A UA / Universidade de Aveiro, a ESG / Escola Superior Gallaecia, a FCO / Fundação Convento da Orada e a Cdt / Associação Centro da Terra são os organizadores e anfitriões do 5º Seminário de Arquitectura de Terra em Portugal (V ATP), que se realizará de 10 a 13 de Outubro 2007, na Universidade de Aveiro, em Portugal. Criado em 2003, o seminário Arquitectura de Terra em Portugal tem evoluído de uma forma crescente com a ampla adesão de profissionais ibero-americanos e europeus.
Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre
Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre by Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects was recently completed and featured in the April issue of Canadian Architect Magazine. The cultural center is constructed of the largest rammed earth wall in North America measuring 80 metres (262 feet) long by 5.5 metres (18 feet) high made of layers of colored stabilized soil.
Laurie Baker, 1917-2007
Lawrence Wilfred “Laurie” Baker (March 2, 1917 – April 1, 2007) was an award-winning English architect, renowned for his initiatives in low-cost housing by using traditional techniques, materials and crafts such as mud and thatch. He went to India in 1945 in part as a missionary and since then lived and worked in India for over 50 years. He obtained Indian citizenship in 1989 and resided in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala. In 1990, the Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri, the nation’s fourth highest civilian award, in recognition of his meritorious service in the field of architecture.
“You can’t get more sustainable or renewable a resource than mud, and Baker is its champion. Approximately 58 percent of all buildings in India today are made of mud brick, some as many as 50 to 100 years old. Mud is gathered either at the construction site or very nearby, formed into bricks and dried in the sun. It is readily available and can be made by people with limited initial training—all resulting in projects that can be built at a fraction of the cost of those using concrete and steel. Baker is especially fond of mud’s total recycle-ability: simply add water and reuse it.”
– Farewell Laurie Baker
Links: Of Mud and Men: Architecture as a Political Act | Of Architectural Truths and Lies | Laurie Baker’s Creative Journey | Mud: Laurie Baker