On Saturday, November 19, Architect Dante Bini will attempt to build a four-ton, 600 square foot house through the use of robots alone. Spurred by the recent Asian tsunami, New Orleans, Pakistan earthquake catastrophes, Bini has developed a super-low-cost self-erecting house that can be constructed in less than an hour and can be easily moved from location to location enabling emergency workers to build an entire temporary city in days.
This self-erecting house is the latest in Bini’s “Construction Animation” inventions. Bini first gained world recognition in 1967 when he used a robot to build a 50-foot tall concrete “Binishell” dome at Columbia University in less than two hours. Thirty years later, more than 1,500 Binishells stand in 23 countries throughout the world. Houses, schools, libraries, gyms, shopping malls – more reinforced concrete domes have been made using the Bini system than any other
method in history.
The low-cost Binishelter can be constructed out of bamboo, clay with natural fibers, wood, durock, steel; whatever material is at hand. The shelter can also be customized into two-story buildings that could house schools, or into to single-family homes, or even combined into massive housing projects, depending on the needs of the community.
In the event of a flood, Binishelter can be elevated over eight feet off the ground in minutes through a series of inflated “sausages” beneath the shelter. If properly engineered, it can be made to meet seismic standards as well.
Bini believes that the Binishelter will not only be of great use for emergency housing, but for the increasing urban homeless population throughout the world. The city-size slums of Rio de Janeiro, Bombay, and Nairobi are just a few examples. Right now, more than 1 billion people live in slums — 32% of the global urban population. This number is expected to double in the next 30 years.
Bini is also the inventor of a number of the self-erecting reinforced concrete structures: the Binishell, the Minishell, and the Binix, as well as self-erecting metal space frames – the Binistar. His patented systems have been used extensively around the world in at least 38 countries to date. For further information, contact Dante Bini at (707) 963-0769.
