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This housing a) Specifications: We have chosen an area of 253 should be sq. feet as the minimum, an Indian family at the acceptable to end of the century, should have. The amenities the lowest should include sanitation and plumbing. rungs of b) Materials: After trying mud/cement society, combinations, we settled for the Ferro cement twenty concept but the choice is open for other years into materials. the future. c) Design Parameters: We found a lot of scope for reducing material consumption by changing design parameters. The use of the strongest 3D shape, the sphere, and the strongest 2-D -shape, the triangle, led us to the Geodesic Dome structures. We have still more ideas on rectangular structures to be explored. d) Productivity: A major cost arises from low productivity of the labour utilised. Modular designs, prefabricated components are possible solutions. There are many ideas we are trying out to improve productivity. This is inevitably going to affect the labour materials ratio. e) Factor of Ignorance: Urban housing in RCC has often excessively heavy columns and beams - yet disasters occur. We believe the proper choice of design parameters can save costs. f) Contractors' margins: A contractor has a useful role to play. But because of lack of competition, contractors extract excessive margins. The best way to counter this and bring down costs is to demystify all knowledge and make the skills widely available. The Geodesic Dome We can illustrate the above points with respect to the dome houses. Geodesic is the great circle or an "equator line". It is the shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere. In 1885, a Chinese Dowager Empress built a palace that had a geodesic dome. In 1922, Carl Zeiss Glass Works commissioned Dr Walter Bauers < Rural Development Through Education System ► 251
