The following is a generalized version of the esoteric business plan compiled for Construction Technologies over the past number of years.

World Class Environmental Building System

construction-technologies.com
copyright 1995-2000

Marketing

A complete building system will supply every aspect of housing.  Technical capability will include a viable mechanized system of traditional construction applied to modern building at the project and land development level.  Market penetration depends mainly on attaining two objectives.
1 To supply enough for the demand without causing harm environmentally or otherwise.
2 To market internationally within an organization which supplies the complete system and transmits information and innovation effectively.
The chief marketing strategy is to provide high volume of units with locally available material.  Access to information and supply of technology will enable the company to match the anticipated turbulence in the market when existing materials become obsolete, and new materials are required, or when existing designs and materials are not compatible with environmental and lifestyle concerns and new designs and materials are required.  Since innovation is required in a period of increased market turbulence, then a method which intrinsically thrives on cooperation and innovation will provide the most success.

The Path

Construction Technologies (construction-technologies.com), the proposed corporation, possesses the technology and the vision of a complete mechanized building system based on ancient building traditions:  a synthesis of modern technology and tradition which surpasses both.  It will be an organization which can implement efficiently and cooperatively the solutions to market needs by exchanging information from all the projects among all participants via an intranet, and this is the most important feature of the business plan to do with market acceptance and high volume solutions.
The innovation of earth based materials comes at a time when extreme pressures of population and scarce resources are about to be felt in the construction industry.  This will lead to turbulence in the market, whereby the organization with the most alignment to the level of turbulence will be successful.  This leads to the vision of earth as a building material, among other proposed innovations, and to the organizational structure which enhances success through sharing information locally and internationally.  The idea is to provide complete support to anyone contemplating a project to the level required, and to foster innovation and marketing of innovations within the system.  When joining the system, the participant gains access to information, and also supplies information under license.

The Technical Plan

The aims are to 'energize the mud hut', and build thousands at a time with absolute flexibility in design, earthquake, flood and wind resistance, to have excellent fit and finish, to use light and other sources to energize, to incorporate systems into the structure, ie.. plumbing, wiring, to take renewable, natural materials in a unified building system, which applies anywhere. 
Starting with traditional raw materials of mineral earth, cellulose formulas and blends, equipment will be built which forms and builds automatically.  Lighting, heating and cooling will be built into the structure by design which takes advantage of the materials and which uses technology appropriately.
Step by step, gradually more and more natural raw materials and machines to build with them, and more and more appropriate technologies become part of the building system as it evolves.

Activities of the Company

Construction Technologies Building Systems will engage in projects in various ways as contractor, partner, licensing, etc.  It will be responsible to oversee initial marketing and projects.  The company will design, test and  develop materials and equipment in cooperation with engineering and design staff in house and with various market participants.  The company would posess expertise in all required business areas required to manage its operations, to carry out projects, and to develop technology.  Its markets exist wherever the need for shelter exists, but it will maintain a territory of its own while relating with licensed partners internationally who have separate territories for construction activity.

Projecting the Capabilities of the Company

It will be of assistance to project the growth in the capabilities of the company, the requirements in order to attain given levels of capability, and the market results possible at each level of capability.
In order to rapidly implement a versatile and complete building capability on a world scale, it is proposed to coordinate funding, marketing, construction opportunities and technology within a special business plan.  The scale of international markets requires major concessions to thinking about time, money and control.  Time is of the essence.  Capability is required to supply markets immediately and in large volume.  The requirements are to house more than one billion people, with projects of the size beyond magnitudes ever accomplished with any previously known enterprise.  Therefor the control of the technolgy must be balanced with wide dispersal, traffic of information, and optimum innovation in problem solving.  Funding for projects will be undertaken with existing agencies capable of delivering on that scale, with special focus on humanitarian funding.  Implementation will rely extensively on resources present locally, for raw materials, for expertise and skills, for fitting the technology within the cultural, economic and natural environments.
The flow of information from all projects will create a body of proprietary knowledge which will guide operations of the company to accomplish projects.

Critical Path Technical Development

IThe Earth Wall. 
A.Blocks of earth may be formed on site with pressure molding equipment. 
B.A special cover on the wall - a blend of cellulose and minerals applied as blocks or by pump adapter of the machine to the exterior as required. 
C.Weatherproof, appropriate coatings protect the wall. 
D.Places in the wall  are provided for plumbing, electrical, etc.and windows and doors may be left or cut after.
E.Special construction for earthquakes, floods.  Use of the plaster and additional long fibers to tie the walls together.
F.Materials development - for special areas and new materials.
IIRoof systems
A.Natural cellulose re-enforcement, with insulation and coatings and in modules of various shapes and sizes
B.Panels using available cellulose for structural requirements, and building shapes able to distribute stresses within lower grades of materials.
IIIPanels. 
A.Materials will be formulated to produce stress skin panels and mini panels, movable partition walls with features, insulating panels and architectural details.
B.Interior, exterior form/panel system for cast earth/cellulose - especially useful where there is significant risk of earthquake.
IVThe designs employ light for light, heat and energy and specific energy sources not available widely at this time.
VFloor systems are earth based or are based on geodesic structure and high strength natural materials.
VIEquipment made by Earth Wall will be used everywhere to produce buildings using raw natural materials available locally.
VIIDesign and manage construction and information, and market with highly focused information system and use recent discoveries in (fractal) mathematics to describe, image and build.
IXAdditional related technologies incorporated in above formula would include sewage and water treatment, planning of developments, economic development, cultural and social criteria, funding, project requirements, training.
XReplication worldwide.
 

Next steps

Please refer to the Product Development Procedures which documents the budgets required.
Arrange for initial projects of the proper scale.
Testing, Standards, and Regulatory work of providing standards for the industry.
Continuing development of the building system with commensurate projects and funding.
Marketing.  Networking.
Evolving the team and the business.
 

Work to Date

The ongoing work of Construction Technologies since 1990 has been to research technology and markets for a complete mechanized building system based on tradition.  (The system derives its raw materials close to or on the site and employs minimal processing and shipping.)  In many cases the technology exists to accomplish this and trials of a number of elements of the system have been made either as completed projects or experimentally.
Prototypes and projects are as follows:  Downtown Calgary home addition, passive solar greenhouse, structural engineering and testing of materials, make sample materials and finishes, testing and application of coatings, preliminary designs for structures, processes and for equipment.
We have discussed Earth Wall housing projects with business people from the Phillipines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Chile, and have visited Guatemala. 
Planned projects include a maintenance building on a housing project, a home addition, a prototype home, an agricultural/industrial building, and a series of low cost homes all in the southern Alberta region or in Calgary.
Raw materials include mineral earth, cellulose formulas and variations which include both.  Earth blocks formed on site with clay subsoil will be stacked dry in structural walls, for instance.  We will build the equipment we require to be univerally adaptable to various materials and conditions.  Coatings are available locally.
We have assembled personnel who possess the ability to obtain, design and complete projects and to further develop our technology.  Practical trade training through SAIT and Olds College could be made available internationally. 
 

Personnel

Mr. Geoffrey S. Lyford, Jr., During the past ten years Mr. Lyford has developed and tested the comprehensive low-cost environmental building system, while managing a small business in construction and architectural millwork for the past fifteen years.   He assists Global Housing Solutions in developing a concrete low-cost house as a one quarter scale model and full size prototype moulds and serves as construction supervisor for a developer in Calgary Alberta Canada.
Geoffrey Lyford, Chief Operating Officer, Technolgy Development and Training
Responsible for bringing building systems from idea to market
•Market company for projects within a team.
•Assist with concept, design and costing of buildings.
•Cooperate with architects, planners, engineers, contractors, clients, regulatory agencies.
•Provide information regarding soil selection, design and construction.
•Supervise on site regarding earth walls and related details.
•Provide Research and Development guidance for technologies.
•Write reports, sales materials, letters, technical literature.
•Design of Earth dwellings, Research and Develop Designs and Materials
Work in construction and design to use a blend of ancient and modern techniques and everything in between to create the greatest number of strong and clean dwellings and environments where they are most needed by people anywhere who wish to cooperate peacefully.
Experience
•Twenty five years extensive construction work
•Design/build earth wall home addition in Calgary 1991
•Erected first panel home in Alberta
•Two years as a journalist
•Several years in sales of automobile service, business equipment and real estate. 
•Contractor for the past fifteen years:
•Commercial millwork and installation for the Provincial government in Kananaskis and for various offices, such as Profit Matters, Spencer Design Group, stores such as Community Natural Foods, True Essence Aromatherapy and private homes.
•Construction and Renovation such as Croation Recreation and Retirement Society community outdoor dining center at Grand Valley and The Calgary Waldorf School renovation.

Partial listing of associates and advisors  ( subject to change)

David Do, P. Eng.  Zenith Engineering, Ltd.  Mechanical Engineering Associate
Zenith Engineering has produced oil and gas equipment, tire shredders, soil reclaiming equipment, hammermills, Industrial process filters, pumps.

Mark Kirkland, Adaptive Management Corp., Accounting and Administration
Mr. Kirkland addresses administrative matters, regulatory and organizational specific tasks, including applying for NRC grants and Research and Development Tax Credits.

Mr. Andrew Dunan,  Testing and Design Associate
A retired engineer, Mr. Dunan specializes in structural design and materials development.  He approved the first wood foundation and our first earth wall in Calgary in 1991.

Dr. Jack Liu, P. Eng.  Rainbow Engineering, Ltd.  Geotechnical Engineering Associate
Products will be engineered and tested at laboratories owned and operated by Dr. Liu.

Mark Taylor, Intelletech, Inc., Information Systems
Marketing materials, drafting, and virtual environments, print and video media capabilities comprise an important part of the business plan.

Mr. Brett Pawson, Drafting Associate
Mr. Pawson is the former drafting chief for an international manufacturer and for the Alberta Science Centre, a former cabinetmaker and carpenter, and currently working in computer animation and graphics.

Mr. Gerald Logue, Project Associate
Mr. Logue, currently international construction manager for ATCO, handled project management in high rise construction, low cost housing in Canada's North, refugee housing for the U. N., renovations of the Calgary Winter Club and several churches, a five star hotel in the Siberian Arctic, and a School in Siberia. 

Ron Husack, P.Eng. Mr. Husack,  carries the agenda of providing housing for people in the most effective way. His experience and qualifications include soils testing, engineering of infrastructure for land development, earth construction and marketing.

We are seeking participants as:

• Accountant
• Administrative assistant
• Lawyer
• Internet and communications
• Financial advisor
• Marketing
• President
• Technical assistant

Working with the System

The system starts with Structural Earth Walls and carries on from there to integrate insulation and coatings.  The system provides for installation of electrical, plumbing and heating and windows and doors, trim, cabinets, etc. Further products involve interior walls, floors and roof structures, lighting and heating, electrical and communications technologies integral with Earth Wall buildings, which enhance the overall building system in the market.

• Walls - Primary technology
• Mineral earth and cellulose materials bear weight and resist damage.
• Roof - Primary technology
• Cellulose from agriculture bonded and specially coated to resist weather.
• Skin - Primary technolgy
• The skin, for insulation, protection and strength makes use of natural cellulose and minerals to protect and strengthen walls, floors, roof and other building components.
• Partitions -
• Provides movable interior walls moulded from cellulose and minerals.
• Additional
• Complete Development Packages.
• Systems which energize and service buildings.
• Improving construction, efficiency and designs.
• Materials development.

Available raw materials in Alberta and beyond:

Fine clay soil suitable to the initial processes occurs in most localities.

Marketing: The competitive plan

The Planet Housing Project

Advantages Offered by the Proposed Corporation

In light of competitors both similar and conventional what advantage can be offered?
• New materials and techniques for building,
• Manufacturing the equipment combined with construction activities,
• A strategy for increasing innovations and information to match increasing turbulence in the market,
• Building details specific to each region incorporated into the system,
• Adaptable, powerful and efficient equipment which is different than competitors equipment.
• Quiet progress with non-confrontational attitude.
•

Other Materials Competitors

Depending on the market the competition is as follows

Investment

Benefits of Investing

•  One of the largest problems today is housing and lifestyle for countless people.  Rather than just say it is too big of a problem and we can't make any money at it, one could look at the situation from the point of view that in business, the one who can make a commercially viable solution to a problem will profit.  Truly one who has a solution to a problem and one who has a problem in this world can strike a deal, because there is someone else standing by to assist with the funding, and all benefit.  The problem is so large, the solutions must be simple and be able to make money.  This is what is proposed here.

Projected Cash Flow from Business

The objective is to make sample blocks at low expense in order to have samples to test  and to show, then proceed to make the necessary equipment and test it as detailed above.
Income results from doing projects and further investment will be required in order to capitalize projects.  It is suggested to enter into agreements with parties developing land, and to fund the technology side of projects.  The advantage of venturing jointly in land develpment would be that the land provides the leverage of real property and our participation with the technology enables us to create a return from building the development. 
Our objective is to have input on the parameters of development which yield the best use of our technology - such as the correct size, shape, layout of lots, and any savings we can achieve in providing for sewer, water, power, and energy requirements, roads, and communications, landscaping, and so on, from within our design team.  Earth Wall sees all design and marketing situations as important;  all matters of design and marketing require our consideration and input for any given project
Investment funding and joint venture technology development of materials, coatings, equipment and other aspects of the building system offers attractive tax credits and marketing advantages to participants from the chemical, manufacturing, industrial land development and agricultural sectors.  Market penetration is the primary concern.  Success in delivering product to the appropriate standards and at sufficient volume will determine the cash flow based on assumptions.  Improvements of practice and the economies of scale will improve the strength and viability of Earth Wall.  How much of improvement will be set beyond what is possible by any competitor.  It is possible to accomplish great efficiency because of the construction system and the marketing system.  The economies of scale would benefit profitability, and therefor marketing and funding will set the proper rate for success.
Initial projects will generate cash flow to offset labour costs, on the order of those for any standard project per square foot, once useable equipment is available.   Small projects will be undertaken at first, graduating upward in size and scope.
The experience and equipment acquired through the information system will constantly become part of the Earth Wall International Building System, historically and technologically, ie. records of past work assist planning projects, and innovations and techniques assist accomplishing them. 
National Research Council funding may be applied for in order to contribute toward prototype equipment and test trials, but funding is essentially and must be private in order to keep to the proper business course.  NRC will fund up to 75% of the costs to successful applicants. 
Pro forma of wall costs versus standard construction.

Description of the building system

Synergizes ancient and modern materials and methods.  
Comfort and future adaptability are built in.
Created efficiently and built to run efficiently.
Buildings could return to the ground from which they came.
We desire to live in harmony with nature.
Commercial, residential, industrial, agricultural, warehouses,  low rise buildings.

Earth - Based Buildings

The buildings constructed with this system require minimal energy input to run, therefore require minimal installations of technology separate from the structures themselves, which by virtue of design and the materials of which they are composed, encompass the occupants in an effortless comfort created by massiveness and orientation to the sun and wind.
The buildings also require materials to be formed into a building with skillful alteration from their raw state with this technolgy so that the factory which produces the building materials and that effort which constructs are the same, taking place on the site or nearly on site, from materials originating if not from the ground on which it will stand, from the fields some short distance away.
In consideration of the expenditure of capital investment, the actual form and body of the structure replaces the need for many heaters and electric lights and extensive ventilation systems.  Such a building requires minimal energy input to operate.  The resulting return on investment therefor is superior, the health of the occupants benefits from the pure materials, and the environment is preserved.

System Features 

The system contains the following points (and novelties or efforts specific to this):
 

Making Use of Natural Properties 

First is the property of colloids such as clay, and ash, to act cohesively in a product and to form with plasticity to the desired shape with pressure, and to retain shape and improve strength when dried.  

Traditional building

Understanding of natural materials owes to traditional building, which gives inspiration on using raw materials directly in the process of construction and offers ideas on using natural resources wisely.  For myself, tradition inspires designs, materials and  defines comfort in a universal way for our age and cultural context.
As is the inventiveness of man in need of shelter, so is the variety of dwellings and techniques in the tradition of building with natural materials, in all corners of the world far and wide, on all continents, and in all lands and cultures.
Adhering to these principals, appropriating traditional design features when combined with our level of technology unlocks the key to resource management in construction today, and fires the imagination for what can be built with technology applied appropriately.   
Shape and material are the basis of strength and building, whereby shape and form distribute stresses throughout the fabric of the structure.  The right shape allows lower strength materials to be used, just the type of natural, raw and unprocessed materials used in traditional building and applicable today in a more mechanically processed context.  As an example, adobe or mud domes, arches and vaults balance gravity and shape gracefully, artistically as proven, venerable forms in lands where earth walls rise out of the only available material and offer shelter from the intensity of the climate with their mass.
Woven forms of cellulose are important in distributing strength throughout an object made with relatively weak fibres to be a strong, resilient and durable item.  The basket is the original geodesic structure deriving strength from shapes limited only by the imagination.  Cloth is an example of woven materials having great strength.  Cellular structure is essentially a woven pattern.  Self similar patterns appear in architecture and in materials at all levels.  The fibrous and crystalline fractal worlds underpin architecture.  To investigate materials and architecture is to watch nature and to be in harmony with nature when it is seen that life is woven and we are part of that weaving.  Architecture, to be in harmony, must reflect both natural order and disorder; within disorder is a rich and complex order of probabilities, which are the result of natural dynamic systems.
A brief mention of several earth wall traditions may prove refreshing, when it can be thought that great human effort can be replaced with lesser effort, more technology, in the same spirit of conservation and aesthetic practicality with which traditions exist in harmony with their natural context. 
There is a type of wall building called cob where topsoil is used, containing organic matter, with the addition of straw and water, to pile up into a wall to two stories, usually with a roof of thatch very common in Devon, England at one time.
Mainly mineral earth, sometimes with straw, is used in most traditional earth walls which we call adobe, puddled earth, or rammed earth.  Many are four stories of unconsolidated earth, allowing for the strengths and weaknesses in the material by having smaller windows and thicker walls at lower levels. 
Straw and earth and animal dung with its fine fibers, are often incorporated in walls, sometimes over a lattice of willow rods and wooden structure.  For plastering, animal dung strengthens the plaster and resists weathering.  Roof overhangs protect the earth wall from weathering.
The thatched roof uses natural cellulose found in straw or palm leaves to shed rain and shelter from heat and cold.  Shakes, tiles and slates are minimally processed natural roofing materials.
 

Using Raw Materials

Traditional building methods process raw materials minimally when placing them into a structure.  These methods deserve scrutiny as do the basic characteristics of the naturally occurring materials themselves in order to make use of the most abundant materials in their most natural and renewable form for building.
They take advantage of naturally occurring characteristics in the resource used for building.  With available technology and with minimal processing, these same resources in a high production capacity can give a modern building, designed to last several hundred years and give very good performance. 
Plants and the soil give building materials.  Minerals in common soil are generally accepted to have the ability to resist crushing, while cellulose in plants is believed to have resilience and tensile and compressive strength. In general, minerals have a heat retention characteristic and the ability to bear weight.  Cellulose has thermal insulating characteristics because of its tubular occurrence in the structure of the cell walls of plants.  It has the ability to resist tension and bear weight.  Cellulose products are generally lighter than mineral products when formed with materials close to their natural state.  Cellulose and minerals share similarities in that minerals are formed in a crystalline lattice and the structure of cellulose is a long chain of semi-crystalline sugars.

Equipment

Proprietary equipment is used to make blocks of materials and other panels, slurries, plasters and materials used in building construction.

Engineered Materials 

Materials may be engineered to suit elements of the building and formed as such after being handled by this equipment as outlined above, such as panels and stress skin mini panels with foam cellulose cores and cellulose skins of all shapes and sizes, architectural mouldings, sidings and decorations, tiles, insulation for retrofitting existing buildings, roof tiles, insulating plaster and plaster. 
Materials may be engineered and handled in processes to vary and/or orient the densities, the strands of cellulose, concentrations of clay, silt, and granular matter or other constituents and colloids, qualities and physical properties desired.  Materials would be finished and coated appropriately.
Raw materials used would be agricultural cellulose and minerals and recycled materials.   Cellulose may be processed to chop strands, to separate strands, to hydropulp to the desired degree before forming the product by means of pressure and drying where required.  Some materials such as sugar cane pulp will consolidate with pressure, for instance, and other materials consolidate with pressure and heat, as in the Stramet process, based on a Swedish patent.
Moveable partition walls, architectural mouldings, and trims, cabinets and doors may be created from plant cellulose in more processed or more raw forms.  To provide stress skin properties, materials would be engineered to have layers and densities where the cellulose would be concentrated in the skin with a tough hard outer layer and the inner core would be less dense, created with entrapment of air bubbles in a matrix of cellulose strands, and the addition or not to the whole or parts, of minerals and or other chemicals and substances for the purpose of binding, fire proofing, strengthening and giving any desired properties.  Drying in solar kilns to remove the last water and application of finishes and coatings would follow where
applicable.
If desired, an entire structure or rooms within structrures may be fired and glazed, according to work done by the architect, Nader Kahlili, who works now in California, and whose original work includes building and firing an entire traditional adobe sun-dried mud brick dome and arch school in Iran.  The advantage of this type of method, the villagers found when applied to an existing village, was the exit of the rats from the structure, he says in his biography, Racing Alone.  In his book on architecture, Ceramic Houses, Mr. Kahlili provides numerous tables and formulae related to construction and engineering of domes and vaults with mud brick.
It would be interesting to try this type of firing using lightweight mateials which have been produced with the aeration technique and with cellulose.  Perhaps the plaster on the interior or exterior of moulded buildings would assist in creating this type of structure.
Cast Earth has been developed as a recent adaptation of another ancient technique.  In New Mexico, a metalurgist suggested to a Rammed Earth builder, to pour a mixture of clay soil and gypsum plaster of Paris slurry into the formwork.   The resulting walls went up in two days instead of a week or more of hard labour, and yielded compressive strength of 800 PSI.  They are currently applying for patents and attempting to license their method.  The equipment proposed herein will produce the panels for the formwork and the slurry for the casting of earth with the addition of plaster of Paris type colloidal/chemical mixtures,  and will mix cellulose, and will aerate the material.  It is thought this type of structure would withstand severe earthquakes, and would be amenable to having the finish applied to the form/panel before casting of the earth, and would be suitable for providing detailing to the interior and exterior of the building by means of the impressions moulded into the form/panels which would be left in place within the structure.

Earthen Materials

The major portion of building materials comes from the earth.  The Earth is composed of minerals in abundant crystalline forms.  The parts of a building now composed of minerals include:  the foundation and drainage gravel, the roofing, ceramic tiles, toilets and sinks, bricks and glazes, blocks, driveways and floors, drywall and plasters, fillers and grouts, electrical insulators, paints and coatings, stucco, window glass, fibreglass insulation, metallic flashings, sinks, hardware, fasteners, vermiculite, expanded clay, and pumice insulations, handles and decorations, landscaping, etc. waterproofing
In its raw state, rock, gravel, sand, silt and clay denote the size and fineness of the crystalline pieces.  Minerals resist crushing.    The different size grades of minerals have properties made use of in different parts of building construction and in manufacturing of cementing materials, coatings and paints.  The chemical properties also play a part such as in gypsum and Portland Cement products and in ceramics and glass,metallurgy and industrial processes.

Raw Earth in Construction

Raw earth itself is a suitable, competent, building material for holding up weight and retaining heat as in solar heating.  The most abundant building material is crystalline mineral earth - suitable types available in most locales.  Minerals resist compression or crushing and can support weight in the same way the earth's crust support  weight.  By using earth in the building, thermal mass is incorporated to balance the heat energy from sunny periods to cold dark periods, which affects heating and cooling requirements.
Earthen Bricks
Bricks made of unfired earth are called Adobe.  Adobe traditionally dries in the sun after forming from mud.  By making adobes with Earth Wall technology, we have the advantage that we make them on site and place them directly into the building dry stacked, no mortar in joints.  The Earth bricks retain heat as part of the overall design strategy for lower operating costs and comfort.  The mineral soil requires no additives,  contain minimum 5 per cent preferably 10 - 20 per cent clay, 4 - 15% moisture.  The dry stack technology gives uniform bricks accurate to .005 inch for laying in walls without mortar.  The walls absorb the shock of earthquakes when designed according to the details illustrated.  The bricks have low cost to produce on a site and the machine used in production produces quantities suitable for one housing unit per 2-3 days if all earth brick construction.

Clay and Building

Clay represents a valuable constituent incorporated directly into low processed building materials because of its qualities of waterproofing (Bentonite), cohesiveness, plasticity, colloidal suspension in water (Clay Slip), and applicability (trowel and spray, crumbled, powdered, solid, present in native soils).

Light Clay

Light Clay is an old method which lends itself to modern technological application for building  advanced buildings today in the form of bricks and panels.  This method is applied in many areas of the world today  such as China, England and Europe since long ago.
The best qualities of both plant and earth minerals combine in Light Clay wall and roof construction.  The material is less dense than earth, and insulates well.  Light Clay is strong and fire proof.  Cellulose combined with minerals gives a balance of both types of materials for strength and durability.
In Germany, Light Clay construction has been tested to DIN standards and found to have excellent properties of strength, fireproofing, soundproofing and durability.  A number of buildings have been occupied for over 400 years there.
The material is a composition of straw, an agricultural waste product with limited market value at this time, and clay which can be found in deposits scattered throughout many locales.  The use of potters clay is economic in the production of light clay, the German study found, because the cost is low in relation to the quantities used in the construction of a given building.
Light Clay production has low  material costs and low capital production costs.  For producing panels for a panel modular building system Light clay is more suited to smaller operations than cellulose only because it is easier to produce for less investment in equipment, and it has a higher fire resistance than conventional wood stud construction.  German Study by Franz Volhard:  Leichtlehmbau, alter Baustoff - neue Technik, Unter Mitarbeit von Ute Schauer, Verlag C. F. Muller GmbH, Karlsruhe.

Plant Materials

Plants supply the second most abundant building materials.  Cellulose fibre constitutes thirty per cent of all plant growth on the planet and in some plants, up to 90 per cent is cellulose.  Cellulose fiber in plants resists stretching and the tube-like structure of the plant cells naturally resists crushing and provides insulation.  These strength qualities of tensile and compressive strength make cellulose an ideal building material.   Wood is the most common cellulose building material, but since cellulose is the same in all plants, other types of plants can supply cellulose for building and it is not necessary to use wood for building.
The cellular structure of plant cellulose provides insulation, flexibility and light weight.  We accept wood lumber as a common building material, although many plants have higher cellulose content than wood and regenerate more quickly on less land.

Cellulose

All plants contain cellulose which gives them shape and strength.  The crystalline nature of cellulose takes the form of long chains of sugar molecules making up bundles of fibrils in the cell walls of plants.  Cell walls are usually long, tubular structures surrounding the cell and its nucleus.
Cellulose resists decomposition more than other types of starch.  As a building material it can benefit from densification and from coatings which preserve and protect it from fire, time and moisture, the enemies of buildings.  Resins, pectins, lignin, waxes and oils occur along with cellulose naturally in plants and these substances also give qualities of cohesiveness, flexibility, waterproofing and other properties of specific plants.

Mini Panels of light clay (at 300 - 1200 Kg. per cubic Meter), measure 24 inches by 24 inches on the face, by 4 inches thick for density of 400 Kg./cubic Meter, for instance, which may be embossed to any pattern such as brick, texture, design, letter, either relief or sculptured outward, and interlocking in the same fashion with tongue and grooves of approximately 1/3 tongue and groove to total thickness of panel.  Light clay is a traditional building method using straw coated with clay slip consolidated into a wall, block or panel and dried.  In pressing,  material would be drier than that used traditionally.  Products may be extruded of mineral or cellulose, such as columns, trims such as baseboards and other long elements, incorporating cellulose long strands, or parts of fast growing trees in their raw state.  
Bricks for arches and domes could be molded to fit into the shape of the building.   Materials may be engineered to suit other elements of the building and formed as such after being handled by this equipment as outlined above, such as panels and stress skin mini panels with foam cellulose cores and cellulose skins of all shapes and sizes, architectural mouldings, sidings and decorations, tiles, insulation for retrofitting existing buildings, roof tiles, insulating plaster and plaster.  Raw materials used would be agricultural cellulose and minerals.  
Cellulose may be processed to chop strands, to separate strands, to hydropulp to the desired degree before forming the product by means of pressure and drying where required.  Drying in solar kilns to remove the last water and application of finishes and coatings would follow where applicable.

Cellulose Content Of Plants

• Mosses and seaweeds25-30%
• Annual plants25-35%
• Trees40-50%
• Cotton fibre98%
• Micro-organisms reaching20-30%
• Flax80-90%
• Hemp65-75%
• Jute60-70%
• Ramie80%

Geoffrey S. Lyford, Jr.  Copyright August 29, 1995 - October 25, 2000