40ft bus into RV aero

[Bicycle Bob]

Speaking of slides, etc, if I built a seldom-moved mobile dwelling, I'd put all the hardware along one side, and put big doors in the other, leading to a fold-down deck. The deck would be enclosed with half arches from the commercial greenhouse store, with two layers of polyethylene inflated to an insulating pillow wall. Assembly or packing would take a few hours, but a greenhouse is a lovely space for living and solar gains. On cold nights, the doors would be closed to save heat.

[freebeard]

It would be slow to erect and dismantle.


https://emergencyroof.wordpress.com/2014/06/

When you open the door to inflatables, it put me in mind of:

Antfarm

Special Topics in Interactive Art & Computational Design » Looking Outwards – Ant Farm
Here's their Inflatocookbook as a PDF.

Frei Otto

Although most of his work was tents, like at the 72 Munich Olympicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frei_Otto

http://mondo-blogo.blogspot.com/2010/11/blow-me-inflatable-art-architecture-and.html

Haus-Rucker-Co

The 'house wrecker company'

MONDOBLOGO: blow me: inflatable art, architecture and design

The Dyodon

ibid

Not to mention Archigram, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Bird and others.

[Bicycle Bob]

Hmm. - my friend must have had a rare setup - I can't find any images. The idea is to use arches with a shallow channel to support two layers of poly, with a tensioned member over both layers at the ribs, drawing them down into the groove. Air is blown into the space between layers of poly to separate them, and give the general topography of a cheap, stitched sleeping bag. The inner layer bulges in, and the outer layer is all convex. Being taut, it won't flap in the wind. More layers could be arranged. Air-supported buildings are rather wonderful, but different, requiring an air lock entrance.

[freebeard]

Whelp, that post took my an hour already so I skipped over Frei Otto. Mostly because he's most famous for things like the 1972 Munich Olympics:


http://gizmodo.com/the-best-of-frei-otto-the-architect-who-engineered-the-1690783540

His definitive work was in two volumes, on Pneumatic and Tensile structures.

Pneumatics are of two types, air-locked as you describe and air-supported.The modern epitome of what you're thinking of would be a geodesic mountaineering tent with the fiberglass poles replaced with high pressure tubes.

​Can Inflatable Poles Make Better Tents?

[Bicycle Bob]

Aye, I'm quite fond of pressurized tubes for a framework, and they would be wonderful for nomadic use, but I like to buy components when I can if they save time over the expected lifespan and use. Someone once made a radically light and stiff bicycle frame using beer-can spec aluminum for the tubes, with air pressure to prevent local buckling.

[ennored]

Corvette Racing Deploys New Inflatable Paddock - Corvette Online


Outwell 2016 Tent Collections & Camping Equipment

And to get back on topic. Just about every way to make a big box have less drag has been discussed here. I assume the OP did a search like this one:

Google image search of this site

[freebeard]

That Corvette Racing paddock is something right out of Archigram.

Google image search of this site

Thanks. That was fun.