From:	Sommers sommers@*****.edu
Subject:	Questions of great importance (Steve, Jon, RA:S people
Date:	Thu, 02 Sep 1999 12:29:33 -0400

At 10:54 AM 9/2/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Doc wrote:
> >>>1. What constructions materials are used in the Shadowrun era? Have
>there been any great advances in this direction?<<<
>
>Well, we often refer to "ferrocrete" and "plasteel" in fiction, so
we can
>infer there are some more advanced construction materials in 2060. I imagine
>most construction advances are a result of greater and greater computer
>processing power for things like CAD/CAM design of buildings, allowing
>architects to "virtually" design a building in the Matrix, even "walk
through
>it" and test its design with the right algorithms. In fact, having a team of
>runners "acquire" the virtual model of an existing structure from the
>architect's files might make an interesting prelude to a shadowrun : )

I've always assumed that ferrocrete referred to newer forms of concrete
that are embedded with different forms of ferrous metals to increase their
durability. Its the same concept as reinforcing concrete poured into a mold
with steel rebars, but the metal laces the entire structure for all of the
preformed parts. Plasteel is similar except that metals beams are
reinforced by various polymers.

The whole CAD/CAM building idea is just a continuation of current
development. The Boeing 777 was the first commercial craft designed
completely on the computer before any prototype was built. Each subsystem
was loaded onto the main system and assembled with the rest of the
components. When it was ready, they ran a program (I think it was called
Bob) that simulated a maintenance worker, who crawled all around the plane.
From there, they figured out what would be hard to access and changed the
esign to make it easier to get into.

Doing this for a building would actually be easier, especially with the
simsense rigs from the Matrix doing the job in true 3-D.

Sommers
Insert witty quote here.