Architects Anna Heringer and Eike Roswag from Linz and Berlin have realized a beautiful school that is a recipient of The Architectural Review Awards for Emerging Architecture.
Refining the local technique of using very wet loam to build walls, the school has a brick foundation, a damp proof course, and walls made of a mixture of loam and straw, the latter acting as a form of reinforcement. The loam and straw are combined by getting cows and water buffalo to tread them in. The ‘Wellerbau’ technique employed here involves building a 700mm high wall layer, leaving it to dry for two days, and trimming off with a spade. A further drying period is followed by the addition of the next layer.
The Meti-School project in Bangladesh is one of nine projects that have been awarded the coveted Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
The architects Anna Heringer and Eike Roswag will share the Award with the craftsmen and volunteers who assisted in the building, and the Bangladeshi NGO for sustainable rural development, Dipshikha.
http://www.akdn.org/news/2007September4.htm
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/09/06/aga-khan-awards-school-in-rudrapur/
http://www.diepresse.com/home/kultur/news/327823/index.do
http://www.diepresse.com/home/leben/wohnen/327820/index.do
Earlier in the year, the project also won first prize in the 2007 International Bamboo Design Competition:
http://www.bamboocompetition.com/finaltop4.html
Further details:
http://www.earthbuilding.info/projekte/DVL_lehmbau-projekte_bangladesh_meti-schule_gb_.pdf
Extraordinary,
really u have formed a nice architecture.
recently we(students of architecture discipline of khulna university) have visited the school. we r absolutely wordless. we dont respect our local materials but u have done this. thanks a lot. i think u r successful to form a school for children.
Thanks for the feedback! The METI-school is not the end of the story in Rudrapur, it was followed by a housing project – together with students from Bangladesh (BRAC University) and Austria (BASEhabitat, University of Art Linz). More informations under:
http://www.anna-heringer.com
http://www.basehabitat.ufg.ac.at