trip to kenaf industries

Click on the title above to see photos of Robert's and Ed's June 17th visit to Kenaf Industries in Raymondville, TX.

half-scale prototype construction

Two weeks in June were spent designing, fabricating and erecting a half-scale prototype of the second-generation of our emergency shelter (see Scott's rhino model at the top of the blog). To see photos of the process click on the post title above.

fact-finding mission to south texas

Finding themselves in Austin, Texas for a conference (American Society of Engineering Educators), Robert and Ed decided to pay a visit to Kenaf Industies, the company which has supplied us with our composite material. Although it was a five hour drive due south, we couldn't imagine when we'd be "closer" to Raymondville, TX.

With a soundtrack of Johnny Cash and Wilco we made the drive south. Once we passed San Antonio, we encountered hour after hour of rolling ranchland and several sparse towns such as Three Rivers, Alice, Emma and Premont.In Pharr, TX we saw a great old abandoned fruit depot, the Valley Fruit Company, which had two terrific lamella vaults. Although these are seldom built today, in the 1960s and 70s this was a popular approach to building long spans using short identical lengths of dimension lumber. We also appreciated the local crowd and the mariachi band at the Tropicana Lounge at the Echo Hotel.

Chuck Taylor (no relationship to the shoe or basketball player), president of Kenaf Industries, hosted us for dinner at Costa Messa in McAllen where we sat beneath one of the great murals in South Texas (I have no basis for this statement). In the next post we'll describe our time with Chuck and our tour of Kenaf Industries.

Background

Earlier work done on kenaf composites, and stories about "kenaf people"

blog launch

We've threatened this for a while and now we're making good on it. We've launched a site for all things hypar: shorthand for our design and construction efforts to build a better rapidly-deployed temporary shelter.

We've been inspired by the many fine designers who have engaged this difficult problem with creativity and tenacity; we've studied with interest their designs which have been proposed and executed over the last several years. We're also convinced that we can add to this body of work by designing a shelter which is beautiful, durable and adaptable. In addition, we intend for the shelter materials to be re-purposed by the populations after they are no longer needed for temporary shelter.

At the moment we are exploring the hypar form, i.e. the hyperbolic paraboloid, which is known for its graceful beauty and its strength. The material we've chosen for this exploration is a composite of recycled plastic and the fibers of the kenaf plant which grows quickly in many climates and is known for its very strong fibers.

Follow the project by watching for future posts. We welcome your comments and input.