
Show HN: Igloos That Don't Melt - peterwallhead
http://icewall.com.au/?hn
======
peterwallhead
OP here.

I'm the younger son of the late inventor of these igloos and I just want to
share this product with a wider audience.

Of tech interest, 2 Igloos are being used as meeting rooms in Google's Zurich
HQ.

Would love to hear your thoughts on other possible tech related uses too.

~~~
JohnKacz
I'm curious about the approximate price range. I'm imagining it's by part, but
what would you say a basic cabin for 2 runs vs the winter quarters for 6
before shipping of course.

~~~
peterwallhead
Prices start from $22,560AUD (about $17,236USD), for a basic cabin without
furniture.

Because every Igloo is made to order and can may include additional wall
panels and furniture then there is no set price range. Best to contact
directly for further info.

[http://www.icewall.com.au/about/faqs/](http://www.icewall.com.au/about/faqs/)
and [http://www.icewall.com.au/contact/](http://www.icewall.com.au/contact/)

------
kurthr
The Hexayurt:
[http://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt_playa](http://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt_playa)

Not nearly as solid, but inexpensive, easy to pack, and quick to set up. Tape
down to a tarp to keep out the dust. Stake out to survive 50mph winds.

Pressurize in bio-warfare environments- assemble 2 together sharing a wall as
an "air lock"... enjoy!

 __ _Warning- Does not keep out "rage zombies"_ __

~~~
falcolas
The yurt is a great and timeless design, but it's not really designed for the
same longevity or environments as an Igloo.

Yurt: Protection from sun and wind

Igloo: Insulation from cold and wind, structurally protected against weight of
snow on top of it

The modern iterations on both of these ideas will have similar constraints
(though modern materials can push the constraints further).

------
p1mrx
Challenge accepted. Everything melts under the right conditions.

~~~
TJSomething
Wood doesn't melt; it just burns.

Not that these don't melt; they're mostly fiberglass and polyurethane.

~~~
leni536
Well it certainly can't burn if there is no oxigen around.

edit: It seems it doesn't melt even then.

[https://m.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1rwxne/could_i_me...](https://m.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1rwxne/could_i_melt_wood/)

------
bpicolo
> Light enough to be flown fully assembled by helicopter.

Kind of an amusing phrase, though I imagine it makes more sense out in the
Australian bush.

~~~
igf
Even out there, it's a pretty rare use case. If you're somewhere so remote
that you can't get there with _any_ kind of land vehicle, then... what are you
even doing there, that you need a semi-permanent solid structure?

~~~
Turing_Machine
Happens all the time here in Alaska. There are many medium-sized towns and
villages that are accessible only by air or water.

Heck, not even the state capital (population 31,000) is on the road system.

------
mrob
Misleading title. Igloos are made out of ice. This is made out of fiberglass
and PET. I was expecting something like a better version of Pykrete. The
"don't melt" qualifier is especially misleading because it implies that under
normal circumstances it would melt. Nobody talks about "non-melting
fiberglass" \- that's normal fiberglass so you don't need to specify non-
melting. This is just a prefab dome building. Domes buildings are interesting,
but not as interesting as true non-melting ice would be.

~~~
Turing_Machine
"Misleading title. Igloos are made out of ice."

Nope, though that's a common misconception.

"Iglu" just means "house". It can refer to any type of dwelling, made of any
material (even a modern wood-frame, brick, or concrete house). Only a few
groups of the Inuit/Inupiat/Yup'ik people actually lived in iglus made of snow
(not ice), though many groups used them for temporary shelter while on (e.g.)
hunting trips. Other groups made their iglus of hides, sod, driftwood, or
whatever other local material was available (some of the southern groups, such
as the Alutiiq, dug pit houses in the ground).

~~~
mrob
"Igloo" is an English word. It doesn't have the exact same meaning as the
Inuit word it's derived from. And snow is a type of ice.

~~~
Turing_Machine
'"Igloo" is an English word."

No, it is not.

"And snow is a type of ice."

No, it is not. Snow (of the type used to construct shelters) is a mixture of
ice crystals and air. The air is extremely important for the purpose under
discussion. Snow is a pretty good insulator. Ice is not.

Also, "Inuit" is the name of only one group of people. Using their name for
(say) Yup'ik is like calling an Italian or Romanian "French" just because they
all speak a Romance language.

~~~
mrob
Of course it is. People will think you're crazy if you call a wood frame house
an igloo. An igloo is not an ᐃᒡᓗ, just like a mansion is not a マンション.

And while insulation is an important property of snow, for the purposes of the
discussion where we were talking about melting not insulation, "ice" is a good
word to use. Snow is made of ice, so this is 100% correct.

And "Inuit" is absolutely the correct name for the closely related
languages/dialects shared by several groups of native
Alaskan/Canadian/Greenlandic peoples. I realize the distinction between
language and dialect is politically contentious, but speakers of Inuit from
close geographical areas have excellent mutual comprehension, so it is not
similar to your Italian/Romanian example.

As Wikipedia says "Outside Inuit culture, however, igloo refers exclusively to
shelters constructed from blocks of compacted snow, generally in the form of a
dome."

~~~
Turing_Machine
"And "Inuit" is absolutely the correct name for the closely related
languages/dialects shared by several groups of native
Alaskan/Canadian/Greenlandic peoples."

No, it absolutely is not. _Yup 'ik is not Inuit_. It is not mutually
intelligible with _any_ dialect of Inuit. The Yup'ik languages split from
Inuit around a thousand years ago (i.e., just about as long ago as Romanian,
Spanish, etc. split from Latin).

The _correct_ name for the language group is Eskimo–Aleut. Not "Inuit".

I realize that it's become fashionable in Canada to simply ignore Yup'ik and
Aleut people and just call everybody "Inuit". However, Canada isn't the whole
world.

Neither professional linguists (source: Wikipedia article below) nor the
people themselves (source: I live in Alaska and actually know Alaska Native
people) consider Inuit the "correct name" for all Eskimo-Aleut languages.
While an Iñupiat person might not get pissed off at you for calling him an
"Inuit" (even thought they don't call themselves that) a Yup'ik person
probably would. Just as an Italian would be upset by being called "French".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo%E2%80%93Aleut_languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo%E2%80%93Aleut_languages)

~~~
mrob
Inuit language is a subset of Eskimo-Aleut language. Yup'ik language and Aleut
language are also subsets of Eskimo-Aleut language. I was unable to find any
evidence that Yup'ik or Aleut people traditionally built snow houses. I can't
rule out that some of them did, but it has no relevance to the English word
"igloo", which is derived from the Inuit language subset of Eskimo-Aleut, not
the Yup'ik language or Aleut language subsets of Eskimo-Aleut.

------
brudgers
Often times, it's bulk rather than weight that determines transport
feasibility. That's historically been a significant limiting factor in the
practicality of prefabricated structures for general use...the difficulty of
prefabricating a foundation being perhaps the only more significant one.

------
andrewflnr
So, how much does one actually cost?

~~~
peterwallhead
For a basic Igloo (8 wall panels, without furniture) prices start from AUD
$22,560 (current as of Dec. 2014) -
[http://www.icewall.com.au/about/faqs/](http://www.icewall.com.au/about/faqs/)

~~~
antisthenes
And what's the actual cost to make one?

~~~
peterwallhead
That's a number set by the licensed manufacturer, which I'm not party to.
Sorry.

------
Animats
We'll probably see some of those at a Burning Man VIP camp.

~~~
peterwallhead
I hope so!

