On a rural property on the slopes of California's Sierra Nevada mountains, Morgan Bierschenk and his team have been refining a durable, mineral-like material...
Nice video with solar punk-y vibes, might be interesting to someone else. :)
This is a fascinating project but I’m always frustrated when they don’t share the formulation of their materials. Looks like a lot of reinforcement. A major downside to modular geodesic construction is the number of seams that invite leakage over time. A more monolithic application of a slower-setting material over a frame would be preferable to me.
Having experimented with a lot of concrete composites I’m always looking for the sweet spots of frugality, obtainablity, practically. This appears to be some geopolymer or magnesium cement -fairly exotic materials for me. Geopolymers often require a strong alkali to set. Not a huge fan of Portland, but at least it’s obtainable and relatively inexpensive for sustainable use cases.
This is a fascinating project but I’m always frustrated when they don’t share the formulation of their materials. Looks like a lot of reinforcement. A major downside to modular geodesic construction is the number of seams that invite leakage over time. A more monolithic application of a slower-setting material over a frame would be preferable to me.
Having experimented with a lot of concrete composites I’m always looking for the sweet spots of frugality, obtainablity, practically. This appears to be some geopolymer or magnesium cement -fairly exotic materials for me. Geopolymers often require a strong alkali to set. Not a huge fan of Portland, but at least it’s obtainable and relatively inexpensive for sustainable use cases.