Innovative Sheltering 1 - Bamboo and Ferro-cement for emergency shelter

shelter and world peace
organic fiber reinforcement in mud
turns into steel and ferrocement
small pup tent with cement on it, using strings to hold it up while the cement dries
cement over a wicker chair, etc.
process
- soak cloth in water
- lay out on the ground, covered in acrylic and cement using a brush
- or you can do it in a vat
- cloth is carried, on a roll, while the cement is still wet
- it is rolled out over the roof (timber frame)
- the acrylic on the outer skin dries fast, making the surface non-sticky to work with. very surprising.
- it's like a very lazy skinning process, more like working with a sail than doing heavy construction.
- by keeping the cement enclosed in plastic for 28 days, it gets a chance to cure fully
- the wood supports are enclosed with more cement cloth
- when it finally dries the wooden poles are really no longer necessary - the cement forms a hollow girder
- or you can use a mould, so that the roof pieces are fabricated with the supporting shapes in place
  - really lots of different ways to do it, a little confusing at times!
- cheap materials, labor intensive processes, good deal of room for families to design their own homes
you can do industrial fabrication where you make roof panels in an industrial mould, with the roof pieces designed to fit inside of each other when stacked (like chairs or egg cartons do) for high shipping densities
now bamboo
- roof truss - bamboo truss, fairly ordinary profile, with the bamboo lashed in place with jute fiber
in future, people will be in a world where the easy materials are gone - the easy copper has been extracted, the easy iron has already been extracted - and if we can help the poor get housing now, we can expect long term benefits
Presenter asks the audience: how do we take these solutions and take them out into the world, to help people live better, to help stabilize lives in the villages
- Answer (from Vinay): agree on stabilizing people in the villages, quick discussion of agriculture, agreement that ferrocement is wonderful
- Somebody else (the Africa issues economist from the voice, I can't be sure): we need to know if it is cost effective
Small businesses doing light manufacturing using ferrocement
- general discussion of distributed manufacturing as a Good Thing
All of his information is online, and he does project support by email.

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Created	November 21, 2007 by Vinay Gupta
Last edit	November 27, 2025 by StandardWikitext bot
Cite as	Vinay Gupta (2007–2025). "Innovative Sheltering 1 - Bamboo and Ferro-cement for emergency shelter". Appropedia. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
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