[p2p-research] Fwd: modular p2p architecture, from eric hunting

[Michel Bauwens]

Anyway, here is a short reviews for the HIB you noted. I couldn't produce
one for the other site because it appears to be a racket of some sort. The
'open source' plans can be looked it in basic details but they ask hundreds
of dollars each for their document packages. The 'free green' housing cannot
be examined at all without a $100 a year subscription fee. Good luck with
that particular business model... I'm also working on an article for the
other We Make Money Not Art article.

The HIB Modular Building System - http://www.hib-system.com/

The notion of a 'lego-like' method of building has long been an ideal among
the inventors of modular building systems -going back longer than there was
even a lego toy to use as an analogy. Inventors have long sought the
'superior brick' which could eliminate the rather variable skills of the
mason, link together strongly with higher precision, be cheap and well
suited to industrial mass production, and be very easy to handle and quick
to assemble so as to make the prospects of DIY building much easier and
safer. Until recent times most attempts to accomplish this have been
failures, the key problems being the elaborateness of mechanical interfaces
relative to small block sizes and the weather-tightness of large numbers of
joints. Generally, the concept of mechanical interfacing of building
components tends to work more effectively when components of a structure are
larger than bricks or blocks -at least on the scale of wall and floor panels
where the complexity and cost of a mechanical interface method is spread
over a larger unit area/volume of structural element. Many have, in recent
years, held out hope of the 'intelligent brick' enabled by integral
nanotechnology that can knit bricks and other building elements together as
if by digitally controlled velcro at a molecular level, though that sort of
thing may remain far in the future.

The German developed HIB system represents a much less fanciful contemporary
approach to the notion of the superior brick that appears to take some of
the aspects of Structural Insulated Panels and apply them to a block-size
unit with a simple method of interface and made with some unique non-toxic
and green materials. The result is a very flexible, easy-to-handle,
mass-produced building element that is specifically intended for the DIY
home builder. However, it is not without limitations and falls somewhat
short of the ideal of lego-like construction.

The HIB building unit is a wood composite block composed of conventional
lumber and engineered lumber plates linked together internally by dovetail
joints and some low-toxic adhesives. The standardized block units fit
together with tongue-and-groove edge joints and are locked to each other by
joint plates held by wood screws. Assembly is quick and simple but special
care must be taken in precision with base plates for walls, at corners, and
at portal and upper floor deck interfaces. Blocks come with a variety of
'foundation' panel materials pre-applied to their exterior sides along withe
permeable membranes and in types/widths for interior and exterior walls.
They feature some unique insulation materials made of clay-soaked wood chips
mixed with ground mussel shell, hemp fiber, pea shingle, and blown
cellulose. The blocks are, individually, sophisticated pieces of woodwork
made-to-order and one hopes their production is totally automated, otherwise
they would be impossibly expensive. And individual modest sized house might
use many hundred of these blocks.

A key limitation of the system is that it's labor-savings virtues are
incomplete, which severely limits its intended potential as a DIY building
system. The modularity begins and ends with the wall construction while
everything else -foundation, floor decking, roofing- relies on conventional
construction methods. In one construction photo they show the use of
commercial steel floor joists in a relatively small demonstration home,
which would certainly be beyond the means of the DIY builder. Though the
system offers blocks with a plasterboard cladding, all finishing is
otherwise conventional, the exterior of homes needing siding and interior
needing plastering, paint, paneling, etc. A common mistake of alternative
building systems developers is to focus exclusively on labor savings of
primary construction. But most of the actual labor and skill overhead -and
hence most of the cost- in home construction is in utilities system
installation and interior finishing.

But the single greatest limitation of this building system is its lack of
demountability, which makes the lego-like analogy very tenuous. Though its
screwed-together interface between blocks makes for a strong structure, it
cannot be disassembled and reused later. There is much better potential for
'surgical demolition' with screwed assembly than with nails, but removed
parts cannot be reused. It remains only as adaptable as conventional wood
frame or SIP construction. Renovation and adaptation will still produce much
landfill waste, even if it's more environmentally benign. So the system
still perpetuates the old fallacy of permanent architecture, which makes
steadily decreasing contemporary sense.

Despite these caveats, the HIP system is still an impressive attempt at the
ideal of lego-like modular building. It may still have a long way to go in
order to approach that ideal, but it's one of the best attempts at it to
date. It may not suit the majority of DIY builders in terms of construction
ease, but it could aid many. And the developers' recognition of the
importance of reducing housing toxicity and recycling natural materials is a
breakthrough for the generically primitive building industry in itself.






Eric Hunting
erichunting at gmail.com



On Sep 4, 2009, at 10:36 PM, Michel Bauwens wrote:


> Dear Eric,
>
> it has been a while we have not published any of your stellar
> contributions, what have you been up to?
>
> here are 2 items, I think they are quite important if not seminal of trends
> to come, that I'd like you to comment on and refer to in our blog, if
> possible:
>
> = http://www.springwise.com/eco_sustainability/hibsystem/
>
> - http://springwise.com/homes_housing/free_plans_for_eco_homes/
> --
> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Research:
> http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html - Think thank:
> http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>
> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>
> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>
> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>
>
>
>
>




-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Research:
http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org

Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
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