Fabric Buildings A Great Opportunity For First Nations Communities

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.

 

Uses for Fabric Buildings

When the photocopier emerged on the office scene decades ago to replace Gestetner and carbon copies, most people were skeptical of its value or the likelihood that offices would find a need for multiple copies. Instead of failing miserably as predicted, it opened up other industries and technologies, including fax, print advertising and others. This, in turn, enabled the growth of other businesses. Think of the ideas and inventions that the computer has spawned. 

Similarly, the emergence of fabric buildings (often called “tarpaulin buildings”) has enabled the refinement and development of many more business and personal applications that were not feasible a decade or two ago.

In rural communities, retention of the population base has become the primary focus, with a steady outflow of residents moving to bigger centres where there are better facilities of all sorts. Combined with a lack of money to stimulate infrastructure development or business support, this lack of services has become critical to community survival or failure. Fabric buildings may offer an answer to cost effective development of local resources. One of the major costs, for example, involved in swimming pool construction is the enclosure. With the very short outdoor season in Western Canada, a three-month season to repay the cost of a swimming pool is far from sufficient. However, a fabric canopy could extend the season by three more months, making capital costs more affordable. Along Lake Winnipeg, a local community spent several years considering the viability of an amphitheater for its summer patrons, opting eventually for a simple stage. Had the choice of a fabric canopy been considered, cost would have been significantly reduced and the project proceeded more quickly. While many rural communities have developed golf courses, opting for a fabric pavilion would have expanded their reach and ability to serve larger groups than the small clubhouses that they build can do.

Whether urban or rural, open-air restaurants are popular eateries and the fabric building is the perfect answer to this venue design. They can be seasonal, extended season operations or even designed as year-round facilities. In like manner, rural and urban centres may want to look at the low cost versus the benefit of providing baseball diamond dugout canopies or umbrella sunshades for the spectators. In the country, rodeo stands and staging areas could use such low-cost coverings.

Many  cities now employ transit stop canopy shelters made of fabric. Apartment complexes and some hotels have maximized usable space by installing rooftop canopies while others have enclosed courtyards in fabric domes. Think of the many outdated seniors homes. Their tiny suites are far from inviting. Expanded leisure space can be quickly created by enclosing the unused greenspace that many have. Auto dealers know that shoppers prefer to examine their potential purchase in the comfort of an enclosed showroom. A simple shade saddle, inflatable dome or tension-fabric building costs a fraction of a traditional showroom, provides better lighting and easier access and egress for vehicles. This, in turn, increases sales potential.

While the evolution of fabric structures (or “tarp structures”) may not equal the impact of the computer or photocopier, it is a game-changer, and allows for creative communities, organizations, businesses and individuals to capitalize on the opportunities created.

 

Fabric Materials for Tarpaulin Buildings

When the photocopier emerged on the office scene decades ago to replace Gestetner and carbon copies, most people were skeptical of its value or the likelihood that offices would find a need for multiple copies. Instead of failing miserably as predicted, it opened up other industries and technologies, including fax, print advertising and others. This, in turn, enabled the growth of other businesses. Think of the ideas and inventions that the computer has spawned. 

Similarly, the emergence of fabric buildings (often called “tarpaulin buildings”) has enabled the refinement and development of many more business and personal applications that were not feasible a decade or two ago.

In rural communities, retention of the population base has become the primary focus, with a steady outflow of residents moving to bigger centres where there are better facilities of all sorts. Combined with a lack of money to stimulate infrastructure development or business support, this lack of services has become critical to community survival or failure. Fabric buildings may offer an answer to cost effective development of local resources. One of the major costs, for example, involved in swimming pool construction is the enclosure. With the very short outdoor season in Western Canada, a three-month season to repay the cost of a swimming pool is far from sufficient. However, a fabric canopy could extend the season by three more months, making capital costs more affordable. Along Lake Winnipeg, a local community spent several years considering the viability of an amphitheater for its summer patrons, opting eventually for a simple stage. Had the choice of a fabric canopy been considered, cost would have been significantly reduced and the project proceeded more quickly. While many rural communities have developed golf courses, opting for a fabric pavilion would have expanded their reach and ability to serve larger groups than the small clubhouses that they build can do.

Whether urban or rural, open-air restaurants are popular eateries and the fabric building is the perfect answer to this venue design. They can be seasonal, extended season operations or even designed as year-round facilities. In like manner, rural and urban centres may want to look at the low cost versus the benefit of providing baseball diamond dugout canopies or umbrella sunshades for the spectators. In the country, rodeo stands and staging areas could use such low-cost coverings.

Many  cities now employ transit stop canopy shelters made of fabric. Apartment complexes and some hotels have maximized usable space by installing rooftop canopies while others have enclosed courtyards in fabric domes. Think of the many outdated seniors homes. Their tiny suites are far from inviting. Expanded leisure space can be quickly created by enclosing the unused greenspace that many have. Auto dealers know that shoppers prefer to examine their potential purchase in the comfort of an enclosed showroom. A simple shade saddle, inflatable dome or tension-fabric building costs a fraction of a traditional showroom, provides better lighting and easier access and egress for vehicles. This, in turn, increases sales potential.

While the evolution of fabric structures (or “tarp structures”) may not equal the impact of the computer or photocopier, it is a game-changer, and allows for creative communities, organizations, businesses and individuals to capitalize on the opportunities created.