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Inflatable architecture against the coronavirus
Pneumatic architecture (inflatable air) is advancing by leaps and bounds by providing new concepts and ways of using air that go further than the simple inflatable mattress.
Some time ago we were talking about different interesting projects on inflatable architecture and how; Thanks to new technologies, more resistant materials and good design, very interesting projects were appearing and even large buildings that raised the inflatable architecture as an unstoppable trend.
Today, there are many open fronts against the coronavirus pandemic (COVID19), and among them, among the most notable, are the hospital needs for the new patients that appear every day.
A month ago, we saw how China created a hospital in 10 days based on prefabricated construction elements. Practically a constructive feat that can only happen in the Asian world, but there are other alternatives and real ones.
The Spanish company Tech dimension specialized in inflatable structures just set up an inflatable hospital in 3 days to serve between 70 and 80 citizens in Mexico daily.
The inflatable hospital structure recently assembled has been installed in the city of Pachuca (State of Hidalgo - Mexico) with an area of 1000 square meters. The medical center has primary care, secondary care, operating rooms, individualized care rooms, etc., a total of nine modules with three intensive therapy areas and medical offices.
Once the removable steel frame for reinforcement is installed, it inflates in only 12 minutes
Is inflatable hospital unit It has nearly 3000 meters of electrical wiring, 160 meters of air conditioning duct installation, has a removable steel inner structure for reinforcement and comply with all the regulations of a building: high-resistance fabrics with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material, fire-retardant materials, ballast to withstand gusts of wind of 100 kilometers per hour, and many other characteristics and technical conditions that the team of architects and engineers of the business.
Operating rooms work with their own membrane, in the style of a bag, and the air is passed through a HEPA14 filter, guaranteeing the conditions of the traditional operating room that we can find in a building, with the ability to isolate the smallest particles. "Inside, in case of contamination, there is another filter that kills bacteria", as explained Pallarès (director of the company) to the newspaper ElPaís.
Let us remember that this type of Inflatable structures have tangible advantages compared to traditional construction when it comes to constructive needs in short periods of time.; both for its speed in assembly, adaptation to spaces, mobility option to be able to reuse it in other places or as the materials they use, which are largely recyclable like PVC and we can transform them into other objects.
Another important issue is the unit cost, which, although typical prefabricated structures are relatively inexpensive because they are factory assembled in a standardized way. The unit cost of this Inflatable mobile hospital unit only reaches € 300 square meter. A substantial advantage and that of course must be taken into account in emergency situations.
It is the perfect hospital that we all would like to have, no, but without a doubt it can be a very successful and fast option when hospital needs reach high levels and are of extreme urgency. So that we can see how it is assembled and what its characteristics are, the company has a very interesting demonstration video.
If we look inflatable architectural structures a little larger and that change the appearance of public space in a forceful way (Other examples of using public space with intelligent ideas).
The large inflatables designed by the multidisciplinary architecture studio of Anish Kapoor and the architect Arata Isozaki break with the established. They designed the world's first inflatable concert hall in Tohoku, Japan. A mobile structure, called Arca Nova that surprises both for its dimensions and its captivating and impressive design.
The inflatable architecture It houses projects and ideas that really surprise, both for its design and for the way of renewing concepts and objects.
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