I was wrong.
It was relatively hard when I brought it in, but that was just because it was frozen. Further looking into the issue, I have discovered that concrete curing times can be up to 3 WEEKS in cold weather. This is immense in comparison to the mere 15 hours I allowed my pour to cure.
I was, however, impressed at how well the snow worked as formwork. I didn't even pack it down that well, and it held up more than I expected it to. There are a few divots from where i poured the concrete onto the form, but overall it was a success. Scaled up for an entire building, the snow should be packed down much more heavily, but there will also be a higher margin for error, so if there are little dents here and there, it will be less noticeable. Also, I am not looking for perfect, pure forms here, I am looking to blend with nature, which is inherently imperfect and irregular.
Working from this, the idea is to make a mound of snow in the shape of the hut's desired interior volume. Pour concrete over the top of the form, reinforcing it most likely, and then letting the snow melt out from under it when the spring comes.
Things to do/think about-
-specific location-build site
-find more info on geology of Lone Mountain/suitability for concrete aggregates
-find out more about natural forms and concrete-who has done it before and succeeded
-start to develop more specific design of the hut
-MAKE DIAGRAMS-this I am terrible at, so I need to make a lot of them, I also need things to pin up so it looks like I am doing as much work as I actually am doing
I t doesn't look like much. Concrete poured in a trench in the snow. I'll let this one cure a little longer.
The concrete that I brought in far too early. It is now a soggy mess as it is thawing out in my big orange bucket.
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