The concept of a bubble has surprisingly inspired many designers within the construction industry in recent years. There’s the inflatable bubble building in Shanghai that is supposed to help air and light quality, the inflatable tunnel that will protect pedestrians and business during road construction in Canada, and even a solar cell that was created to be lighter than a soap bubble. We can now add Binishells to our list.
Binishells are flowing, domed concrete buildings that utilize air as their formwork. Once the slab-on-grade foundation is laid, an air filled bubble, called a pneumoform, is inflated and rebar is placed around it accordingly. Concrete is then sprayed on the form and rebar to create the exterior shell. When hardened, the form is deflated and ready to use on the next project.
The building process began in the 1960’s, when the current owner, Nicolo Bini’s, father developed the technology. The company touts several benefits on its website, including:
- ½ the cost to build and operate
- ⅓ the lifecycle footprint in terms of sustainability
- ½ the resources, of which all are locally sourced,
- Resistance to natural disasters
- 3 times faster to build
- MInimal upkeep and easily repurposed.
Bini’s current focus is on tackling homelessness and he hopes Binishells can be the solution. You can watch the video below, from Mashable, for some additional information about the product.
Like most of the other electric machines that have been announced previously, Volvo promises that this midsized, 14 metric ton excavator will have the same performance as a similarly sized diesel version. The X03 is currently in the concept stage, so Volvo does not have immediate plans to bring it to market, but it shows the possibilities that electronics on heavy machinery can allow for.