Grow Your Own Buildings

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Not only that . . . but the "homegrown" constructions will be strong and durable, and—should they ever fracture—the same process that built them will enable them to heal themselves.

Furthermore, the concept behind this breakthrough is so basic . . . so sensible . . . and so absurdly simple that you'll wonder why no one ever thought of it before, and—more puzzling still—why so many people who have learned about the new building method don't rush out to try it.

Partly to blame for the lack of public acceptance, perhaps, is Wolf Hilbertz— the originator of the concept—who detailed his basic theory in a technical journal in 1975. The professor hoped—in that way—to assure that the process could not be patented and commercially exploited by anyone else ... since he felt the idea should belong to the whole world.

Hilbertz studied architecture in Berlin, finished his training at the University of Michigan, and now teaches the subject at the University of Texas in Austin. It was in the early 1970's, that the professor turned his attention to the study of plans that were—at that time—being proposed for underwater buildings.

"They were preposterous," he recalls, "because each and every one of the designs involved conventional, land-based techniques and materials . . . but when you're dealing with a new environment, you have to consider new ideas."

So, doing what he today urges his students to do, Wolf took a different approach . . . and looked at how some marine creatures provide themselves with habitats.

"I saw that such creatures grow their shelters from the material closest at hand: the minerals suspended in the water all around them. 'Why,' I wondered, 'can't humans emulate coral?' "

The thought was enough to trigger Wolf's memory. He recalled that just after World War I, Germany—stuck with massive reparations bills—had tried to extract gold from the Baltic Sea by electrolysis. The idea wasn't all that farfetched, since every known element can be found to some degree in seawater. Among the elements, of course, is gold, but—as the German researchers soon discovered—the precious metal exists in seawater in such small quantities that the extraction process costs more than conventional mining methods. Needless to say, the project was abandoned.

Why not, the architect wondered, repeat the German experiment, but make a cathode of wire mesh material or hardware cloth? Why not shape such "fencing" like the finished building you want . . . and let electricity attract the minerals to the form?

To find out whether his idea was practical, Hilbertz invested in a pair of second-hand commercial garage battery chargers, some cable, and enough wire mesh fencing to begin his first experiments (which were conducted at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute on the Gulf of Mexico, and at the U.T. Marine Research Station on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands). The rest is history ... but, surprisingly, it's little-known history.

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