This is just plain cool. And potentially life-changing for a lot of people in desperate need.
A British firm has developed a tent of a flexible canvas material which, when saturated before it is blown up or hosed down after it’s pitched (by just two people), eventually becomes concrete. So you pitch a canvas tent and 24 hours later it’s a concrete building (check out the video). The Global Post reports that the company was apparently inspired by the way casts are placed on broken bones, wetted and then harden. While it may have been designed primarily for military purposes the most valuable way to use it might be to house people displaced into horrible conditions by natural disasters. Not much good for camping of course because when it’s up and set it would take some serious demolition equipment to get it down.