An Article About Jonathan Zimmerman
from Popular Science Magazine
By Mariette DeChristina

When Jonathan Zimmerman inflates a balloon, it isn't for a flight of fancy. The San Francisco architect uses balloons of fiberglass reinforced nylon or other fabrics to form his sturdy, energy-efficient structures.

After the balloon is inflated, the inside surface is sprayed with rigid polyurethane foam insulation. Steel reinforcing bars are then tied into place against the insulation, and concrete is sprayed to cover the steel. Door and window openings are created by leaving out the steel reinforcements and concrete and cutting away the insulation. Later, the balloon can be coated with the desired color or texture, and earth can be bermed against the structure.

Zimmerman says that the design should yield a skin with an insulative value of R-32, though it hasn't been formally tested. he also claims that his air-forming can cost half the price of a conventional building shell: "Balloon-shell costs are between $25 and $35 per square-foot of base area, and that is for a container that can hold more than one floor. "Like geodesic domes, the lack of corners makes air-formed homes more earthquake- and wind-resistant than conventional structures are, says Zimmerman. And the insulation is built into the structure, so it does not need to be added. Air-forming also permits compound shapes to provide greater design flexibility than geodesics, which are made of triangles or other shapes that generally create part of a sphere.

Chief among the obstacles to acceptance of the air-formed structure, says Zimmerman, "is that it doesn't look like anything else. It doesn't have the normal cultural antecedents we look for when we buy a house, the symbol of our success. So we're perfectly happy to buy the [conventionally designed and built] energy lemon, because it makes the statement that we have been expecting to make: 'I have arrived.' The question is, where is that?