we recently completed a submission for the design of a beach hut in norfolk

aramid

The design of the hut is inspired by the forces of the wind and sea and how they weather the landscape to create new forms.
The design utilises a composite form of construction so as to easily form organic shapes and to provide a high tensile and compressive strength.
The composite construction uses structural foam (corecell) which is wrapped with an aramid re-inforcement fibre (REA 390) external skin. This is bonded to the corecell using a resin (with a fire resistant epoxy laminate system). The resin provides water resistance and has the ability to withstand constant stress cycling- properties particularly important for use in the marine environment. Uv stability is achieved by application of a final coat of varnish.
The corecell has been designed with a number of openings within it to allow light into the beach hut through the translucent outer skin.The interior is lined with ply with a white painted finish to provide a contrast to the external skin- similar to that of an oyster shell.The hut is opened by lifting up the awning and folding down the lower section to form a ramped sundeck providing accessibility and an external seating platform.
When fully closed these sections act to secure the hut and provide a durable frontage resistant to the severe weather conditions.

Notes

aramid fibre is a man-made organic polymer (an aromatic polyamide) produced by spinning a solid fibre from a liquid chemical blend. The bright golden yellow filaments produced can have a range of properties, but all have high strength and low density giving very high specific strength. All grades have good resistance to impact, and lower modulus grades are used extensively in ballistic applications. As well as the high strength properties, the fibres also offer good resistance to abrasion, and chemical and thermal degradation.

corcell acts like the web in an I-beam, where the web provides the lightweight ‘separator’ between the load-bearing flanges. In an I-beam the flanges carry the main tensile and compressive loads and so the web can be relatively lightweight carrying the shear loads. Core materials in a sandwich structure act as a continuous web and are similarly low in weight compared to the materials in the skin laminates. It can also be recycled and re-used for other applications

resin (Fire resistance – the Ampreg50R fire resistant epoxy laminate system)

Ampreg 50FR is an epoxy laminating system, consisting of a resin paste and a hardener paste, designed for cure at elevated temperature. This system provides good fire resistance while at the same time providing reasonable mechanical properties after cure. The system offers very low flammability and low toxic product generation.