NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Some of the new technologies in ARK offer amazing benefits. Sadly, these benefits are unlikely to be available in conventional homes - even in new ‘modern’ constructions - because the structural constraints do not allow them. All components of the ARK houses are developed for strength, durability and style.

The ARK shell is steel and plastic reinforced concrete, making it as strong and durable as, well - concrete. You know what I mean. The flat surfaces – floor and wall panels – are precision cast using HySSIL technology and materials developed by Australia’s CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

HySSIL weighs only half as much as conventional concrete with the required strength and durability for our purpose as well as having thermal and sound insulating qualities. Ribs and panels are set up on site on a special assembly rig which holds each element in its precise place while the reinforced high-tensile concrete ‘ribs’ lock the structural panels in place to hold the whole solidly together for a very, very long time.
 

ARK construction is very unlike conventional housebuilding, with its months of mess, noise, intrusion and uncertainty. The only requirement for ARK is a flat, hard location on which to set up the building, decent access, and we do the rest.

You will be disappointed in the matter of concrete mixers, trenchdiggers and suchlike. Since ARK is a self-contained biosphere, it needs no connections to water, power or sewerage. Sadly, Local Councils being Local Councils, they are going to find some reason for getting into your ribs financially. Sunlight availability fee. Wear and tear on your corrugated roads. Dust levy.

ARK arrives onto your site on heavy trucks, in 'kit' form. A special construction rig is assembled on the site, to enable precision placement of components. A crane is located at the centre of the rig which lifts the various components into place.

The ribs are placed first. Next, the core inside wall units and the dougnut floor units which stitch the ribs firmly together. Everything slots into place - no hammers, screwdrivers, glue and hopefully no profanities from frustration or accidentally walloped fingers. Watertight seals are enabled by vaseline coating of the super-high precision moulded components.

Next placed are the doughnut's outer wall panels and the hard shell flooring panels that make up the outer first floor.

At this point, the crane jacks up the now absolutely rigid ARK carcass and the assembly rig is removed. Once the structure is replaced on the ground, the crane places the main wall panels and the upper core panels.The main panels sit into the ends of the ribs and are 'stitched' together with concrete ties.

How long does this take? One ARK - two men, two days. (To 'lock-up' - assembly of walls, floors, roof, doors, windows - fixtures appointment not included.)

ARK floating house construction is even more unlike conventional housebuilding.

The 'hard' outer panels and ribs that comprise the strucutral frame of ARK are made of lightweight concrete with internal panels of expanded polystyrene foam (click on the 'Main wall panel' illustration above to see how this works). While this construction gives a very precise and very strong form, with excellent insulating qualities, it provides yet another benefit to the assemblers - the panels and ribs are actually lighter than water: they float!

So your floating ARK can arrive in sections, towed behind a barge. The floating construction rig again holds the ribs precisely in position as floor and wall units are added. Pontoons enable the assembled rib cage to be floated higher in the water for the convenience of the assemblers until the carcass achieves its own buoyancy.

As before, everything slots into place and watertight seals are enabled by vaseline coating of the super-high precision moulded components. A light crane attached to the construction rig enables ribs and panels to be placed with ease.

The benefit of being able to float components to the desired location may not appear significant in a suburban or even estuarine location. However, in emergency situations such as earthquake or tsunami devastated areas where land transport infrastructure is compromised, ARK's ability to be floated in multiple lots as needed is invaluable, as is the need for no construction tools other than rig and crane.

Delivering components on site using their own buoyancy is as practically advantageous and economically beneficial in providing housing in McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic as it is in the inner reaches of the Amazon.

HONEYCOMB PANELS

Floors of the roof and second floor, as well as that part of the first floor above the doughnut, are made of a new translucent structural material, a concept from HiBrasil. These panels are relatively deep (10 cm) plastic honeycomb which allows them to span considerable distances without sag or flex, without structural support.

The top of each cell is a shaped lens of clear plastic, which captures light from above to transmit it out through a diffuser at the bottom of the cell. This allows light from above to enter the area below with low transmission loss, and without heat or glare. Thus light striking the roof passes through the second and first floors, even into the doughnut, except where furniture or such block its path.