The Gibran Center at Miracle Springs in Thailand sought to bring together people in retreat-like settings for their wellness retreats. They needed housing for incoming visitors. They began using an innovative way of building low-cost, low-impact housing under the Center's founder, guide and architectural designer, Hajjar Gibran.
Thanks to Hajjar and collaboration with his friend, Steve Areen, they have gained international recognition for these amazing homes. The demand is so great that Hajjar dedicated himself to inventing the equipment necessary to make them available around the world.
As beautiful as these unusual homes appear, their construction is even more unusual. They use a construction material that is light-weight, cost-efficient and easy to use: AirCrete. According to their website:
- "AirCrete is a lightweight non-toxic masonry material that is easy and inexpensive to make yourself with Little Dragon. It is waterproof, fireproof, and insect proof. It offers good thermal and acoustic insulation. It will not rot, warp, or corrode. Unlike concrete which is hard, heavy, cold and difficult to work with, AC is easy to work with. It dries overnight and can be cut, carved, drilled and shaped with wood-working tools. It accepts nails and screws and is easily repaired. It had good compressive strength to make excellent foundations, subfloors, building blocks, poured walls, domes or whatever. It can be molded or formed into practically any shape. AirCrete can cut cost of conventional methods of construction by a factor of 10 for several reasons."
