by Rob Longwell
GigaCrete
PlasterMax, a LEED qualified interior wall coating, was listed as a green
building material by Architectural Record and selected by BUILDERNews
magazine as a Best Products 2007 Winner.
The Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) certified GigaCrete PlasterMax as a Low-Emitting Listed Product. "The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute is an industry-independent, non-profit organization that oversees the GREENGUARD Certification ProgramSM. As an ANSI Authorized Standards Developer, GEI establishes acceptable indoor air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings."
In 2007, Popular Mechanics magazine awarded a Best in Green Design to panels made with GigaCrete hydraulic cement and waste materials.
Architect
Andrew Dennis is working to change how buildings have been construced
from wood for thousands of years. He's touting a new way to build,
with material that's strong enough to stop a speeding bullet or
withstand a
tropical hurricane, yet safe enough to eat.“Everyone
knows stucco cracks, concrete cracks, and we walk on it every day, we
accept
it, because that's normal,” Dennis says.
GigaCrete was conceived in the early 21st century by
British-born architect and industrial designer Andrew C. Dennis whose impetus
was to create cementitious green building materials that are strong and
lightweight. [4][5] Mr. Dennis is founder and chairman of this innovative green
and strong building material and method.
A Different Kind Of
Concrete
Worried about the massive energy costs
and carbon dioxide emissions of traditional cement, Dennis decided to quit his
day job and take on the task of inventing a new material. He spent three years
locked away designing the products he now calls “GigaCrete.”
A plug-and-play system, Dennis's
pre-fab walls are interlocking pieces not unlike legos: the system includes a
corner piece, a t-shape, and a straight panel, which all lock in place using
steel beams.
Steel beams lock inside pre-fabricated
wall forms, that will later be covered in GigaCrete stucco and plaster. (Photo:
GigaCrete, Inc.)
“Normally you frame the house, it looks
like a skeleton of sticks, and then you put insulation in between,” Dennis
says. “I've reversed it.”
A GigaCrete wall ready to be plastered
at the Pelican Point DaVita Dialysis center in Las Vegas (Credit: Daniel
Amster, Dakem & Associates, LLC)
With GigaCrete, the 'sticks' (ie.
steel) are on the inside, and insulation 'glues' the building together on the
outside.
The binder Dennis created using
seawater is non-toxic, fire-proof and edible, too (though probably not
delicious). Layered on a few coats thick, the plaster becomes a harder
“Ballisticrete:” a bulletproof wall.
The Pelican Point DaVita Dialysis
center in Las Vegas was built using the GigaCrete system. The center took eight
months to build, versus the 12-18 mo. for a traditional build. (Credit: Daniel
Amster, Dakem & Associates, LLC)
Weathering Storms...
And Bullets
What started as a vacation home model
has morphed into a quick-build system that's gaining traction across building
industries. Chains like DaVita DVA +0.55% Dialysis and Carl's Jr. have built
prototypes, and national forest ranger stations have taken interest as the
company's coatings are being applied on energy efficient schools across the country.
Dennis says he's spoken with governments
too: in Saudi Arabia (where builders are looking for super-insulated desert
homes) and here at home, The White House is looking at military applications.
“Only in the last few months I'm seeing
people get serious about it,” Dennis says.
While Dennis never did get around to
building that vacation home of his, some in storm-prone areas have used his
model. Ralph DeVane built a Giga-house in the Bahamas, that he reports holds up
"like a rock," even as powerful Hurricane Joaquin recently ripped
through, pummeling the island with 150 mile per hour winds. DeVane says his
waterproof vacation house initially cost him roughly 15 percent more than a
traditional cement-build. But now, he saves around $600 in cooling costs each
month.\
On February 14, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) challenged the homebuilding trade to construct 220,000 "high-performance" homes by 2012 that score 70 or lower on the EnergySmart Home Scale. To qualify as high-performance, a home must use 30%-or-less energy than a typical new home built per the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. In early 2009, Next Gen 09 LLC, in partnership with the DOE Builders Challenge program, built a high-performance 5,200-square-foot (480 m2) demonstration home outside Las Vegas, Nevada The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that GigaCrete PlasterMax was used as the interior-wall finish of that high-performance Las Vegas home.
Worried about the massive energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions of traditional cement, Dennis decided to quit his day job and take on the task of inventing a new material. He spent three years locked away designing the products he now calls “GigaCrete.”
A plug-and-play system, Dennis's pre-fab walls are interlocking pieces not unlike legos: the system includes a corner piece, a t-shape, and a straight panel, which all lock in place using steel beams.
“Normally you frame the house, it looks like a
skeleton of sticks, and then you put insulation in between,” Dennis says. “I've
reversed it.”
With GigaCrete, the 'sticks' (ie. steel) are on the inside, and insulation 'glues' the building together on the outside.
The binder Dennis created using seawater is non-toxic, fire-proof and edible, too (though probably not delicious). Layered on a few coats thick, the plaster becomes a harder “Ballisticrete:” a bulletproof wall.
On February 14, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) challenged the homebuilding trade to construct 220,000 "high-performance" homes by 2012 that score 70 or lower on the EnergySmart Home Scale. To qualify as high-performance, a home must use 30%-or-less energy than a typical new home built per the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. In early 2009, Next Gen 09 LLC, in partnership with the DOE Builders Challenge program, built a high-performance 5,200-square-foot (480 m2) demonstration home outside Las Vegas, Nevada The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that GigaCrete PlasterMax was used as the interior-wall finish of that high-performance Las Vegas home.
Worried about the massive energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions of traditional cement, Dennis decided to quit his day job and take on the task of inventing a new material. He spent three years locked away designing the products he now calls “GigaCrete.”
A plug-and-play system, Dennis's pre-fab walls are interlocking pieces not unlike legos: the system includes a corner piece, a t-shape, and a straight panel, which all lock in place using steel beams.
Steel
beams lock inside pre-fabricated wall forms, that will later be covered in
GigaCrete stucco and plaster. (Photo: GigaCrete, Inc.)
With GigaCrete, the 'sticks' (ie. steel) are on the inside, and insulation 'glues' the building together on the outside.
The binder Dennis created using seawater is non-toxic, fire-proof and edible, too (though probably not delicious). Layered on a few coats thick, the plaster becomes a harder “Ballisticrete:” a bulletproof wall.
GigaPanels are the components utilized in GigaHouse but may also be used in other forms of construction such as:
- Grow rooms, insulated Green houses for hydroponics, aquaponics
- Cold storage facilities
- Insulated Water Tanks
- Roofs
- Floors
- Lightweight balconies
- Garages
- RV/Motorhome garages
- Building wraps covering over existing walls with highly efficient insulation
- Military training facilities
- Relocatable structures
- Basement finishing
- Commercial infill partitions
- Tenant improvements
Green
building material
The Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) certified GigaCrete PlasterMax as a Low-Emitting Listed Product. "The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute is an industry-independent, non-profit organization that oversees the GREENGUARD Certification ProgramSM. As an ANSI Authorized Standards Developer, GEI establishes acceptable indoor air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings."
In 2007, Popular Mechanics magazine awarded a Best in Green Design to panels made with GigaCrete hydraulic cement and waste materials.
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