Noah Shelter : Japan's answer to next tsunami

Via Nick Kaufmann
http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html

October 1, 2011 - 7:01AM

Click to play video

Japanese company markets tsunami escape pod

A small factory in Japan has introduced a tsunami survival shelter, a capsule which floats on water and is able to hold four adults inside.

• Video feedback
• Video settings

A small Japanese company has developed a modern, miniature version of Noah's Ark in case Japan is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami: a floating capsule that looks like a huge tennis ball.

Japan's Cosmo Power says its "Noah" shelter is made of enhanced fibreglass that can save users from disasters like the one on March 11 that devasted Japan's northern coast, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

Company president Shoji Tanaka says the 300,000 yen ($A4000) capsule can hold four adults, and has survived many crash tests. It has a small lookout window and breathing holes on top. It can also be used as a toy house for children.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Cosmo Power Co. President Shoji Tanaka inside the spherical earthquake and tsunami shelter "Noah" made of fibre enforced plastic. Photo: AP

The company has already delivered two capsules and has orders for 600 more.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html#ixzz1ZYPOG39s

 

Noah Shelter : Japan's answer to next tsunami

Via Nick Kaufmann
http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html

October 1, 2011 - 7:01AM

Click to play video

Japanese company markets tsunami escape pod

A small factory in Japan has introduced a tsunami survival shelter, a capsule which floats on water and is able to hold four adults inside.

• Video feedback
• Video settings

A small Japanese company has developed a modern, miniature version of Noah's Ark in case Japan is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami: a floating capsule that looks like a huge tennis ball.

Japan's Cosmo Power says its "Noah" shelter is made of enhanced fibreglass that can save users from disasters like the one on March 11 that devasted Japan's northern coast, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

Company president Shoji Tanaka says the 300,000 yen ($A4000) capsule can hold four adults, and has survived many crash tests. It has a small lookout window and breathing holes on top. It can also be used as a toy house for children.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Cosmo Power Co. President Shoji Tanaka inside the spherical earthquake and tsunami shelter "Noah" made of fibre enforced plastic. Photo: AP

The company has already delivered two capsules and has orders for 600 more.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html#ixzz1ZYPOG39s

 

Noah Shelter : Japan's answer to next tsunami

Via Nick Kaufmann
http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html

October 1, 2011 - 7:01AM

Click to play video

Japanese company markets tsunami escape pod

A small factory in Japan has introduced a tsunami survival shelter, a capsule which floats on water and is able to hold four adults inside.

• Video feedback
• Video settings

A small Japanese company has developed a modern, miniature version of Noah's Ark in case Japan is hit by another massive earthquake and tsunami: a floating capsule that looks like a huge tennis ball.

Japan's Cosmo Power says its "Noah" shelter is made of enhanced fibreglass that can save users from disasters like the one on March 11 that devasted Japan's northern coast, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

Company president Shoji Tanaka says the 300,000 yen ($A4000) capsule can hold four adults, and has survived many crash tests. It has a small lookout window and breathing holes on top. It can also be used as a toy house for children.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Cosmo Power Co. President Shoji Tanaka inside the spherical earthquake and tsunami shelter "Noah" made of fibre enforced plastic. Photo: AP

The company has already delivered two capsules and has orders for 600 more.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/japans-answer-to-next-tsunami-miniark-20111001-1l276.html#ixzz1ZYPOG39s

 

Posted via email from Open_Sailing

Fire ant rafts

Wired have an amazing story about the phenomenon of ant-rafts forming in the species Solenopsis invicta. Through seemingly arbitrary bonds between indivicual ants, a "ball" of ants dropped into water forms a resilient raft that can stay afloat for weeks. Read more here, or the original article here. 

Posted via email from Open_Sailing

Recycled Rigs: Abandoned Oil Platforms as Ocean Mini-Cities?

via Felix Compere.

 

http://dornob.com/recycled-rigs-abandoned-oil-platforms-as-ocean-mini-cities/

It is hard to believe that there are companies capable of creating (relatively) robust structures far out at sea, (usually) capable of withstanding extreme weather and lasting for decades or longer. But their use in harvesting ‘black gold’ from the ocean floor is limited, as alternatives are (hopefully) developed and spill risks increasingly recognized. Here is one vision for how one turn such relics into semi-submerged habitats and give them a new architectural lease on life.

A competition entry by Ku Yee Kee and Hor Sue-Wern of Malaysia forEvolo, this idea is speculative, creative and additive – it is more about exploring various possibilities than creating a resolved design. Still, the latter seems to result from the former, with many metaphorical as well as physical levels spanning from lofted surface layers to submarine science and observation stations.

Much like a skyscraper or other self-contained mega-structure, the program works from the inside out; core service, conveyance and community functions exist in the structural core, while residents of each modular village are arrayed in dwellings plugged in around the outer rim, affording ideal vistas of the surrounding seascapes.

 

As intriguing as the final renderings are, the process models, sketches and diagrams are at least equally fascinating – they show a series of related and independent thought processes, three-dimensional experiments and sources of inspiration leading up to finished drawings and perspective money shots.

The standard solar and wind power generators are present, but tidal energy is also available given the relatively unique placement of these would-be water towns. Each atoll would, in theory, be at least largely self-sufficient, assuming some space were provided in the final design for growing fruits, vegetables and perhaps selectively raising a little supplemental livestock

Recycled Rigs: Abandoned Oil Platforms as Ocean Mini-Cities?

via Felix Compere.

 

http://dornob.com/recycled-rigs-abandoned-oil-platforms-as-ocean-mini-cities/

It is hard to believe that there are companies capable of creating (relatively) robust structures far out at sea, (usually) capable of withstanding extreme weather and lasting for decades or longer. But their use in harvesting ‘black gold’ from the ocean floor is limited, as alternatives are (hopefully) developed and spill risks increasingly recognized. Here is one vision for how one turn such relics into semi-submerged habitats and give them a new architectural lease on life.

A competition entry by Ku Yee Kee and Hor Sue-Wern of Malaysia forEvolo, this idea is speculative, creative and additive – it is more about exploring various possibilities than creating a resolved design. Still, the latter seems to result from the former, with many metaphorical as well as physical levels spanning from lofted surface layers to submarine science and observation stations.

Much like a skyscraper or other self-contained mega-structure, the program works from the inside out; core service, conveyance and community functions exist in the structural core, while residents of each modular village are arrayed in dwellings plugged in around the outer rim, affording ideal vistas of the surrounding seascapes.

 

As intriguing as the final renderings are, the process models, sketches and diagrams are at least equally fascinating – they show a series of related and independent thought processes, three-dimensional experiments and sources of inspiration leading up to finished drawings and perspective money shots.

The standard solar and wind power generators are present, but tidal energy is also available given the relatively unique placement of these would-be water towns. Each atoll would, in theory, be at least largely self-sufficient, assuming some space were provided in the final design for growing fruits, vegetables and perhaps selectively raising a little supplemental livestock

Recycled Rigs: Abandoned Oil Platforms as Ocean Mini-Cities?

via Felix Compere.

 

http://dornob.com/recycled-rigs-abandoned-oil-platforms-as-ocean-mini-cities/

It is hard to believe that there are companies capable of creating (relatively) robust structures far out at sea, (usually) capable of withstanding extreme weather and lasting for decades or longer. But their use in harvesting ‘black gold’ from the ocean floor is limited, as alternatives are (hopefully) developed and spill risks increasingly recognized. Here is one vision for how one turn such relics into semi-submerged habitats and give them a new architectural lease on life.

A competition entry by Ku Yee Kee and Hor Sue-Wern of Malaysia forEvolo, this idea is speculative, creative and additive – it is more about exploring various possibilities than creating a resolved design. Still, the latter seems to result from the former, with many metaphorical as well as physical levels spanning from lofted surface layers to submarine science and observation stations.

Much like a skyscraper or other self-contained mega-structure, the program works from the inside out; core service, conveyance and community functions exist in the structural core, while residents of each modular village are arrayed in dwellings plugged in around the outer rim, affording ideal vistas of the surrounding seascapes.

 

As intriguing as the final renderings are, the process models, sketches and diagrams are at least equally fascinating – they show a series of related and independent thought processes, three-dimensional experiments and sources of inspiration leading up to finished drawings and perspective money shots.

The standard solar and wind power generators are present, but tidal energy is also available given the relatively unique placement of these would-be water towns. Each atoll would, in theory, be at least largely self-sufficient, assuming some space were provided in the final design for growing fruits, vegetables and perhaps selectively raising a little supplemental livestock

Posted via email from Open_Sailing