Civilization101Blueprint

Building materials

Brick, lime, cement and glass make building permanent. Their primary home is Materials & Chemistry; they are listed here so the building cascade can be read in one place.

Shelter Levels 2–3 4 steps written
2
Level 2 · Forge · 1 of 2 in this track

Fired brick, tile and lime

t2-brick Guide ×3Build ×3Sheet ×10

Brick and tile

Cross-listed. Its home is Materials & Chemistry › Ceramics and glass.

Make a standard, repeatable building unit — and something that will line a furnace.

Needs first: Pottery and the first kiln (Materials), Charcoal (Energy)

t2-lime Guide ×6Build ×2Sheet ×10

Lime

Cross-listed. Its home is Materials & Chemistry › Binders.

Burn limestone and unlock mortar, plaster, flux, and disinfection.

Needs first: Pottery and the first kiln (Materials), Charcoal (Energy)

Unlocks Masonry house and chimney · ShelterCement and concreteGlassThe four-course rotation, field drains and the seed drill · FoodIron-framed and multi-storey building · ShelterCanals and locks · TransportAcids · MaterialsAlkalis · MaterialsBlast furnace and cheap iron · Materials
3
Level 3 · Mill · 2 of 2 in this track

Cement, concrete and glass

t3-cement Guide ×4BuildSheet ×10

Cement and concrete

Cross-listed. Its home is Materials & Chemistry › Binders.

Make artificial stone you can pour into any shape.

Needs first: Lime (Materials), Brick and tile (Materials), Charcoal (Energy)

Unlocks City water and sewerage · WaterIron-framed and multi-storey building · ShelterSteel frame and reinforced concrete · ShelterCold frames, hotbeds and the glasshouse · FoodFramed and glazed building · ShelterAcids · MaterialsGerm theory and antisepsis · HealthMake chlorine disinfectant · WaterInstruments and measurement · KnowledgeThe laboratory as an institution · KnowledgeRadio · ComputingElectronics: amplification and switching · Computing

Everything in this track

Every guide, build, reference sheet and book reached from the steps above.

Field guides

Level 3
Properties of materials

Density, stiffness, expansion and melting point for the materials the ladder makes, and what each number decides.

 Level 1
Clay and firing

Fired clay is the first material a group makes that does not exist in nature: a rock with a shape you chose. Getting there is mostly patience — in the drying, and in the heating.

 Level 1
Stone and earth building

How to build a dwelling that stays dry and standing for thirty years from subsoil, stone and timber: choosing the method, setting out, foundations, walls, roof, drainage, and how to inspect, repair and maintain it.

 Level 2
Lime

Burn a rock, add water, and it turns back into rock in the shape you gave it. Mortar, plaster, whitewash, soap and tanning all start there — and so does an alkali burn that can blind in seconds.

 Level 1
Poisons

The poisonings a rebuilding community is most likely to meet: where each comes from, how it shows, and the first thing to do.

 Level 2
Minerals and ores

How to tell the ores that matter with nothing but a streak plate, a knife and your hand: colour lies, streak and weight do not.

 Level 1
Soils and plant nutrition

What a soil is made of, why its acidity matters, and how to read a nutrient shortage in the leaves before it costs a harvest.

 Level 3
Chemistry

What matter is made of and how it changes: amounts, gases, acids, the energy and speed of reactions, electrochemistry, and the reactions every industry on the ladder runs on.

Builds

A Rumford fireplace: tall, shallow firebox with sides splayed outward, which throws radiant heat into the room and leads the smoke smoothly into a narrow throat.
Level 2
Fireplace and chimney

A fireplace that throws its heat into the room and a lined flue that takes every trace of smoke out of the house: the part of a house most likely to burn it down or poison the people in it.
An updraught kiln at full firing. Pottery is the first step that needs real temperature control.
Level 1
Updraught kiln

The first machine that holds a temperature — pottery, brick and tile, and the training ground for every furnace above it.
A stone draw kiln cut into a bank — mortar, plaster and clean water all start here.
Level 2
Continuous draw lime kiln

Burn limestone into quicklime — mortar, plaster, whitewash, flux, tannery liquor and soil correction, from one shaft.
A replica of a Leeuwenhoek microscope, about 5 cm tall: the tiny glass lens sits in the hole at the top of the brass plate, the specimen goes on the point just behind it, and the screws move the point to focus. The eye goes right up against the plate.
Level 3
Bead microscope

A glass bead the size of a pinhead magnifies 150–350 times: enough to see yeast, blood cells and the larger bacteria that cause disease.
Galileo's two surviving telescopes, 1609–10, Museo Galileo, Florence: long thin tubes, because a single-lens objective only gives a sharp image at a long focal length and a small aperture.
Level 3
Refracting telescope

Two lenses in a tube: a 1-metre objective and a 25 mm eyepiece give 40×, enough to see Jupiter's moons and the phases of Venus.

Reference sheets

Drawn overview sheets, each with its corrections printed under it. They orient; they are never the thing you identify from.

Twelve panels in order: site, ground preparation, foundation, floor, walls, doors and windows, roof frame, roof covering, eaves and drainage, plaster, a cutaway of the finished house, and a final checklist with ongoing maintenance.
Permanent shelter: the complete construction sequence On: Stone and earth building: The order of work
Ten panels: a safe location, areas to avoid, sun, wind, shade and materials, soil types, slope and drainage, a homestead layout, orientation, clear space round the house, future expansion, and a site checklist.
Site selection and building layout On: Stone and earth building: Choose the site and set it out
Ten panels: why water control matters, eaves, gutters and downspouts, ground slope, drainage options, plinth protection, roof runoff, water management, common mistakes, and a checklist.
Rainwater, eaves and drainage On: Stone and earth building: Where the water goes
Nine panels: the trench, soil types, a gravel layer, the stone foundation, a cross-section, damp-proofing options, plinth and floor level, drainage round the foundation, and three common foundation types.
Foundation and ground moisture protection On: Stone and earth building: Foundations and plinths: the boots
Twelve panels: preparing the ground, the gravel base, the fill layer, surface options, a cross-section, finishes, the door threshold, damp-proofing, floors for different climates, common mistakes, and a checklist.
Floor construction On: Stone and earth building: Floors
Eleven panels: wall materials, adobe, rammed earth and stone masonry, cross-sections, corners and bonding, a thickness guide, openings, plaster, water protection, and common mistakes.
Earth and stone wall construction On: Stone and earth building: Building the walls
Nine panels: a typical door and window, lintel options, how a lintel carries the wall, construction steps for each, opening dimensions, common mistakes, and key checkpoints.
Doors, windows and lintels On: Stone and earth building: Openings, lintels, corners and arches
Eleven panels: roof parts, roof types, pitch and runoff, the frame, construction steps, eaves, the roof-to-wall joint, the ridge, covering details, common mistakes, and checkpoints.
Roof structure and construction On: Stone and earth building: Roofs: the hat
Ten panels: why to plaster, the three coats, material options, surface preparation, application steps, finishes, details and protection, common problems, repairs, and key checkpoints.
Plastering and weather protection On: Stone and earth building: When it goes wrong: diagnosis and repair
A labelled cutaway of the finished house (roof, eaves, walls, foundation, lintels, windows, interior, floor and site), cross-sections of the wall, floor and roof, and an inspection checklist.
Finished shelter: technical cutaway and inspection On: Stone and earth building: Maintenance calendar

Books and archives

Other tracks in Shelter & Architecture

Emergency and temporary shelterDwellingsStorage and farm buildings