For when everything isn't awesome
November 12, 2024 9:15 AM Subscribe
Mobile Crisis Construction is an Australian initiative to turn rubble back into homes, schools and hospitals in war-torn or disaster-hit countries like Ukraine. Its Lego-like MCC Crisis Blocks "employ simple technology that works with standard brick coursing height and length, and can be laid with unskilled labour due to their interlocking design". They need no mortar and are produced on site with a mobile factory housed in a shipping container, each of which can produce enough bricks for 5-10 homes in a week. The Perth-based charity has been funded by the local Ukrainian community.
That looks like a really great initiative. Thank you for sharing.
posted by many-things at 11:46 AM on November 12
posted by many-things at 11:46 AM on November 12
It's a great system and solves a lot of problems.
I think (pretty sure as land development is my speciality) the main reasons for lack of interest in building material recycling are:
Banks don't like loaning on anything with a less understood profile e.g. mixed recycled materials as feedstock (just like they don't like loaning on brownfield development). And insurance companies are the same but even less supportive of innovation in this sector. In my country there is also a lot of regulation (and deliberate Byzantine obfuscation) that renders many low-carbon / low-tech building innovations impossible.
The landfill industry gets dangerously jealous when people start taking 'their' materials. I know people who have been threatened with violence for proposing to recycle hard fill as it would take money from landfill 'profits'.
Many builders (both small, and huge companies) are very against using new technologies and ideas, e.g. systems that are alternatives to concrete foundations, and a lot of Passivhaus ideas and tech. One of the reasons for this afaict is that many builders are in closed-loop cartel economies. All of this is my experience in NZ (and some in the US and UK) but I doubt very much it's any less corrupt or dysfunctional elsewhere.
posted by unearthed at 12:06 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
I think (pretty sure as land development is my speciality) the main reasons for lack of interest in building material recycling are:
Banks don't like loaning on anything with a less understood profile e.g. mixed recycled materials as feedstock (just like they don't like loaning on brownfield development). And insurance companies are the same but even less supportive of innovation in this sector. In my country there is also a lot of regulation (and deliberate Byzantine obfuscation) that renders many low-carbon / low-tech building innovations impossible.
The landfill industry gets dangerously jealous when people start taking 'their' materials. I know people who have been threatened with violence for proposing to recycle hard fill as it would take money from landfill 'profits'.
Many builders (both small, and huge companies) are very against using new technologies and ideas, e.g. systems that are alternatives to concrete foundations, and a lot of Passivhaus ideas and tech. One of the reasons for this afaict is that many builders are in closed-loop cartel economies. All of this is my experience in NZ (and some in the US and UK) but I doubt very much it's any less corrupt or dysfunctional elsewhere.
posted by unearthed at 12:06 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
I have often wondered why rubble doesn't become bricks or concrete and I am happy someone with a more engineering mindset thought that too. Thank you for sharing!
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:12 PM on November 12
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:12 PM on November 12
These are pretty cool and well thought out. I wonder how much cement is used per block and how sensitive the machine is to water content. The bricks are naturally pretty dry and I wonder how they handle rubble feed stock that is saturated with rain water.
not sure why it appears to have taken till now to get somebody to try a Lego sorry Lay-go approach to real world construction.
There are lots of concrete and Concrete Masonry Units (CMUs / cinder blocks) that interlock and can be dry stacked wall high. Both proposed and in production. In the US/Canada you've probably seen Allen block used for retaining walls as one common example. A search for interlocking CMU blocks will return a cornucopia of different designs.
The shipable block plant producing smaller blocks handleable by most people is good engineering but I'd bet done many times before. Heck here are plans and instructions to make your own small scale block plant with the sort of resources a typical small scale farmer might have that I previously linked to.
posted by Mitheral at 8:44 PM on November 12
not sure why it appears to have taken till now to get somebody to try a Lego sorry Lay-go approach to real world construction.
There are lots of concrete and Concrete Masonry Units (CMUs / cinder blocks) that interlock and can be dry stacked wall high. Both proposed and in production. In the US/Canada you've probably seen Allen block used for retaining walls as one common example. A search for interlocking CMU blocks will return a cornucopia of different designs.
The shipable block plant producing smaller blocks handleable by most people is good engineering but I'd bet done many times before. Heck here are plans and instructions to make your own small scale block plant with the sort of resources a typical small scale farmer might have that I previously linked to.
posted by Mitheral at 8:44 PM on November 12
I wonder how much cement is used per block and how sensitive the machine is to water content.
In one of the videos (the second link here) they say the mix is 50% rubble, 40% clay and 10% cement, so it does have moisture; the pressing does the rest, I guess. The clay and cement would have to be sourced locally, but it would still be a big saving in materials and would help clear the rubble at the same time.
posted by rory at 1:54 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
In one of the videos (the second link here) they say the mix is 50% rubble, 40% clay and 10% cement, so it does have moisture; the pressing does the rest, I guess. The clay and cement would have to be sourced locally, but it would still be a big saving in materials and would help clear the rubble at the same time.
posted by rory at 1:54 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
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posted by rongorongo at 9:37 AM on November 12