I don’t understand what you mean by ‘vault’ in this context. However, arches are one of the most stable structures that can be constructed–see Greek architecture. There are many examples of vaulted architecture throughout the Middle East and Turkey that have been standing for centuries. This structure seems to be more like those. The critical issue it holding the ceiling stable while placing the bricks. Once in place, being superadobe, they support the design via exerted pressure one to the other and can also be fired from within to create a ceramic building that stands forever.
A vault is a common architectural form based on the arch. Made out of stone, etc. they are extremely strong. But it’s very difficult to build vault shaped structures with earthbags. Nader Khalili used formed concrete on his vaults. Kelly Hart recommends earthbag vaults no wider than about 8′ on the inside due to stability issues. I have a series of vault structures shown on this blog: http://earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/structural-integrity-of-insulated-earthbag-vaults/ My design uses a ferrocement frame covered with lightweight insulating earthbags. Use the search engine in the upper right corner to see more blog posts about earthbag vaults.
I have no idea how the Piramidomo vault is built. There are no details that I’m aware of.
I would be very interested to find out how they are going to build this. The video only mentions stabilized earth and their website doesn’t give any more structural details, but from what I understood from your previous posts, a vault is an inherently unstable structure, and would need additional support (ferrocement) and lightweight material (scoria).
Considering the fact that this is essentialy a tunnel, does this instability issue not also apply to this design?
I’m asking because the design I’m going for myself is basically a spiral with a flat roof (a non-earthbag example can be seen here: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/178184-Landscape-per-un-nuovo-porto/images/2788022). However, if I can design this with a vaulted earthbag roof (no additional reinforcement), I think I could save quite a lot on costs – not needing all the wood for the flat roof or the ferrocement for the reinforced vault.
Any ideas on if and how this would be possible?
I don’t understand what you mean by ‘vault’ in this context. However, arches are one of the most stable structures that can be constructed–see Greek architecture. There are many examples of vaulted architecture throughout the Middle East and Turkey that have been standing for centuries. This structure seems to be more like those. The critical issue it holding the ceiling stable while placing the bricks. Once in place, being superadobe, they support the design via exerted pressure one to the other and can also be fired from within to create a ceramic building that stands forever.
A vault is a common architectural form based on the arch. Made out of stone, etc. they are extremely strong. But it’s very difficult to build vault shaped structures with earthbags. Nader Khalili used formed concrete on his vaults. Kelly Hart recommends earthbag vaults no wider than about 8′ on the inside due to stability issues. I have a series of vault structures shown on this blog: http://earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/structural-integrity-of-insulated-earthbag-vaults/ My design uses a ferrocement frame covered with lightweight insulating earthbags. Use the search engine in the upper right corner to see more blog posts about earthbag vaults.
I have no idea how the Piramidomo vault is built. There are no details that I’m aware of.
Hi,
I would be very interested to find out how they are going to build this. The video only mentions stabilized earth and their website doesn’t give any more structural details, but from what I understood from your previous posts, a vault is an inherently unstable structure, and would need additional support (ferrocement) and lightweight material (scoria).
Considering the fact that this is essentialy a tunnel, does this instability issue not also apply to this design?
I’m asking because the design I’m going for myself is basically a spiral with a flat roof (a non-earthbag example can be seen here: http://europaconcorsi.com/projects/178184-Landscape-per-un-nuovo-porto/images/2788022). However, if I can design this with a vaulted earthbag roof (no additional reinforcement), I think I could save quite a lot on costs – not needing all the wood for the flat roof or the ferrocement for the reinforced vault.
Any ideas on if and how this would be possible?
Kind regards,
Maarten
I don’t know how they’re going to build it. In general, vaults are difficult to build and best suited to small projects.