. Each of the parts of the compact house is small enough to be transported in standard fans.

In addition, the transport costs become an important factor that goes beyond a certain area. In general, the practical delivery wheel from a finished system up to a construction site is 500 miles (805 kilometers). Everything beyond this becomes economically unnotic.

However, the infrastructure for the construction of prefabricated concrete houses is already largely available. Since Fecast Concrete is often used for office buildings, schools, parking complexes and large residential buildings, there is already an extensive national network of manufacturing systems that can produce and deliver components within this radius of 500 miles.

There are other approaches to the construction of houses with concrete: houses can use concrete masonry units that are similar to the ash blocks. This is a common technology around the world. Isolated concrete shapes contain rigid foam blocks that are stacked like Lego bricks and are then filled with cast concrete, creating a structure with built-in insulation. And there is even 3D printed concrete, a fast-developing technology that is located in the early stages of development.

However, none of these usage concrete modules in my prototype-praised, however, a much longer time and work on site.

For me, ready -made concrete houses offer a convincing vision for the future of the affordable living space. They signal a generation that defines themselves from the short-term construction and the long-term value-new to what it means to build for resilience, efficiency and equity in housing.

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