one of the most interesting and
potentially life-changing developments
is the creation of a concrete canvas is
basically a material that consists of
all the elements of concrete's but it's
flexible enough to be turned into any
shape however once it's been submerged
in water and given time to set it
becomes completely solid now the
implications of this new technology are
far-reaching because it's going to allow
people to erect permanent structures but
in a fraction of the time that it would
have done using traditional building
techniques the concrete canvas begins
life in waterproof plastic sheeting for
easy transportation inside the canvas is
wrapped around an inflatable lining
which will be blown up to create a
building 50 square meters in size but
first water must be piped inside the
package to start the process of
dampening the cloth should take about
eight hundred two thousand liters right
but essentially there's no measuring you
just fill the SAC the concrete cloth is
made up of fibers which evenly absorb
water until all of the cloth is
saturated the inspiration came from the
plaster casts wrapped around broken
bones in hospitals
once the cloth is completely soaked the
process of hydration begins and the
plastic casing can be removed at this
point there's a window of around five
hours for the canvas to be raised into
its final position before the concrete
starts to set the only other bit of gear
you need is something to drag out the
cloth so it's completely unfolded before
it's inflated I still can't imagine what
it's going to look
believe that little blower is lifting
that weight it's amazing isn't it the
speed with which this technology can be
used may allow huge improvements in how
the world reacts to humanitarian crises
a concrete canvas building has good
thermal properties so whatever's inside
is kept either cool or warm and it can
even provide a sterile environment for
surgery yeah I didn't realize I'm gonna
be balls on it has it got a door
goodness me you thought of everything
didn't you you can actually get in it
and just a day later it's ready to walk
in and use it's strong enough to stand
on in here hammer blows and even the
heat from a blowtorch