SUBS#10:
WHAT GOOD IS IT?

SUBS [Simple Universal Building System] is a modular panelized-construction earthquake-and-tornado-resistant architectural system that can easily be shop-built of conventional materials and bolted together on site by a six year old girl and a medium-smart gorilla with two wrenchs.  Components can be carted to a remote site on a foot path by two men.

You can leave it up for 100 years, or move it around next week if you change your mind about what you need or where the windows should be . . . or the zoning board condemns it and orders you to tear it down.  It was designed with communities in mind, since their architectural needs change constantly with their membership and activities.

I have received email from people assuming it would be good for sheltering homeless people, etc..  This might be true in some situations, but SUBS is NOT a do-everything building system for all purposes.  It is one of MANY different construction methods available to us now.  I really love SUBS, but it's not a solution for all building problems, and I don't want to misrepresent it or suggest it for inappropriate purposes.  It depends on what your needs are.  This article attempts to suggest the kinds of things it might [and might not] be good for.

It does not exactly shine in the area of portability, as some people have assumed, though it certainly CAN be disassembled and moved.  It is very simple and solid, but for cost and portability it will never rival teepees, tents, yurts, lightweight domes, or trailers.  It is similar to conventional frame construction, but modular and much more heavy-duty.  [It could be built of fiberglass, plastic, metal, or other exotic materials, but that's for mass production later on.  The geometry works now in readily available materials. Later on, you can mix-and-match.]

The basic residential panel is a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood framed up on 2x6's around the outside and one down the middle for 2 foot plywood spans.  This exceeds code for flooring, and VASTLY exceeds code for walls, so the SAME panel is a roof, wall, OR floor.  If you modify the center stud design to accomodate a window or door, you have a bolt-in-place window or door panel that can be moved around in your building without too much trouble.

Panels bolt together edge to edge to make a doubled "joist" [AKA "rafter" or "stud," depending on whether it's horizontal or vertical, and above or below you] every four feet.  The geometry of intersecting planes, and the 6 inch square-tubing beams and connectors that fasten them, is what makes the system work.  Wiring and plumbing go inside the 6" square channels where planes meet, so you don't put the utilities inside the walls, where they are hard to access and would mess up your panels for later re-use.

Cost for materials will be higher than conventional frame construction, because everything is HEAVY DUTY and there are MANY additional metal bolts and connectors.  It should be less than double normal materials cost for the SHELL.   However, labor costs should be much lower because essentially the entire shell is shop-built, and merely assembled on site.

Panels bolt togther and CAN be taken apart easily.   However, if you finish the inside with insulation, drywall, paint/wallpaper, plumbing, wiring, etc., and the outside with roofing and perhaps siding, you are still looking at lots of time and expense to take apart, ship, and reassemble a building.   Bubble-foil insulation and modular twist-lock wiring could be easily re-used, but drywall and some other materials would be destroyed in disassembly.

Switching a door or wall around shouldn't be too much hassle for an owner-builder weekend project, but tearing down a fully setup building is still a big undertaking.  The panels are HEAVY [duty].  SUBS would SHINE where you were looking at continual addition/ expansion/ modification.  For a light duty shelter that you KNOW is going to be moved somewhere else, NOTHING can compete with a tent.  If you need it REALLY STURDY, but you also need to move it eventually, SUBS is the best method I know of.  SUBS will produce a single or multi-story building of any size that will be INCREDIBLY strong and earthquake-resistant, for approximately the cost of "conventional" construction, and you CAN take it apart or modify it.

For a homeless shelter in the tropics, where you basically just want to keep the rain off, SUBS would be absurdly overbuilt.  A tent would be much more appropriate.  For a winter homeless shelter in Northern Minnesota, with sub-zero temperatures, gale force winds, and huge snow loads, it might be perfect.   It can go up FAST.  It is plenty strong.  And it can be rapidly dissassembled and moved to another site when the local need disappears.

If you want to hang a building from steel cables over a canyon edge that is not accessible by vehicle, but can only be approached on a narrow foot path. . . SUBS IS YOUR SYSTEM!  In fact, that design problem actually started the thought process which lead to SUBS itself.  You want an elegant, sturdy, multi-story tree house, that you can remove?  Think about SUBS!  You want a two-story apartment, built over a car wash?  SUBS can do it cheaper and better!  You want to ship earthquake-proof apartments or houses to Japan? Think about SUBS!

For people trying to move out of their cars into ?what-ever? on a subsistence budget, a teepee or other low cost [however temporary] shelter is the logical progression.  How about a dead van, truck, or bus [widely available at minimal cost], buried under straw bales?

Because of it's basically planar/angled geometry [though curved modules are possible], SUBS is superb for dividing and organizing interior spaces.   Thin-shell curved structures like eggs will always enclose maximum raw space with the least material and the most strength.

Large fired-earth [ceramic] domes are probably the most efficient solution for enclosing the maximum space with very high fire, tornado and earthquake safety, in almost indestructable permanence, and at very low cost.  They are NOT transportable or easily remodeled, but might be owner-built on site for about the cost of tearing down, shipping, and reassembling a SUBS building of the same size.   Nadir Khalili has published several books on fired-earth architecture as a solution to low cost owner-built mass housing.  I have read his books, heard him speak, and taken a seminar with him.  I am very impressed with him and his work.

Reinforced concrete domes are probably the next price step above ceramic domes.  I imagine they would be faster to build and stronger, but more expensive.  [I have some literature from "Monolithic Domes" in Texas that seems excellent.  They will train you to build your own reinforced concrete domes using their system, forms, equipment, etc.]

SUBS would probably be a somewhat more expensive solution to the housing/space problem, adding modularity, flexibility, and convenient flat planes and 90 degree angles for walls/ ceilings/ floors, but LOSING the competely fire-proof quality of ceramic or concrete domes due to its wood content.  [Of course, a fire INSIDE a fireproof dome can kill you just as dead as anything else. The dome itself will survive to house another tenant, however.]

SUBS combines extraordinary strength with the ability to build gradually or add-on.  Ceramic or concrete domes need to be built all at once.   SUBS buildings could be built slowly and steadily over time by regularly adding a room, etc.  SUBS buildings would NOT be as strong as ferro-concrete, but would be vastly stronger than typical stick-built construction.  SUBS can be slowly owner-built all winter in a garage, and then quickly assembled in good weather.

When I see pictures of tornado or earthquake-leveled cities on the news, I can't help thinking that a lot of dead people would still be alive now if they had been living in SUBS houses.  Even in a standard frame structure, a single small SUBS "SAFE ROOM" could could save many lives.  For tornado or hurricane threats, the safe room must be anchored to a heavy foundation to keep it from blowing away.  For earthquake protection, however, the foundation is not necessary.   An earthquake-proof SUBS room could easily be assembled WITHIN an existing structure, and could withstand the weight of an entire building collapsing onto it.

Every construction method has advantages and disadvantages.  Domes have very nice roof solutions, but they need to be insulated and waterproofed too, [geodesic domes flex a LOT, and typically leak like sieves], and they don't lend themselves at all to add-on second stories.  Ceramic or concrete domes will enclose more space for less money and be fireproof too, but but they aren't rearrangeable and won't give you all those nice flat planes and rectangular boxes with vertical walls [so nice for shelving and storage] that most of us are used to living in.   Domes also typically prefer flat sites, while SUBS would lend itself beautifully to a sprawling and flowing hillside building, without extensively recontouring the landscape.

Different construction methods can of course be combined on the same site.  A very large ceramic or concrete dome might have a multi-story SUBS interior to divide and utilize space in a slowly evolving and changeable design.   A concrete block warehouse might be SUBS-divided into reconfigurable storage units or artists lofts.  SUBS offices could be built in open manufacturing or service shops.  SUBS components make excellent lofts for fully utilizing space in apartments or other structures, and can be easily removed at lease-end.

The possibilities for creativity are endless.  SUBS is just one of the elegant options.

Bill Dur <billdur@net-prophet.net>
Modular Systems @ http://net-prophet.net/billdur/billdur.htm
Simple Universal Building System: Superior By Design