An Application of Polycarbonate... Out of the Ordinary!
Vitek Simek, Stepan Rehor, and Matej Velek are the brains behind the Czech company Architects H3T, who managed to create, using cellular polycarbonate sheets, a product as imaginative as it is economical, highly mobile, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. You probably thought of anything while reading the above, except for… a mobile sauna!
The desire was to maximize space while maintaining the simplicity of the construction and, given the mobility component, the extremely low weight of the materials used. A mobile sauna pulled by… a bicycle (!) becomes a new and completely out-of-the-ordinary tool that interacts immediately with the space in which it is located.
Inside, it accommodates six people, the sauna being encapsulated in a cylinder clad in polycarbonate panels. It contains a fully functional fireplace that expels smoke outside through a small chimney and a set of wooden benches. Access is through a slit in the elastic membrane placed at the end of the cylinder, which keeps the heat inside during use. This prototype becomes a testing platform for unconventional ideas, exploring the possibilities of portable architecture with a distinct social function.
This (at least) interesting application of polycarbonate sheets once again demonstrates the exceptional qualities of the material: one of the requirements was to withstand harsh weather conditions, and test results showed it successfully endured a temperature difference of nearly 110° (-30°C outside; 80°C inside), also reaffirming the good reputation polycarbonate has for its great mechanical resistance, complemented by the advantage of its low mass, making it superior to heavier materials (such as glass).
(photo and text source: designboom.com)
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