Sculpture is the second concept introduced. The structures described in this manual are sculptured. Whether the steel armature is welded or tied together, the builder is using and practicing sculptural techniques. Division of labor provides efficiencies that small enterprises may utilize and become very competitive, ferrocement is labor intensive and can be artistic and creative in a way that fosters independent small businesses. Although it is possible that brilliant systems engineers may devise a corporate scale assembly line for certain parts or segments of these structures, the individual assembly line worker will remain a working sculptor even if dulled and dehumanized by labor saving devices and efficiencies. All construction is interesting and sometimes fun, the sculptural aspect of ferrocement engages the creative mind which stimulates skills and ideas that allow one to leap outside and beyond the traditional box shape.
Relocated old photographs and drawings finally became numerous enough to begin this evolving manual about house building. Many are copies which have gradually come to light over the last several decades. Most of the originals were lost in a series of natural disasters which occurred during the monsoons of 1995, in California. Life-long friends and family have provided enough material to assemble a manual which has been planned for a long time. Should you discover a few useful nuggets of insight here-in, compliment a friend; childhood friends grew to adults, started families and worked together to learn and develop the ferrocement techniques in this manual, true friends do surprisingly nice and interesting things, often when one least expects it. Friendship, fun, and healthy families are qualities of life that depend upon quality shelter which dry, sanitary, secure, and gives pride in oneÕs personal place, these are among the qualities of sculptured ferrocement shelter.
One problem with waiting so long to work on a project is so much happens in the interim; in this case, the subject grew and became more inclusive from life experience. Interconnections between ferrocement house building and the chronic social ill of poverty, for example, were made evident by experience and study. Those who wake up in the night pondering the laws of biology, chemistry and physics that forge a relationship between the gargantuan black hole at the center of the Milky Way, global climate change, and a sustainable society, will probably not be surprised by the intellectual muses which have not been removed from the text. Everyone else is urged to skim regions of text which spring from quiet meditation while tying hundreds of thousands of wire knots over a long lifetime of sculpting ferrocement armatures; study the pictures, they are arranged to present a foundation for your ideas under construction.
Comments and questions from readers are important because salient details may be included in drawings or photos yet still require textual attention; e.g., placing the actual structure on the inside of insulation material to provide mass which moderates temperature variation, as-well-as avoiding a possible matrix shattering temperature gradient. Suggestions for correction or clarification are always welcome, please contact ferrocement.com if you find a subject to be either incomplete or inaccurate.
Though there are specific construction details presented in this manual, additional discussion about subjects of technique, such as the order of tightening wire knots to avoid shape distortion, can be found in the ferrocement.com manual Construction of Ferrocement Tanks; it reads more like a cookbook and is good to have in hand during actual construction of any structure. The reservoir construction manual may also be purchased online; purchase books.
Ferrocement.com began as an electronic publisher of compiled ferrocement information which grew organically in a large California neighborhood with international roots. The author is the lone survivor from an era when the growth of structural ferrocement knowledge through artistic experience was finally and vigorously defeated by government officials whoÕs careers are based upon the abstract reduction of impromptu fun and artistic vision into mathematical codes and engineering formulae. Please note that this somewhat brackish life experience did not obscure this writerÕs understanding that many codes protect the environment from premeditated and self-serving greed of unscrupulous developers, as-well-as the occasional innocently over confident naivetˇ of the enthusiastic home builder.
Printed manuals grew from requests sent in to the ferrocement.com web site, updates are possible because printing occurs when inventory reaches zero. A mathematical fact of print publishing is that total pages must be divisible by four. This means that some versions of manuals which are still being worked on will have blank spots. This manual and the research manual for fiber reinforced cement materials remain works in process, some drafts are more obvious than others. A sculptorÕs ferrocement manual and the tank construction field manuals were thought to be in finale finished form until recently, the tank manual was expanded with a chapter for drawings which provide insight into armature change with volume and a chapter which introduces rainwater collection and storage. These topics are partially reproduced here.
Entropy, and Ecological Economics would be covered in greater depth in this manual except that economics is a subject that causes so many peopleÕs eyes to drift toward daydreams, additionally, introducing a more complete economic sustainability model based on quality rather than quantity would relegate the actual construction manual aspects to a secondary position. Still, economics is an analytical framework in this manual due to the unique philosophical musings which will naturally occur to any worker building a home that pays for itself over and over via maintenance and insurance savings which accrue to a structure that cannot be hurt by earthquake, fire, hurricane, rot, or termites. What kind of economic system occurs when housing pays for itself while forests rebound and externalized and off-the-books costs of pollution are replaced by beneficial external profits such as increased environmental and human health, ecotourism, education and a reduction in poverty? ItÕs an inevitable muse for one who builds beautiful, long-lived and very low cost shelter.
The positive contribution of ferrocement to distributional justice via low cost housing that beautifully fulfills the basic human need for shelter is an interesting direction from which to investigate writings about ecological economics. Chapter ten introduces refrigeration and heating so that the ferrocement builder might consider them from an inclusive structural design aspect rather than strictly as installed appliances. Entropy, described in the laws of thermodynamics, is shown there to be central to modern economic thought even though most economists have gone to great lengths to ignore its relevance, until recently. Why? Including the scientific structure of biology, chemistry and physics as the foundation that socioeconomic rules and theories rest upon questions some very basic social assumptions that thwart distributional justice, and the questions challenge accepted unjust distribution and pollution permissions without challenging ideas of freedom and free markets.
There is no rule anywhere that says shelter must be a fully commercialized arena for dog-eat-dog competitive acquisition and profit. Shelter which pays for itself via externalized profits opens one to consider new vistas of ecological economics and a definitional expansion of freedom which results from growing beyond primitive quantity needs to a modern quality based economy which includes Justice with Nature, Justice between Generations, and Justice for All who live together on Earth.
The drawing below was used in a series of court appearances to counter official County efforts to tear down my sod-roofed home. It was sociologically interesting, yet a little nerve wracking, during the 1980Õs, about 150 kilometers north and 15 years after a nearby government destroyed most of Sabato RodiaÕs smaller ferrocement sculptures but failed to demolish his large towers. Sabato Rodia built the Watts Towers, named, ironically, after an area in Los Angeles where government officials destroyed so much of his work. Sabato Rodia has left us now but the longevity of his ferrocement art still contributes to the philosophy of ecological economics and a sustainable culture based on quality rather than quantity. His work is a monument to grand fun as a valid reward of Life.