Styrofoam - Japan Dome Houses

source: www.impactlab.com/2008/08/10/japans-styrofoam-dome-homes

While i was researching for a material has a light, soft and strong quality for my "PlayNow" project, i discovered a Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) as a potential material which seems odd but interesting. Styrofoam is most commonly associated with disposable coffee cups, meat trays and packaging. But today, it has been as a potential building material.

source: www.impactlab.com/2008/08/10/japans-styrofoam-dome-homes

Japan Dome House Co.Ltd are the manufacturers that have made Dome Houses which has an igloo-shaped structure built from snap-together wall sections made of 100% expanded polystyrene foam in Japan known as "habitat for the 21st century"


The choice of this material for building a home seems odd to me but it has a number of advantages of using Styrofoam compared to the traditional building materials.

source: www.i-domehouse.com/case.html

Benefits of Styrofoam over traditional materials such as wood and metal are:

• Protection: It provides a good shock absorbency and compression resistance for safety protections.

• Durability: It is non-toxic material and it’s also moisture resistant which means there is no loss of strength in damp conditions.

• Versatile: It is exible and can be moulded into any shape or form to meet a product’s protection.

• Environmentally friendly

• Styrofoam Dome House does not rust, rot or attract termites.

• It is also highly resistant to earthquakes and typhoons.
  

More on Styrofoam as a building material: www.i-domehouse.com/index.html