[P2P-F] tube hotels

Thu Jul 14 14:36:42 CEST 2011

fyi

  Topic: More Tube
Hotels<http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing/t/a1d0afa979293621>
Eric Hunting <erichunting at gmail.com> Jul 13 01:33PM -0600
^<?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl4rw8mbn4#13128a1ad7b04799_digest_top>

Some here may remember the Dasparkhotel in Germany that cleverly converted
precast concrete tubes into little minimalist cabins.

http://www.dasparkhotel.net/

Now a hotel in Mexico has copied this idea with a few nice alterations.

http://www.tubohotel.com/welcome/

This brings to mind the Snail Shell system of N55;

http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/SNAIL_SHELL_SYSTEM/SSS.html

And an experiment done some years ago by Australian Antarctic researchers in
adapting rotomolded HDPE tanks into polar shelters by adding a door and a
formed-in layer of PE foam;

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/field-operations/tents-shelters-and-huts/larger-shelters/tank-huts

The Snail Shell was pretty cool but a bit too small for anything but a fun
experiment. It lacked any insulation and the tiny manway was difficult for
most people. Still this picture (
http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/SNAIL_SHELL_SYSTEM/SSSquintus.jpg) was worth that
whole project.

The tank huts were much larger and much more sophisticated and insulated
well enough to withstand Antarctica. But, while much easier than a lot of
shelters used there, they were still rather unwieldy without some lifting
equipment and a little too hermetic, leading to condensation and ventilation
issues.

Suppose you rotomolded a tube with integral insulation as the tank huts used
but more like these hotel cabins in form, with integral mounts for bed/floor
decks and other fixtures inside, a recess to mount door/window frames of
wood or aluminum like the Mexican hotel cabins, and on the outside some
wheel ridges and recesses for plastic chock-blocks and tie-downs. I'd make
them a little bit longer than the 8' or 2.5m long hotel cabins to provide a
larger front standing space -maybe 3m.

In a relief context, these would be pretty versatile. You would be able to
pack a tough quick-deployed highly insulated, extremely weather-resistant
shelter into a rolling and stackable package made of mostly recycled
materials using a simple mass production fabrication process. You could
install integral LED lighting and shelving and pack flex cell solar power,
supplies, and other deployable gear in the open volume and under the bed
deck. With both ends framed, you get cross-flow ventilation with openable
screens and windows and quick mounting of heat pumps or mini-stoves. They
would be very easy to transport because they are lighter and smaller than
ISO containers, could float, be dropped by air (maybe even parachute), and
could be dragged by people or trucks using a rick-shaw-like frame (remember
the draggable water containers?), and could be deployed in side-by-side
stacks. The design could also incorporate accordion fold laminate paper
shades on the ends and arch, dome, or cone shaped shade roof units to group
clusters or rows. The tubes could also be specially made for certain uses,
like toilets, showers, dry storage or water storage tanks, kiosks, kitchens,
and centralized power/communications units. For instance, turning a unit
vertical, adding a portal, and partitioning the upper 1/3 of the height
would make a nice simple solar shower, the upper section serving as a tank
with a heat absorbing lid. Or a larger public shower installation could use
a stack of three units, with the upper unit as water tank and the two lower
ones as walk-through shower rooms with shower hear rows along the top. After
the initial emergency situation, these structures could be endlessly
re-purposed or recycled whole to make other products locally.

In the non-relief context, I think these would also make for economical
vacation cabins suited to winter climates, homeless shelters, capsule hotels
at airports, worker housing, storage and work sheds, guest rooms, garden
pavilions, yoga huts, farm animal shelters, kids play-houses (personal space
capsule?), kiosks, giant composters, marina float modules, and telecom
vaults. While the basic shelters would use the tubular profile to let them
roll for transportability, the profile need not be round for other
applications. For instance, it could have a box, hex, octagon, flat bottomed
circle, or even the classic pitched roof house profile and these could be
made in short stackable self-sealing sections for custom lengths and easier
handling. So the production capability could be justified by these many
non-relief applications.

Eric Hunting
erichunting at gmail.com

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