Architecture, Art, Design, and Culture using of mud, clay, soil, dirt & dust.
Dutch firm Levs Architecten used compressed earth blocks from local clay mines to build the barrel-vaulted structure of this primary school in the village of Tanouan Ibi.
The architects enlisted students from a nearby university and members of the local community to help construct the building, using the compressed clay bricks to build walls, floors and roofing.
Butabu is the online portfolio of the earthen architecture of Sub-Saharan Africa as photographed by James Morris and published in a book by Princeton Architectural Press 2003 and Electa 2004.
La arquitectura de Gurunsi (kassena) causó una gran impresión en el arquitecto suizo, Le Corbusier. Esta arquitectura, conocida como casas sukhala, forman poblados fortificados en Tiébélé, Burkina Faso. Se trata de construcciones de adobe que se revisten de barro y posteriormente son adornadas con motivos abstractos, que las mujeres de la tribu pintan sobre fachadas y muros.
Las mujeres de la tribu son las encargadas de reparar las fachadas de las casas, revistiéndolas periódicamente con barro, y decorándolas de nuevo. En primer lugar dan una capa de barro mezclada con excremento de vaca, que extienden con las manos con la ayuda de agua para que éste resbale. Cuando el barro está fresco, dibujan sobre él algunas líneas que marcarán los patrones. Mientras el barro va secando preparan los pigmentos para pintar con arena roja, excremento de vaca más oscuro o polvo de roca. Dejan secar la base inicial, y la repasan con canto rodado, para que la superficie quede completamente pulida. Cuando ha secado por completo, comienzan a pintar con los pigmentos ya preparados, sus motivos geométricos, utilizando las manos o pinceles de plumas de gallina. Finalmente, una vez seco, pulen la superficie con ramas, proceso que se repite hasta tres veces, para garantizar la calidad de ese acabado.
[ More at TecnonicaBlog.com Sukhala I and TecnonicaBlog.com Sukhala II ]
Built by students from the Bergen School of Architecture, the Educational Building In Mozambique, consists of a closed room for computer-learning, and an open room for English teaching. Solid walls and the opportunity to close off completely make the computer-room safe in terms of burglary. The open room connects with the outside, is spatial with a tall ceiling and transparent walls embracing the light. A framework of reinforced concrete makes a permanent bearing structure in the closed room. The framing allows for cheaper more temporary materials as in-fillings. We experimented with sandbags in the east and north facade, where they functions as thermal mass in the winter, while an extension of the roof prevents sun exposure during summer.
[ More information at archdaily.com ]
The Youth Center In Niafourang, designed by Project Niafourang (three architecture students at the Norwegian School of Science and Technology), was built in Niafourang, a small coastal village in the Casamance region of Senegal. The population of Niafourang is around 300 inhabitants and the village is very poor with a high unemployment rate.
The Youth Center in Niafourang contains a computer room/library and a larger multi-purpose room and hosts programs that create opportunities, jobs and development in the village. An important aspect of the project was to involve the local community in both the building and planning stages, in order to create a sense of ownership and pride in the resulting building.
The walls are built using blocks of compressed sand and a small amount of cement. The blocks were hand-pressed using a local machine with sand shoveled from a nearby ditch. Windows are positioned low on the walls with deep frames, so they can be used to sit in. Steel brackets were custom welded in a nearby village and hold the roof construction. The corrugated aluminum roof juts out beyond the walls to prevent rain from entering the building and creates shady areas to relax.
Underneath the protruding roof, a concrete belt surrounds the building creating a shady platform. The roof extends to include a second floor outside the walls of the multi-purpose room. The second floor is accessible by an outdoor ladder and functions as an extension of the library/computer room or the multi-purpose room. Angled wood planks serve as blinds, preventing both rain and direct sunlight.
[ More at ArchDaily]
Habitat Cabo Delgado, constructed in Mozambique by Ziegert | Roswag | Seiler Architekten Ingenieure and the Aga Khan Foundation, was founded for the purpose of create more permanent housing solutions using local, natural building materials. Local construction methods were developed and improved upon in ways tailored to local craftsmens’ abilities; thus supporting the local construction culture and reinforcing village identity.
In the first phase of the project, eleven multipurpose learning centres were built to showcase the new construction methods. To facilitate the implementation and dissemination of these techniques, a total of forty local apprentices were trained in ecological building methods – skills they could later use to support themselves financially. As models of low-cost, high-quality, sustainable construction, the learning centres were designed to inspire others to imitate the new style.
The traditional “wattle and daub” technique has been replaced with an earth-block construction method. The new buildings’ rammed-earth and earth-block foundations are stabilised with 10% cement and covered with a moisture barrier to protect them from rain and rising damp. The earth blocks used to construct the walls are stabilised through the addition of straw.
An easy-to-produce triple-layered bamboo beam has been developed for use in roof constructions; the beam is used for nearly all parts of the roof such as ring beams, purlins and triangle trusses. The prefabricated trusses have a span of 6m, enabling the construction of open-plan multipurpose buildings. The bamboo is treated with borax, a natural salt, in order to prevent damage by termites or other insects. Several different traditional palm-leaf roofing techniques are used to construct the roofs. Because locally-available resources like earth, bamboo and leaves are used as building materials, each school displays the colours of its region.
The Mountain, a film written by Fathy Ghanem, tells the story of building the village of New Gourna by architect Hassan Fathy. Filmed in the village of New Gourna itself in 1965, it is incredibly important from an architectural perspective, however, Hassan Fathy never mentioned the film in any of his writings or speeches. More information at www.hassanfathy.webs.com
The Centre for Earth Architecture, designed by Francis Kere Architecture, is located Mopti, Mali. The centre is divided into three different buildings which are connected by two roof surfaces.
All the walls and the barrel vaults are constructed of compressed earth blocks that comfortable indoor temperatures.
In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, this project by Markus Kayser explores the potential of desert manufacturing, where energy and material occur in abundance.
In this experiment sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects using a 3D printing process, that combines natural energy and material with high-tech production technology. Solar-sintering aims to raise questions about the future of manufacturing and triggers dreams of the full utilisation of the production potential of the world’s most efficient energy resource – the sun. Whilst not providing definitive answers, this experiment aims to provide a point of departure for fresh thinking.
From FastCOdesign: Diébédo Francis Kéré Imbues Mud With Poetry, And Gives Africans A Future