This is a good project for a one or two week trip to a country with a warm climate.
The EcoShell 1 is an affordable, super-strong structure that can withstand hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fire, termites and rot and if basalt rebar is used it will last for centuries!
I do not have any connection to the Monolithic Company, I only know what is on their web page and it sounded like something worth checking out if you or your mission’s team want to build homes on a short-term mission’s trip. The process is easy to learn, you could leave the airform and equipment behind, and the local people you have trained could build a 100 more homes using that airform. (Designed for warm climates)
A few good workers can build a 20-foot EcoShell in less than a week. For a 6-meter dome, you need approximately 50 bags of cement, 2500’ roll of basalt reinforcing, about 5 cubic meters of small size concrete aggregate, an Airform with tie down angles, a small inflator fan and a few workers primarily with hand tools. I would also take a patch kit for the Airform just in case it is damaged.
If you are planning a mission’s trip, you will find the following thesis helpful. Go to the web page below and click on view the manual here.
Lora Garrison, daughter of Don Garrison, Monolithic’s Manager of Airform Production, recently completed her Master’s Thesis. Lora has been working toward a MA degree in Arts in Community Leadership at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her 40-page thesis, DFTW International Volunteer: Training Manual includes DFTW’s goals, values and management; the construction and use of EcoShells; and virtually everything related to visiting, evaluating, and improving the lives of people living in poverty.
http://www.dftw.org/news-feed/dftw-featured-in-master-s-thesis
More information at: http://safe-homes.weebly.com/