With the astounding number of natural disasters occurring lately, it’s only a matter of time before people start brainstorming newer and more efficient ways for building homes and structures that can withstand the power of a tornado, like using carbon fiber. Thankfully, someone has been thinking exactly that.

Bradley Quinn, the author of “Design Futures”, a book about advanced materials, discusses the use of carbon fiber as a futuristic material that can provide more resistance to natural disasters that older housing technologies simply can’t.

“Carbon fiber is incredibly strong and very flexible. The thinking behind carbon fiber architecture is that it can withstand earthquakes. It would be more flexible in the wind than regular structures,” said Quinn.

Quinn also talks about the use of Kevlar as a futuristic material,

“Kevlar, metal mesh and carbon fibers all provide a flexibility that traditional materials such as wood or concrete simply cannot match. By bending with the wind instead of bending against it, houses constructed from more supple frames have a lower chance of collapse than the more rigid structures build today. There’s a new school of architecture devoted to designing softer buildings that integrate with, rather than resist, nature in both its calm and furious moods.”

While the use of carbon fiber sounds great and would definitely hold up better in the event of something terrible, there is always the cost to think about and we all know how expensive carbon fiber is. Especially when you consider those who have recently lost everything and are thinking about ways to rebuild. Would you be willing to front the cost of a carbon fiber house in order to reside in a earthquake proof home?

Take a look at the article on MSNBC where they touch on using carbon fiber in construction.  They also show a very interesting product called Concrete Cloth which is essentially concrete that is sprayed onto a fabric.

[Source: MSNBC]