ARCHIMEDE INSTITUTE


OUR SERVICES

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

  • ANALYSIS OF RECONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS AFTER NATURAL DISASTERS
  • Our specialty is analysing complicated problems on a tight schedule. We mostly redirect insurance forensic work to specialist firms, yet we always write the overall reports and recommendations ourselves.
  • We certainly include the human and financial problems factored into the problem-solving equations.
  • ANALYSIS OF CONSTRUCTION PRODUCT AND PROCESSES
  • We take pride in keeping up to date with all international techniques, their comparative costs and human factors. This is the baseline for comparing all our presented solutions.
  • We have had experience under most latitudes, as opposed to most architects who spend their entire life under a single environment.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
  • DISASTER PROTECTIVE DESIGN
  • We have built several groups of houses that have gone through major disasters with no damage, protecting their occupants and saving lives. This web site will show some of these.
  • PROTOYPING AND TESTING
  • We are equiped to rapidly test the proposed solutions in housing*, both for structural performance and for manufacturing and erection time studies.

LIMITED PRODUCTION RUNS AND TRAINING

  • TRIAL RUNS FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES.
  • We intend to organize these trials runs of 2 to 12 houses to test out the equipment and the methods. The product is often use to 'seed' larger projects and further troubleshoot transport to site, local implementation and acceptance of proposed units.
  • TEACHING PRODUCTION RUNS
    We insist in training plant superintendents here while using similar equipment and facilities. The products are erected locally to train crew chiefs sent here by our client.

TEACHING AND LICENSING OF TECHNOLOGY

  • THE FUTURE OF THE INSTITUTE.
    In 4-6 years, there should be enough maturity in our methods to allow us to teach them on a full-time basis.
  • LICENSING:
    As described earlier, our licensing program is essentially free to developing nations while royalty-based for more advanced nations. We hope to have in a few years mirror organizations capable of spreading concepts similar to ours.

TESTING FOR HURRICANES - THE NEXT LAB

ARCHIMEDE NO-WASTE APPROACH

From the start we chose the rhomboid geometry that is made up of identical parallelograms. Just like with squares and rectangles, parallelograms can be made up of rectangular sheathing without wasting any of it.
Here is a demonstration: typically, our standard roof panels can be made up of two 4x8 sheets with no waste, one being cut diagonally , as shown in diagram below. This represent the roof of one 180 ft2 hexagonal module.



This stronger 'vaulted' surface is made up of three planes, each one made up of of-the-shelf building materials. You need to love that since it also applies to walls and underside panels (in the case of stilt houses )

EARTHQUAKE, HURRICANE AND TSUNAMI PROOF

'MUCHOMAS' - THE ULTIMATE RAPID RECONSTRUCTION SOLUTION

'ARCTA' - THE PERFECT ARCTIC SHELTER

Design with the help of Dr. Richard Chill, the late famous Canadian arctic construction specialist, these Arctic houses have been used by the Inuit nation for offices, residence and in one case, a caribou meat freezer-room! Selling a Frigidaire to Eskimos is not a lame joke anymore!

They are exposed to high winds and need to be raised so as not to melt down into the permafrost. The three-legged solutions are easily ajustable, as with a tripod, and the shade provided under the house keeps the sun from playing havoc with the grounds. Interestingly, the cavity under the floor is put to good use: in one module, an oil tank, in the other fresh water, and in the third, a holding tank for refuse. Interconnected, these cavities form a plenum that is pressurized with warm air diffusing through the floor registers, but also through tiny holes placed near the outside wall to prevent condensation forming where air does not circulate well.  All Archimede houses have a fabulous shell to keep the occupants warm, sometimes associated with quadruple glazed windows that never show frost build-ups. But the sub-floor cavity in ALL OF THEM is a warm air distribution plenum (see article in Popular Science magazine) , a feature that is equally appreciated in our many ski resorts condos where simple plastic tubes are fitted into holes through the flooring, forming a natural dying setup for wet ski boots inverted over them. Much appreciated is the fact that the area under and around the house is mostly clear of snow buildups since the low drag underside accelerates the weakest winds. As for the super-resistance of these panelized shape of these modular structure, read this recent article by the inventor himself. The later can be reached at his email address

'TOWO', A SMALL EARTHQUAKE AND HURRICANE RESISTANT TOWER


Engineered and fully componentized  including stucture and envelope, this economical small building can withstand the most severe earthquakes without incuring habitual costly repairs or worse, rebuilding.

INJECTION PRESSES : 1980, FIRST GENERATION

First was a  vertical wedge action pair of presses designed by us in 1980.
strong and efficient, these machines lacked the flexibity of the lighter and cheaper later models.

RIGID INSULATION IS EMINENTLY SUSTAINABLE


Rigid urethane insulation has been used in the building and construction industries since the 1950’s. Over the past 40 years, in excess of 500 million square metres of insulated panels have been manufactured by the continuous lamination process and have been successfully used in roof and wall cladding applications worldwide.

The superior long term performance of metal faced insulated panels with rigid urethane cores is now widely recognised by building investors and designers when compared with site assembled, multi-part, built-up cladding systems. This has resulted in significant growth for this type of construction system.


 The main reasons for this growth are:

  • Increasingly stringent building regulations, which in many countries require the use of insulation to comply with energy efficiency and CO2 emission targets.
  • The rising cost of fuel and energy. Effective thermal insulation can reduce HVAC / heating costs by up to 40% wherever it is installed.
  • The environmental cost of energy production is also a factor which now needs to be considered. The burning of fossil fuels for energy production is estimated to contribute 80% of the world’s CO2emissions. These green-house gases contribute to the problem of global warming, and so the conservation of energy is the most direct and cheap way to reduce CO2 emissions and thus control global warming.
  • Industry experts estimate that worldwide insulation of buildings to optimum standards could reduce global energy requirements by more than 10%.
  • Rapid site assembly and early completion of a building project is demanded by investors and insulated sandwich panels provide ‘single fix’ fast on-site installation.




  • Investors require superior specification, low maintenance and long-term product performance.

HIGH CAPACITY LOW-COST PRESS

CLIENTS

We deal with international organizations that either sponsor help teams, perform design and guidance or otherwise are directly involved at producing shelters and reconstructive solutions after local disaters. Our first clients were from Bengladesh, Armenia, Mexico, Italy and Japan. We are now expanding our reach through a central office in Paris manned by Luc Piché, a high official of the Canadian Embassy there.
We also work with housing manufacturers to help them perfect their products aimed at the  reconstruction market.
Finally we are actively involved with a few refugee tent manufacturers as well as with their end users, be they Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross.

OUR COORDINATES

  • In Cantamar, Mexico
Office (0152) 661-614-3163
Plant: (0152) 661-614-3262

  • In Carlsbad, CA USA 3402 Santa Clara Way, Carlsbad CA 92010
Office 760-742-5164
Lab : 760-442-3402

Skype: jimpoir
Skype In: 760-742-5164

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