Stuart Redler exhibits black and white photographs of the people and earthen architecture of Mali, West Africa from November 16th to December 16th simultaneously in London and Timbuktu. photo by Stuart Redler
Heavenly Mud
Heavenly Mud is a documentary about traditional architecture and magic in West Africa. The documentary celebrates traditional West African architecture, which uses mud (adobe) as its main material. The film will place it in the context of modern Western architecture and link it to the present movement towards our architectural roots embodied by organic architecture. The film was shot by Ton van der Lee and was broadcast by AVRO Television. It can be purchased here.
Tallest Earth Buildings
The four tallest earth buildings in the world are:
1. Al-Muhdhar Mosque, Tarim, Yemen – 53 meters (175 feet)
2. Huaca del Sol, Moche, Peru – 41 meters (135 feet)
3. Tower Houses, Shibam, Yemen – 29 meters (96 feet)
4. The Grand Mosque, Djenne, Mali – 11 meters (36 feet)
Vote for Earth
The Association La Voute Nubienne is involved in a fascinating project with friends in France and Burkina Faso in the construction of vaulted earth roofed houses. The Nubian vault is an ancient architectural technique, traditionally used in Sudan and central Asia, but until now unknown in West Africa, which can accelerate appropriate house-building in the Sahel. The technique uses basic, readily available, ecologically sound, local materials (earth, water, rocks…) and simple, easily learned procedures. The major cost element is labour, so cash stays in the local economy. In Burkina Faso, Mali, and Togo, trained VN builders are becoming independent entrepreneurs. Lots of photos, and a video, of AVN houses and other buildings (a church, a mosque, guest-houses…) can be see on their website.
Last month, they put in a bid to Ashoka (a global foundation promoting social entrepreneurship) for their Changemakers competition on “How to Provide Affordable Housing.”, and we have just been informed that we are amongst the 13 finalists shortlisted by a panel of five distinguished judges. Of these 13 finalists, 3 are to be chosen for the competition prizes by online voting, which must be done by October 16th. I’m writing to ask you whether you might spare a bit of time to have a look at this shortlist, and to vote for them (and for two other of the short-listed projects).
If they win one of the three prizes, the money will be used to finance the training of more AVN apprentices during the coming winter building season in Burkina Faso. And I can assure you that this is a very worthwhile, sustainable project : Nazira and I stayed in a VN guest-house in Boromo, Burkina Faso, last January, and can vouch for the quality and comfort of the buildings.
Each voter is required to cast votes for three of the projects – otherwise your vote is rendered invalid. (Ashoka say this is a good way of ensuring fair play, and has worked well in past competitions). The deadline for voting is October 16, 2006. The Changemakers Innovation Award winners will be announced on October 17, 2006.
This is where to go to see the short-list and to vote online : http://www.changemakers.net/journal/300606/
Mud Mosques of Mali
Belgian photograper Sebastian Schutyser spent nearly four years photographing the mud mosques of Mali. A collection of 200 such black & white photographs is now online at ArchNet. More at BLDGBLOG. Schutyser’s images have been collected in a book, co-written with Dorothee Gruner and Jean Dethier, entitled Banco: Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta.
Virtual Mud
Heinz Ruther, professor of Geomatics at the University of Cape Town, has embarked on a project aimed both at preserving the sites, and also at making them accessible – in virtual form – to people across the continent who may not have the means to get there themselves. BBC | Africast [via]
Ecole de Tentou
Ronald Rael, an architecture professor at the School of Architecture at Clemson University is working with the Utah based organization, Daily Dose foundation, former NBA player Soumaila Samake and villagers from Tentou, Mali, West Africa to design and build a school for the village’s 400 children using local construction techniques. Download press release (2.2mb .pdf)
West African Architecture
They are west Africa’s most exciting, ambitious buildings. Some of them have lasted 700 years, and they’re made of dirt.
The Wildlife Works EcoFactory
The Wildlife Works EcoFactory employs a team of eleven women sewing machine operators from the local community that were taught the skill of using modern electric sewing machines to produce Wildlife Works’ tees. To build the EcoFactory’s two buildings, we employed 150 local people for two years using Rammed Earth, and our construction team learned the skill of building thick, rammed-earth walls that keep the temperature constant and cool inside, no matter how hot it gets outside. The beauty of this eco-friendly solution is that it uses mostly soil from the site. [ Via African Architecture ]
Images From Ghana
These images of Ghanaian Earth Architecture are by Keith Zawistowski and Marie Richard. The image in the upper left is a shrine house in the Ashanti Region, near Kumasi. It is made from earth on a bamboo frame, detailed with cut reeds and plastered with cow dung. The others are of various typologies from the northern region. View larger image