Development
The ICF construction technique was first developed in Europe following the second world war as an inexpensive and durable way to rebuild damaged structures. The first modern ICF forms were developed in the late 1960s with the advent of modern foam plastics. Canadian contractor Werner Gregori filed the first patent for a foam concrete form in 1966 with a block measuring 16 inches high by 48 inches long with a tongue-and-groove interlock, metal ties, and a waffle-grid core.
The adoption of ICF construction has steadily increased since the 1970s though adoption has been hampered by lack of awareness, building codes, and confusion caused by many different manufacturers selling slightly different ICF designs rather than focusing on industry standardization. Data from the National Association of Home Builders shows 48,000 ICF homes and 10,000 to 15,000 commercial structures were built using ICF in 2002. Since 2002, sales of ICFs have increased 30% annually. ICF construction is now part of many building codes and accepted in most jurisdictions in North-America.
Read more about this topic: Insulating Concrete Form
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“For decades child development experts have erroneously directed parents to sing with one voice, a unison chorus of values, politics, disciplinary and loving styles. But duets have greater harmonic possibilities and are more interesting to listen to, so long as cacophony or dissonance remains at acceptable levels.”
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)
“If you complain of people being shot down in the streets, of the absence of communication or social responsibility, of the rise of everyday violence which people have become accustomed to, and the dehumanization of feelings, then the ultimate development on an organized social level is the concentration camp.... The concentration camp is the final expression of human separateness and its ultimate consequence. It is organized abandonment.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)