Portable, Inflatable Concrete Shelter

Need a Building? Just Add Water (Wired News, March 15, 2005) reports on the "Concrete Canvas", a portable, inflatable concrete shelter developed by UK Royal College of Art-Imperial College Masters students Peter Brewin and William Crawford. Brewin and Crawford's key development is a patent-applied-for, cement-impregnated fabric bonded to an inner inflatable membrane. In its portable form, the total package consists of folded fabric stored within a sealed plastic sack weighing 230 kilograms (507 lb).

Once delivered to the site, the structure can be erected by a single individual. The sack is filled with water--the sack being sized to ensure the proper water/cement ratio--and then inflated. After a twelve-hour setting period, the structure is ready for occupation and provides 16 square meters (172 square feet) of floor space.

Applications envisioned for the Concrete Canvas include emergency shelters for disaster recovery operations, aid agency activities, etc. Since the shelter can be delivered sterile, it can also support surgical operations not otherwise feasible in remote settings.