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How to design a house to last 1000 years

constructionphysics.substack.com

331–340 of 402 posts

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#331
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Construction seriously depends on location. However, the simplest solution if you want high insulation factors is to have a second air tight structure with an air gap to your brickwork. Just make sure to properly ventilate that air gap. The same approach can then be used on a slate roof. Essentially you end up with a home inside a shell. There are several advantages to such structures such a potentially great sound i…

>Essentially you end up with a home inside a shell. Which then works against the headline design goal: a house that lasts for 1000 years. How many times would you need to rip down and replace the interior shell? How much more difficult would be demolition if you can't use large equipment and smash the whole lot flat, but instead doing by hand from inside, carefully avoiding damage to the outside shell?

First it’s the system used in the article in part because it’s easy to modify brick structures. Anyway, it depends on your design goals. For a hypothetical 1,000 year home you could have an inner shell of any long lived material including wood which could last that long inside a dry shell as long as you can avoid insect damage.

That said, the real trick to a 1,000 year home is making something that people want to actually use for the next thousand years to avoid it getting replaced rather than the weather or minimal maintenance issues. Because frankly that’s the real threat, which suggests going for something interesting might beat pure utility. An ideal location might be enough but a hook like artistic frescos, intricate stonework, unusual architecture, famous occupant etc could also get you over the hump until the buildings age inherently becomes a draw.

PS: Don’t forget flexibility needs to be part of the design. Electricity, central heating, phone service, AC, and eventually the internet are all relatively recent inventions. I can only assume plenty more systems are going to become normal in the next 1,000 years.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#332
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fascinating how culture has effects on architecture. So many older American homes have small kitchens that are separate from a formal dining room. Historically, a family member or cook would be making food separately, out of the way, and then it was presented in the dining room. Today, everyone wants a kitchen that's integrated with the dining area. Cooking has been culturally elevated – people don't feel like t…

This is super funny to me. I just bought a house where the kitchen is separate. My parents, and my mother-in-law were all like... "you can knock down the wall and bring the rooms together"... and I was like: "hell no. As if I want a bunch of kids playing tag while I'm chopping things with sharp knives and running around with burning oil." ...Leave me alone to cook an awesome meal in peace. I'm working in there not me…

I'm actually designing a new house and was surprised at the resistance I'm getting from the builders/architects in having a kitchen which is out of the way of the rest of the house. Like you, I'm not interested in dumping hot oil all over a kid/dog/mother who decides to run through the kitchen despite the blockade I set up to keep them out.

That, and kitchens require so much maintenance to keep clean and presentable. I hate how my entire house feels dirty because it's visible from any public spot in the house that I didn't get around to cleaning a few pans the night before.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I had an unlimited budget at some point on the price scale you can just build a titanium cast for a house and pour molten rocks in, probably a basalt. what's the yield strength of igneous rocks? maybe the roof need to be arched.

Titanium is quite expensive though; a house made from titanium likely would be broken up and stolen for the scrap value.

Titanium would be the mould of the cast, you remove it once the basalt set

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I had an unlimited budget at some point on the price scale you can just build a titanium cast for a house and pour molten rocks in, probably a basalt. what's the yield strength of igneous rocks? maybe the roof need to be arched.

Maybe tungsten molds instead?

yes, sorry, got the terms switched around apparently

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I had an unlimited budget at some point on the price scale you can just build a titanium cast for a house and pour molten rocks in, probably a basalt. what's the yield strength of igneous rocks? maybe the roof need to be arched.

Titanium is quite expensive though; a house made from titanium likely would be broken up and stolen for the scrap value.

An artist friend of mine back in the `90's made a series of sculptures, which they intentionally created to last for hundreds of years, out of plywood and bondo since it has no scrap resale value :) Each sculpture was also fitted to it's own storage crate, so that it could just be packed up and forgotten.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#337
post #98

This is a very odd design document and it makes me think this author has thought a lot about materials and buildings but not actually built anything . The steel moment frame, to someone with shallow knowledge, sounds so strong and resilient . But in fact, a rigid steel structure is more vulnerable to seismic (and even wind) loads than wooden framing which can flex and move and dampen those loads naturally. The stainl…

I think you must have skimmed some parts. He isn’t burring steel into the ground. It’s only to be used inside the buildings shell and above the foundation. Thus it’s generally going to stay dry and mostly avoid significant corrosion issues, especially considering the generous safety factor suggested.

The foundation is concrete piles to bedrock supporting a floating concrete foundation. Clearly that limits building locations, but plenty of places have bedrock reasonably close to the surface.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#338
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya. I'm very curious about this kind of stuff. And now especially "activhaus" ideas. Being a software guy, probably from envy. Ages ago, I started remodeling while my Belgian coworker (working from Belgian) started his new home construction. My house in the USA Pacific Northwest is timber framed with tar shingle roof. Coworker's house, IIRC, was block walls and ceramic roof. My house so temporary, their house built f…

Arcosanti is a lot of concrete, as I recall.

Ya, no longer ideal. I'm keen to see what replacements people come up with. Like hempcrete, packed earth.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a case of "more western home". What you see as a "more western home" is a more energy efficient outer shell. Which just happens to be fairly universal.

I agree on that, although there are residential homes in Japan that implement energy efficient outer shell, while still keeping the Machiya look. There definitely is a preference in Japanese society for western style homes.

As a Japanese, I think modern houses in Japan as just a "house" rather than "western style house". That's the default rather than preference. Traditional Japanese style house isn't an option for most people. Cost and insulation would be a big reason.

Re: How to design a house to last 1000 years

#340
post #337
post #98

This is a very odd design document and it makes me think this author has thought a lot about materials and buildings but not actually built anything . The steel moment frame, to someone with shallow knowledge, sounds so strong and resilient . But in fact, a rigid steel structure is more vulnerable to seismic (and even wind) loads than wooden framing which can flex and move and dampen those loads naturally. The stainl…

I think you must have skimmed some parts. He isn’t burring steel into the ground. It’s only to be used inside the buildings shell and above the foundation. Thus it’s generally going to stay dry and mostly avoid significant corrosion issues, especially considering the generous safety factor suggested. The foundation is concrete piles to bedrock supporting a floating concrete foundation. Clearly that limits building lo…

The point you are replying to is that stainless steel is unnecessary, because 'normal' steel will ast more than 1000 years in the conditions described.
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