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Article #190: The Environmental Benefits of Inflatable Buildings

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In this age of increasing concern for the Since the textiles are supplied in roll
health of the planet it is more important form, the materials required for an
than ever to look at ways of minimising entire building can be transported in a
the long term impact of buildings upon single medium-sized van thereby
the environment and to investigate new minimising the effect of transporting raw
methods of sustainable construction. materials upon the environment.
A new kind of building technology is Thanks to initiatives such as the
emerging as an environmentally friendly TexyloopTM service pioneered by Ferrari
alternative to conventional building Textiles, the scrap material produced
methods. This technology produces during the manufacture of inflatable
structures which are highly efficient in buildings can be collected, recycled and
terms of the amount of material used in made into new composite textiles.
their construction, require no permanent The inflatable buildings produced by
foundations, can be relocated easily, and Tectoniks Ltd. have a long life
can recycled. expectancy but when they do eventually
The buildings in question are in fact a reach the end of their service they can
new generation of inflatable buildings. also be recycled using services such as
These are no ordinary inflatables Texyloop.
however. They are designed using the Another environmental benefit of
latest CAD technology and structural inflatable buildings is that they do not
analysis software and are constructed require permanent foundations.
from modern, fire retardant, composite Conventional buildings usually require
textiles which are cut and joined using concrete foundations which are permanent
techniques developed form aerospace and cannot be moved. An inflatable
manufacturing. This enables the buildings building would typically be anchored
to operate at higher pressures than using spiral anchors which are literally
conventional inflatable structures screwed into the ground. If a building
producing much stiffer, stronger needs to be relocated, the anchors are
structures. unscrewed and used again. The flooring
It's important at this point to make a used in the buildings is modular and can
distinction between air-supported be laid on top of the ground. It can also
buildings and inflatable buildings. A be re-used if the building is moved.
traditional air-supported building is one Once an inflatable building has been
which is comprised of a single layer moved, there is no lasting impact upon
membrane attached to the ground around the site where it used to be.
its perimeter. Air is blown under the Another important consideration when
membrane to lift it off the ground and assessing the environmental impact of a
form the shape of the building. building is the energy used throughout
An inflatable building on the other hand, its life. Because Tectoniks structures
uses two layers of membrane connected are of a welded construction (as opposed
together typically using spars made from to stitched), they are virtually air
the same material. The cavity formed tight. Conventional stitched inflatables
between the layers is pressurised with require high power electric blowers which
air producing a rigid structural element run constantly. Tectoniks structures
which allows large span structures to be require much smaller blowers which are
achieved. connected to a control system which only
The structures, pioneered by Tectoniks activates them when the pressure in the
Limited in the UK, are extremely weight structure falls below a certain level.
efficient and are highly portable yet The blowers then run for a few seconds to
they have the strength of metal-framed top up the pressure.
portable buildings and can be made into The low power requirement for these
virtually any shape. structures means that it is entirely
So what makes them so environmentally possible to use solar power to provide
friendly? Well, firstly, the majority of the electricity required for their
a finished inflatable building is made operation.
from fresh air. Analysis of a finished Inflatable buildings also have a natural
structure shows that the amount of level of insulation provided by the air
textile used represents only 0.5% of the contained within the walls. Tectoniks
volume of the structure. For example, one have also pioneered methods for adding
square metre of a 500mm thick inflatable additional insulation within the
wall has a volume of 0.5 cubic metres but inflatable walls. The insulation material
the quantity of fabric used in its is flexible and is packed up with the
construction is only 0.0025 cubic metres. building when deflated.
An inflatable building must surely be the If the environmental impact of a new
most efficient of all building types in building is a major concern, then the
terms of the amount of raw materials used benefits of using Tectoniks inflatable
compared to the volume of the finished structures are well worth consideration.
structure.






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