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Coral forms when small creatures grow, encasing their bodies in a calcium-carbonate shell. They live, die, and then the next generation live on the dead shells of the previous generation. Most coral colonies grow upwards between 1 and 10cm per year. However, this is under natural conditions with rough
seas and predators in effect.
A form of coral and supporting zooxanthellae are bred/selected for their fast-growth, and tolerance to high-humidity conditions, rather than strictly under-water ones.
The method of construction is to set the foundation, and then to plant wall-seeds using pieces of the living coral. The building site is roofed off and a fine mist of water, richly infused with a delicious mixture of plankton, algae and construction material, provides food and building materials for the coral. UV lamps are housed in the top of the roofed area in order to encourage the coral to grow upwards.
All run-off water is collected and sent round again to minimize the loss of water in the process. This also assists in the coral's reproductive cycle.
Architectural features are created by shielding the growing coral from either light and/or food. Since the coral should grow in an upward-and-outward fashion, all ceilings would be vaulted. Flat surfaces can be made by placing flat, grids of poisonous material that kills coral on contact and shaving off any pieces that manage to poke through. Other methods can be employed to manage the growth of the coral in the desired manner.
Once the building is finished, the housing is dismantled and the house is ready to be outfitted (though at many stages (i.e. plumbing, wiring etc) the outfitting could have already been installed and the coral allowed to grow up around it.
By changing the composition of the minerals in the water, different colours and properties could be given to the building material. Post growth, sealant materials and other preparations can be sprayed onto the structure to provide it with suitable waterproofing etc.
The advantage of building in this manner is that once the housing is set up, few workers need to attend the site, the coral grows by itself, and need only be coaxed or tended by a single person in order to achieve the desired results. For these reasons, apart from the exciting new organic architectural look, the property is also much cheaper to build than using traditional labour and materials.
Coral Primer
http://www.seaworld...o/info-books/coral/
Stuff about coral [zen_tom, Nov 28 2004]
and Zooxanthellae...
http://www.uvi.edu/...reefer/zooxanth.htm
never heard about them before today... [zen_tom, Nov 28 2004]
Coral reef villa.
http://www.halfbake...oral_20Reef_20Villa
[spacemoggy]'s take on the subject. [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 28 2004]
Enviro-crete
http://www.halfbake...m/idea/Enviro-crete
Coral concrete (much less science in description) [Zimmy, Nov 29 2004]
[link]
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While I'm not sure you could find coral that would grow out of water, there's nothing to stop you flooding the house site while you, er, build. |
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How is this not redundant with the idea "Coral Reef Villa"? Seems the same to me. |
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Yes, they are very similar, the best I can come up with as a differentiating property is that the corals used here are bred to survive in a fine mist of nutrient-loaded water, this removes the need for submerging the entire site (which is likely going to cost as much as building the whole thing in the first place) |
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While using corals that can cope in these conditions might attract magic, or bad-science tags - I imagine the concept doesn't stretch the bounds of genetic engineering or nanotechnology too far, does it? |
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Though I'm willing to accept reasoned redundancy, magic and or bad-science markings, I like this idea enough to risk leaving it up for a little longer. |
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Quedos to [spacemoggy] for 'Coral Reef Villa' and also to [Zimmy] for 'Enviro-Crete' |
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It wouldn't be as pretty, but according to the latest research you could easily build a limestone house/village/city just be adding sulphuric acid to predrilled holes. (This would also get rid of significant amounts of sulpuric acid produced as waste from factories.) |
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Link was password-protected so here's an excerpt from the article - |
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New Scientist vol 184 issue 2474 - 20 November 2004, page 38 |
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Take one atoll, add industrial waste and stand back - this is bridge building as you've never seen it. Kate Ravilious reports |
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NUTS to bolts, girders and beams. In Roelof Schuiling's book, the best way to build is with good old-fashioned rock. A geochemist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Schuiling has spent 15 years developing an extraordinary construction technique that could see rock bridges, walls and dams sprout from the seabed, driven by the power of chemistry on an unprecedented scale. |
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Anywhere, at least, that there is a solid bedrock of limestone. Drill a row of holes into it, pump sulphuric acid down them and the acid will trigger a reaction that doubles the limestone's volume. With enough acid injected at precisely the right spots, a ridge of solid rock will rise slowly from the seabed and emerge, Old Testament-fashion, to part the waves - or so Schuiling has calculated. |
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He is already eyeing up the perfect spot to construct a prototype. For at least 3000 years, a channel of shallow water about 65 kilometres wide has separated India and Sri Lanka. Called the Palk Strait, it is crossed by a line of submerged limestone reefs known as Adam's Bridge that in many places are less than 5 metres from the surface. In May, Schuiling published details of how his technology could convert this reef into a solid causeway (Current Science, vol 86, p 1351)." |
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Baked by Larry Niven in his novel, "A Gift From Earth."
One of his more obscure works, though, so no pies for having missed it. |
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You go into better detail discussing the mechanics of the process. Bun. |
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