Monocrete construction
Encyclopedia
Monocrete is a building construction
method utilising modular bolt-together pre-cast concrete
wall panels.
Monocrete construction was widely used in the construction of government housing
in the 1940s and 1950s in Canberra
, Australia
. The expansion of the new capital
was exceeding the ability of the Government to build houses, so alternative construction methods were investigated.
The Canberra monocrete homes are built on brick piers and surrounding brick footing. All of the walls are of monocrete construction including interior ones. They are precast with steel windows and door frames set directly into the concrete. Steel plates in the ceiling space bolt the individual wall panels together. The floor and roof are of normal construction - wood and tile respectively. The gaps between the wall panels are filled with a flexible gap-filling compound and covered with tape on the interior. Unfortunately the panels tend to move separately to one another, opening up cracks in between them. The houses also tend to be susceptible to condensation build up and mold growth on the inside of the walls.
It has been suggested that the monocrete government-built homes in Canberra were only ever intended as semi-temporary buildings.
A similar technique is used in the construction of some modern commercial buildings.
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
method utilising modular bolt-together pre-cast concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
wall panels.
Monocrete construction was widely used in the construction of government housing
Public housing in the Australian Capital Territory
Government built housing in Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory has a history stemming from the decision to build the National Capital in the bush. In the early years Canberra's housing was entirely government-built and even after private development took over there has been a number of...
in the 1940s and 1950s in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The expansion of the new capital
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
was exceeding the ability of the Government to build houses, so alternative construction methods were investigated.
The Canberra monocrete homes are built on brick piers and surrounding brick footing. All of the walls are of monocrete construction including interior ones. They are precast with steel windows and door frames set directly into the concrete. Steel plates in the ceiling space bolt the individual wall panels together. The floor and roof are of normal construction - wood and tile respectively. The gaps between the wall panels are filled with a flexible gap-filling compound and covered with tape on the interior. Unfortunately the panels tend to move separately to one another, opening up cracks in between them. The houses also tend to be susceptible to condensation build up and mold growth on the inside of the walls.
It has been suggested that the monocrete government-built homes in Canberra were only ever intended as semi-temporary buildings.
A similar technique is used in the construction of some modern commercial buildings.