ARCHIMEDE INSTITUTE


Our Mexican Wall and Roof Paneling System

The wall and ceiling/roof panels are revolutionary and quickly spreading around the world. These Styrofoam core panels have a built-in steel mesh forming triangulated trusses within and a grid on both facings, apt to receive on inch of concrete on both sides. Thus a fireproof and 'rock-solid' panel is achieve, capable of high resistance to both lateral (hurricanes) and axial loads (earthquakes). A remarkable early application of these panels is the Tijuana-San Diego project of 1990 by Habitat for Humanity and Jimmy Carter. These 100 robust social houses were built by volunteers with as only tools pliers and tying wire. They were then concrete finished by a single Gunnite applicator. They can be seen today, still rock solid and pretty almost 20 years later.
Although we mostly endorse the concrete finished wall panels, two alternates exists that we use for areas without an adequate supply of concrete or concrete finished. These are the fiberglass 'Golden" sheets and the fibercement panels.