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| We made our first ferrocement dome for Gurudwara Brahm Bunga, Doraha near Ludhiana in Oct. 2004. The 22 ft dia dome is only 30 mm thick and is perched at a height of 90 feet on top of the temple building. With God's grace and invaluable help from friends on the ferrocement mailing list, the project was completed in 4 weeks starting from fabrication of the armature trusses to the final skin plaster ( a single one-shot operation). 18 masons worked from 7 am till 6 pm on the plastering day along with a similar number of labourers conveying the concrete.The High Strength, High Durability Ferrocement recipe had, among other ingredients - my favourite one - A high content of Fly ash! The new-born baby was immediately wrapped in an impermeable HDPE sheet and put on drip-curing under intensive care for a month |
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| My first Ferrocement Dome |
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| My friends at the Ferrocement Educational Network - a great internet discussion group, were extremely helpful and shared freely. Nolan and Paul - invited me for the next convention - ITSA-05 in Oregon, USA, to present my experiences with the fc dome. The convention was indeed one of the best such gatherings I have ever attended. A few pictures in this gallery. On the same 45 day trip -we visited a good portion of US and Canada. One of the memorable spots was the Athabasca glacier in Canada where elaborate displays of the glacier as it is are compared with pictures of the glacier in 1940 clearly showing the effects of Global Warming. The following are links to some great Ferrocement works and their creators - a treat for Ferrocement explorers.. |
| International Thin-Shell Association -Concrete Thin Shell Structures-- with further links to great FC freaks
http://itsacommunity.org/ Mortar Sprayer - Nolan was the million dollar host of ITSA-05 nd treated me as his personal guest in his famous castle in Oregon. He sells small mortar sprayers which are ideal for spraying small thin shell structures and for plastering walls. http://www.mortarsprayer.com Enersearch - by Bo Atkinson - Bo is agreat inventor - and has a magic wand which can turn trash into fancy tools of the trade. http://harmoniouspalette.com/ The Dirt Cheap Builder - Ms. Charmaine Taylor/ Taylor Publishing good source for alternative building techniques and materials from ...... no, not as the name suggests. http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com Pacific Gunite - owned by Peter Epperson - A good friend and an expert at FC tanks http://www.pacificgunite.com Steve Kornher - Some excellent imaginative FC work http://www.flyingconcrete.com Felix Candela - A Spanish engineer / architect who took Ferrocement to great heights. http://www.google.com/images?q=Felix+Candela http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Los_Manantiales.html |
| My first Ferrocement Dome |
| Smart Technologies |
| Smart Technologies |
| G-27 SAKET, N. Delhi - 110017 sing.tp@gmail.com |
| Trusses were prefabricated on simple jigs |
| The dome sits at 90 feet above ground level on top of the temple |
| The truss armature in place |
| Curing in ICU |
| Plastering with High Performance mix |
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| Hoop Steel being tied around trusses |
| GI Meshes over the armature |
| Work - Platforms |
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