On a recent
visit to a northern Manitoba First Nations community, I sat down with a few of
the residents to discuss their housing issues.
It was
early spring and the frost was just coming out of the ground. Like many
northern communities, homes are built on a combination of rock and moss, none
of which is level. In the spring, the moisture in the moss expands, pushing a
corner of the foundation of the home upward. This causes the doors and even
windows to shift, with broken windows, popped by this movement, a common sight.
In the worst of winter, residents remove door knobs so that the shifting does
not trap them inside or out of their homes when the lock striker plate and
latch misalign. The local carpenters are kept busy replacing windows and
adjusting door frames.
A part of
the problem is the inability to bring up materials and complete the necessary
quality work in the short summer season. Materials often can only arrive on
winter roads. Tradesmen play “catch-up” on repairs while trying to build new
housing on site throughout the community. Thus, the quality of workmanship
suffers, making the housing crisis worse.
Yet, a
seemingly simple solution has been overlooked by the band and by INAC: build
several houses at once in an enclosed environment, year round. One of the
reasons that bands have not embraced this idea is that authorities are still
thinking 1970s construction. In their view, building a giant wood or steel
warehouse in which to build a handful of houses would be counterproductive.
They have failed to examine the benefits of using a fabric structure in which
to build the homes.
Standard
wood or steel buildings are heavy and the large spans of open interior space
would be interrupted or segmented by support beams and posts. This would make
building and removing the completed houses from the warehouse an almost
impossible task.
Fabric, or
tension-fabric buildings can be constructed with huge clear spans, sometimes
exceeding three hundred feet. Being lightweight, they require much less support
than conventional buildings. Because they rely on tension of the fabric for
strength, they offer a more sturdy design in a harsh, windy environment. Also
because of their design the ends can open almost fully, allowing completed
houses and bulky materials to be moved in an out at will.
The
poly-fabric is extremely durable, performing very well in extreme cold and
extreme heat. While steel conducts heat and cold and wood requires dense
insulation, pvc fabric structures help to keep the temperature regulated. At the
same time, the open design allows for free air flow, significantly lowering
heating costs.
Polymer
fabric buildings also require less lighting, with good translucence. If
insulation is desired, insulated interior tarps or suspended insulation is an
easy option.
One of the
great advantages of fabric buildings in the northern setting is the lower costs
of transportation. Less material and less weight of the pieces reduces weight
by up to 80%. In some cases, many of the parts can be flown in economically.
Once on site, assembly of poly-fabric buildings occurs in a fraction of the
time required for conventional buildings. Even anchoring is easy, either by
anchoring trusses and plates into rock or designing a floating footing system.
Fisher
First Nations, in Manitoba’s Interlake, builds up to four homes at a time in
their warehouse building. This idea would work just as well in any remote
community, allowing homes to be built throughout the entire year, at lower
costs per unit than currently occurs and at a higher standard of workmanship
(because supervisors would be on site at all times). A corollary to building
RTM homes inside a fabric building is that local workers could be employed year
round, while residents benefit from improved housing.
Weight,
cost, quality, ease or flexibility each is a great reason to look more closely
at using fabric structures in remote communities to benefit residents.
Tension-fabric buildings offer First Nations people a great chance to help
themselves to lower cost, better quality facilities while creating new
employment and income opportunities in regions where jobs are scarce, costs are
high and quality suffers.
