Gigloo (geodesic igloo project) Project - portable insulated shelter - hard shell tent

[Rick Williams]

Dear fellow dome makers. I have been a silent member of this site for a number of years and have learned from and enjoyed all your contributions.

 

I have been working on a project for some 5 years now would love to have some of your thoughts on the subject.

Link to Picassa photos of prototype

sketchup design and panel cut layout

Modified design

 

The Gigloo Project is a open source project to develop a hard shell tent that is light weight, insulated, low cost, portable and reusable for the purpose of withstanding a large range of extreme environments. The Gigloo seeks to expand the options and improve the capabilities provided by current membrane tent structures while retaining the light weight and portable qualities.

 

The Gigloo project came from a inspiration to improve on the disaster relief tent shelters that often do little to sufficiently insulate and shelter the occupants from extremes in heat, cold, rain, snow, wind, and dust. The concept was born out of a compassion watching disaster relief programs set up tents for displaced families. Imagine living for months in a tent during the monsoon season in Haiti or the harsh winters of the Afghanistan or the scorching heat of Africa. Tent structures cannot withstand for any length of time the extremes of weather that many people live in.

 

I have been using my prototypes with great success on family camping trips to the high Sierras and excursions to Burningman. If there was ever a location to test harsh environments… Burningman is it. The alkaline salt lake bed where burningman is located provides a extreme environment of high winds and dust storms, scorching heat, and cold nights. The Gigloo has been a haven compared to the tent structures. 

 

The key innovative ideas are:

 

1. I borrowed from the traditional igloo concept in that the insulation materials are also the structural materials that make up the dome. In the case of a traditional eskimo igloo there is only one material used for insulation, paneling and structural integrity... snow blocks. I have been using rigid closed cell blue foam panels reinforced with fiberglass and epoxy as the only construction material. The closed cell foam has unique qualities of having a high insulation coefficient while being extremely light and structurally sound.
2. The panels are modular and stackable to allow quick and easy of construction, portability, and re-usability.
3. The nature of the foam construction allows ease of modification. It is a simple task to cut through the foam to install a heater, air-conditioner, windows, doors, shelves...etc. The hard shell and structural qualities of a dome allow installations of solar panels, solar ovens, and water catchment systems to be attached as needed.

 

Some of the design criteria are:

 

• Use of minimal material and waste byproducts
• Environmental friendly and/or recycled materials
• Simple do-it-yourself design that can be constructed from standard hardware materials without the use of specialized manufacturing techniques.
• Ten year life span

• Under 50 Kilograms for a 4 meter diameter dome.

• Portable and modular such that the panels can be placed in a 1 meter cube.

• Foldable and stackable to allow for ease and speed of construction.

 

 

So far I have been using standard 3V geodesic design. The prototype is a constructed from hexagons and pentagons panels with tongue and groove edges attached at the apex's as seen in the attached photos. As you can see in the cutting diagrams, there is very little waste of material. I saw one dome being constructed with a single triangle panel being cut from a 4'x8' sheet of plywood, this was a tremendous and unnecessary waste of material. 

 

The current problem:

The 1st prototype panels are a bit too large to easily transport. In an effort to maximize its compatibility, I have spent many hours on sketchup trying to get the panels to fold. I have not come up with a triangular panel design that fold into easily into a compact form. This is were I could use some help and ideas to make the second prototype.

 

The next design I am playing with is a square panel design that will be much more foldable. I will post the sketchup design when I am completed with it. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

Take good care,

Rick Williams

[norm...@gmail.com]

hello Rick,  let me first say thanks for posting your project and the pictures.

For your question on folding pieces.  I'm still thinking about the folding part but one option would be to split the hexagons and pentagons like Bruce Hauman does in his 'frameless geodesic dome': http://rigsomelight.com/2013/09/09/frameless-geodesic-dome.html  go down to the section of the website called laying out the hexagons and take look at the photos.  Your pentagons seem like they are already a workable size so maybe a person could just 'split' the hexagons.

Would it be possible for you to show a close up photo of the tongue and groove system?  How is it doing after multiple putups/takedowns?  Do you have any leaks up top?

I'm intrigued by your fiberglass over blue insulation.  This reminds me of John Warren's Turtle dome.  I'm attaching a few pics that John sent me because I couldn't find many pics of it.  This is what he wrote about the turtle dome:

"Prior to working with Buckminster Fuller on the Fly's Eye domeprojects, I hand-built Turtle Domes. These were a shingled, hexagon-pentagon, 3-frequency molded fiberglass panel structure. They weighed about 200 lb. and took a couple of guys 1/2 hour to assemble. There was a built-in locking ring on each panel so they snapped together without additional fasteners. These domes were 14' in diameter and were used for temporary shelter. They were quite portable."

I don't have any fiberglass experience, what kind of costs are we talking about there say per pentagon or hexagon?

Have you considered a wall covering over the foam on the inside?  Like that wall covering they use in commercial bathrooms?

best of luck and thanks again for sharing 

[Gerry in Quebec]

Rick,

 

Interesting project. Here are three links that may be of interest to you, since your Gigloo is intended to help victims of disasters. The info there, however, doesn't relate to your specific question about folding triangles; rather, it's mostly about design criteria.

 

   http://www.sphereproject.org/

 

   http://www.sphereproject.org/resources/download-publications/?search=1&keywords=&language=English&category=22

(This is where you can download the Sphere Handbook.)

 

   http://www.sphereproject.org/learning/e-learning-course/elearning-trailer/

 

The term "Sphere Project" has nothing to do with geodesic domes; it's simply the name of a global initiative to set standards for disaster relief, including design and construction of emergency shelter. The pertinent part of the Sphere Handbook is chapter 4, pages 211-229.  It may help you with your design criteria.

 

Here's a description of the Sphere Project and handbook:

 

"The Sphere Project is a voluntary initiative that brings a wide range of humanitarian agencies together around a common aim - to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and the accountability of humanitarian actors to their constituents, donors and affected populations."

 

"The Sphere Handbook, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, is one of the most widely known and internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in life-saving areas of humanitarian response."

 

One last point, supporting Ashok's idea about not being a slave to earlier geometry: Let the design criteria, especially the needs of the people who will live in the shelters, determine the size and shape. A 3v icosa dome, just a few metres in diameter, may not be the best solution.

 

- Gerry in Quebec

[Gerry in Quebec]

Rick,

The page references I mentioned for the shelter section of the Sphere Handbook are for the 2004 edition. The latest edition was published in 2011 and the relevant pages are 239-267.

- Gerry

[Dick Fischbeck]

related links-

http://www.sheltercentre.org/home

http://www.sheltercentre.org/sites/default/files/20120522_tsg_onlinedoc_0.pdf

http://worldshelters.org/home

   http://www.sphereproject.org/

 

   http://www.sphereproject.org/resources/download-publications/?search=1&keywords=&language=English&category=22

(This is where you can download the Sphere Handbook.)

 

   http://www.sphereproject.org/learning/e-learning-course/elearning-trailer/

 

[Ashok Mathur]

Dear Rick,
Here is another panel based dome that can serve as a shelter. It has no cutting waste.
http://www.starship-enterprises.net/IcosaDodeca/Index.html
Regards
Ashok

[Rick Williams]

Wow... thanks guys. You are the best. Gives me more info to chew on. I am working on Prototype II and will sketchup design asap. Take good care, 

Rick Williams

[Rick Williams]

I have revamped our geodesic igloo and I thought I would share our new design if anyone is interested to make their own. 
Here is what I came up with... a coroplastic spiral dome inspired by the zome crew. I have been designing and reworking the zome concept to a nice living space out of 10 sheets of 4'x8' 6mm coroplastic. Here are a few pictures of sketchup design, models, and attachment mechanisms.

[norm...@gmail.com]

Nice looks good.  My focus has also been on zomes lately too.

so that is a zome 10 then?

what do you anticipate the final dimensions to be?

Any concerns on water leaking with that type of connection system?

[norm...@gmail.com]

this should be interesting.  I've also got a zome planned with around 10 sheets of coroplast.  look forward to seeing more of your work and thank you for sharing

[norm...@gmail.com]

Hi again, did you end up building one of these?

[Rick Williams]

yes I did. Here is a link to the zome design page: 

https://www.facebook.com/GiglooGeodesicIgloo

It work fantastic. Better than I could have imagined.

[Drop Shevnin]

ALTERNATIVE are more easily http://www.nkj.ru/archive/articles/21847/

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С Уважением, Юрий

[norm...@gmail.com]

Hey again Rick

Thanks for the pictures and for the facebook link

Do you have any pictures of the door?  Or is that the door in the pic with the xmas lights? (couple flaps left open)

I'd like to hear more if you want to share your experiences with setting this up and it's use at burning man vs the geodesic igloo you made the previous year.

What is the pole in the pic of you (?) at the top of the dome with your arms spread?

Any thoughts on having the connecting flaps on the inside?

thanks

[Rick Williams]

The door needs some work. It is just flaps cut into the panels. It could use some designing to be sturdier and more functional. 

The xmas lights are actually a laser projected onto the zome. the coroplastic acts like a lamp and so works well with lights. Plenty of inside lighting during the day from the diffused light from the sun.

I used bolts to hold the panel flaps together. Next time I would use velco for time and efficiency. The bolts work fine, but take a while to put together.

The central pole is just for construction. Because the panels are so floppy and oriented in a spiral, I found that suspending the panels from a central pole while bolting them together worked pretty good. I think putting it together like a closing flower would work better next time. Starting from the bottom in a full circle and closing to the top.

Connecting the flaps on the inside would be fine, however, I wanted a smooth surface to live in, so I put them on the outside. It would be much more water and dust proof if they are on the inside. let me know if you want to make one. happy to give you plans and chat on the phone.

Rick

[Rick Williams]

Hello Yuri,

Thank you for your reply. I have seen some of these beautiful house zome.

rick

[Drop Shevnin]

Hi Rick.

collaboration and cooperation resources and technologies http://domesworld.ru/ + geodesichelp?

[rickwill...@gmail.com]

How is your zone building going?

Rick Williams

Vital Health Center

On Aug 14, 2014, at 11:35 AM, norm...@gmail.com wrote:

this should be interesting.  I've also got a zome planned with around 10 sheets of coroplast.  look forward to seeing more of your work and thank you for sharing

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[Rick Williams]

Here a little time lapse of the Zome Home gigloo building project

http://youtu.be/Sv4mNAAE0eg

[Azafran]

https://youtu.be/wLwqUjXph2s