Building a cave from the outside in

Usually a cave is made by digging into something and carving out a space. I may be misusing the phrase when I say I am building a cave-like structure, but this won't be the first time I've mixed my metaphors. I moved some text from a prior post to here to focus on the cave concept by itself.

Use of cement for the inside has also created problems with anchoring that go beyond weight. Cement shrinks as it sets, so the tendency for the piece to come out of the frame after it dries is great and requires additional anchoring, which adds to the complexity and amount of work required to make these frames secure. I have made a bunch of different test on anchoring techniques, but I have reduced my methods down to using thinner layers and the adhesive qualities of the materials themselves to minimize the risk of breakage in the frames.

The benefit of an inside surface that is made from a poured material is that I have been able to throw in a mold on the inside surface which provides a decorative element to the entire project. This could in fact be the best part about the bricks in that the outside layer is providing a shelter and the inside surface of cement is not only providing some insulating properties and fire protection, but is a photo fresco design on it's own. The inside layer could be a relief of a company logo or a relief pattern that repeats inside the wall like the brick pattern.

The inside layer is now where my focus of design is on and where I feel my hack artistic skills can be applied. I haven't gotten the same smooth results with an inside layer that I can get with the original outside piece, but I like the rougher cave-like texture that I am getting by just pressing in a thin mold while the cement is setting. This could be perfected if I make the two parts separately and mount them together, but again, more cost and time to prepare. My current process is quick and as inexpensive as I can get without sacrificing on achieving the goal of a functional product.

I have always used the metaphor that some art, like that found on ancient vases or cave walls, is journalistic in nature. The information contained on things made in prior eras is transferred to new and different societies through these pieces. Most materials and information that is created by a society ends up in a trash heap or simply falls victim to the realities of weathering and time and they disappear. The hardened items like metals and monuments of stone last the longest. Occasionally something like a vase or statue is unearthed that was preserved as a result of having been buried or protected in a cave from the light and weather. Now I have my own way to build not only pieces that can go in caves, but the dome is sort of the cave itself and the inside walls are mine to design like engravings on a cave wall.

I would love to build one of these in the desert as soon as possible so that the weathering can start taking effect, because I really want to see how the panels how up under real conditions in different environments. The desert is a great place to test durability because of the intense heating and cooling, as well as the wind and abrasion from blowing sand. It would also be fun to build a curved dome structure where it freezes and snows, then one where it is humid and rains. Still I haven't worked on the sealing between the frames, but I'm not as worried about that as I probably should be.