UNESCO/ Reviving Earth Architecture in the Jordan Valley - Palestine

via: youtube
Short video produced by UNESCO Ramallah Office on the UN Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTF-HS) Fund Joint Program: “Livelihood Protection and Sustainable Empowerment of Vulnerable Rural and Refugee Communities in the Jordan Valley” in Aqabet Jaber Refugee Camp.


The Human Security Joint Programme for the Jordan Valley implemented by FAO, UNESCO, UNRWA and UN WOMEN is designed to respond to the protection and livelihood needs of selected vulnerable Palestinian communities and to improve their living conditions by providing them with the skills, tools and techniques to mitigate and cope with the threats they are confronted with.

UNESCO component focuses on improving the physical living conditions and housing standards in the Jordan Valley, where some 30 percent of its inhabitants, including refugees, Bedouins and economic migrants, are deprived of their right to adequate housing. In order to achieve its objectives, UNESCO component is designed to utilise existing and yet untapped opportunities by providing local population with up-to-date know-how and alternative building techniques, notably the "mud-brick", which in the past was extensively used in the area as the most suitable construction material for all typologies of buildings as well as the most environment friendly.

The selected direct beneficiaries (skilled workers and unskilled workers and 3 young architects) will be trained on-the-job on the production and construction of mud-brick utilising the 6 mud-brick structures to be provided by the Programme which shall also serve as pilot demonstration structures. These are: the UNRWA community centre in Aqbet Jabr refugee camp, 4 women centres in various villages in the JV to be utilised by UN Women and its local partners, the museum of Agriculture which is a joint initiative of the Palestinian ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, and Agriculture and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), in addition to the rehabilitation works in selected historical sites.

The first pilot demonstration structure, the UNRWA community centre is a 250 m2 structure that, for training and experimental purposes, will be constructed using different available materials (Adobe Blocks, Compressed Earth Blocks, etc) and building techniques (vaults, domes, flat ceilings, multi-floor, and different kinds of plastering). Over 30 skilled workers, 20 unskilled workers and 3 architects including 7 women are currently benefiting from the on-the-job training through the construction of this pilot under the direct supervision of the UNSCO Team of Consultants.

Meco's Press - structural earthen bricks

via: Inhabitat

While on a Congolese mission with Doctors Without Borders, Thierry Perrocheau began working on the mechanical design for a portable, natural brick pressing machine. Now the CEO of Meco'concept, Perrocheau and his small team have designed a hydraulic press that transforms ordinary mud into structural building blocks. Since 2008 the team has distributed the Meco'press in France and Belgium, and they have recently seen an overwhelming interest from organizations looking to build in developing nations. The ingenious press offers a green building material solution that can function within the constraints of devastated areas.

Perrocheau told Inhabitat that one of his goals is to have the presses operational in Haiti in the near future. Concerns about portability and global shipment are addressed in the lightweight design of the Meco’Press. Because it can be operated with very little training, is easy to maintain, and uses mostly materials from the building site, testing has found that it can be used throughout 80% of the earth. The small percent left out is due to the lack of clay content in the soil.

For full article and more photos go to Inhabitat website

Durability of Compressed Earth Bricks - Sustainability 2010, 2(12)

Durability of Compressed Earth Bricks: Assessing Erosion Resistance Using the Modified Spray Testing

Esther Obonyo * , Joseph Exelbirt and Malarvizhi Baskaran
Rinker School of Building Construction, University of Florida, PO Box 115703, Gainesville, FL 32611-5703, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. 

Abstract

The discussion in this paper is part of research directed at establishing optimal stabilization strategy for compressed bricks. The deployment context for the use of the compressed bricks was Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) where manually fabricated bricks are increasingly being used in low cost housing units. This discussion specifically focuses on strategies that can be used to counter deterioration due to wind-driven rain erosion. The impact of using cement, lime, fiber and a commercial stabilizing fluid was assessed. Factory-produced bricks were used for benchmarking. The durability of the bricks was assessed using the “modified” Bulletin 5 Spray Test. The different brick specimens were sprayed with water at 2.07 MPa and 4.14 MPa over one-hour time period while measuring the depth of erosion every 15 minutes. Factory-produced bricks hardly eroded at both 2.07 MPa and 4.14 MPa pressure levels. The maximum depth of erosion for Soil-Cement bricks ranged from a maximum of 0.5 mm at 2.07 MPa water pressure to 0.8 mm at 4.14 MPa. The maximum and minimum depths of erosion for Soil-Cement-Lime bricks were 25mm and 17 mm respectively. The inclusion of natural fiber in the bricks resulted in a sharp increase of the erosion depth to a maximum of 40 mm at 2.07 MPa and 55 mm at 4.14 Mpa. As the use of natural fibers and lime enhances some physio-mechanical properties, further research is necessary to determine ways of achieving this goal while maintaining acceptable levels of erosion resistance.


Keywords: durability; compressed earth brick; erosion testing

 Sustainability 2010, 2(12), 3639-3649 ; Full article HERE

Publicação - Can CEB be a viable building material for affordable housing?

Fonte da imagem

Can compressed earth blocks be a viable building material for affordable housing?

"The 2005 UN Habitat report, Global Report on Human Settlements, estimated that over the next 25 years more than 2 billion people will be added to the global demand for housing.This, the report concludes, translates into completing 96,150 housing units per day. With much of this demand coming from countries where poverty remains an acute problem, the funding of this demand for housing presents challenges, particularly in relation to the costs of building materials. This research project, by a team led by Joseph Arumala at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, USA, explored the possibility of using soils for making compressed earth blocks for constructing affordable residential buildings, using relatively cheap and locally available technology. What he found was blocks made using this approach satisfied code requirements for compressed earth block one-storey housing construction. What his work also showed was that using small amounts of additives, such as agricultural fibre – readily available in many developing countries – could also make a significant and positive impact to the performance of the blocks."

Arumala J. O.,  Gondal T. (2008) Can compresses earth blocks be a viable building material for affordable housing? in Fibre Series: findings in built and rural environments. RICS


Artigo completo AQUI

Factsheets - UN HABITAT

O website da UN-HABITAT possui uma secção de publicações com documentos muito interessantes sobre as mais diversas temáticas, entre as quais se encontram os materiais e tecnologias de construção. Muitos destes documentos podem ser descarregados gratuitamente.

Estas duas simples "factsheets" (2001) que hoje aqui deixo, onde se descreve sucintamente a técnica do BTC (Bloco de terra comprimido) e a taipa, são apenas dois  exemplos do que se encontra disponível para download gratuito.

Versão pdf disponível em:
http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=1767 (BTC)
http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=1775 (Taipa)

Loja em Paris com interiores em terra

Hoje é bastante comum fazer-se uso do material terra no interior de espaços comerciais, mesmo quando este não é utilizado no exterior do edifício. Isto acontece por razões estéticas ou para tirar partido das propriedades do material, por exemplo de forma a controlar a temperatura ou manter bons níveis de humidade relativa nos espaços. Seja por moda, uma consequência de uma filosofia de vida mais ligada ao ambiente ou apenas por questões técnicas, a verdade é que também este é um dos usos contemporâneos com bastante potencial para este material de construção.
Por aqui perto, sei de um restaurante (Wahaca Restaurant) em Londres que possui uma parede de taipa no seu interior, existe ainda o caso do CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology - Visitor Centre) no País de Gales, onde algumas paredes internas da livraria foram colocadas de forma a absorver os ganhos solares das aberturas orientadas a sul. Tomei também conhecimento, através da revista Ecologik (12), de uma loja de desporto em Paris, a Endurance Shop, onde se podem encontrar paredes de BTC e rebocos de terra.
Aproveitei uma estadia recente em Paris para ver de perto de que forma foram aplicadas estas técnicas. A parede que se destaca, onde se encontram expostos vários ténis é facilmente visível do exterior e convida à entrada na loja. O rapaz que estava a atender o público não só fez uma apresentação completa da utilização do material terra na loja, desde a produção dos tijolos até ao produto final, como fez questão de referir orgulhosamente que não foi adicionado cimento em momento algum. Foi interessante constatar o imenso orgulho que ele tem no espaço, exactamente devido à utilização da terra. Curioso, perguntou-me se era comum encontrarem-se lojas com paredes interiores em terra.

Quem sabe se outras não seguirão este exemplo de sucesso?

Uns dias depois visitei a exposição “Ma Terre Premiere por Construire Demain”, mas sobre isso falarei numa outra oportunidade.

BTC - Bloco de Terra Comprimida

No fim de semana que passou visitei uma obra, cujo projecto é da autoria do arquitecto José Alegria, onde os BTC foram utilizados para erguer as paredes da maioria dos edifícios que farão parte de um luxuoso complexo hoteleiro algarvio.

Foi na verdade a primeira vez que tive oportunidade de olhar de perto a prensa que produz os tijolos. Confesso que fiquei espantada quando os trabalhadores me revelaram a proeza da produção de cerca de 3000 tijolos num dia, enquanto competiam uns com os outros pelo lugar de equipa capaz de ter mais tijolos prontos. A média dos dias normais é, no entanto, de cerca de 1500 tijolos, um número bastante razoável.

Curioso foi também constatar, através do testemunho dos trabalhadores, que as paredes de BTC demoram mais tempo a erguer, quando comparadas com o tijolo normal. Leva-me a pensar que mesmo que se poupe no material propriamente dito (devido à utilização da terra local), a morosidade acabará por igualar o custo final ao de uma construção mais convencional. Seria interessante fazer uma comparação de custos para ter a certeza, mas é provável que tal aconteça.

Este parente moderno do tijolo de adobe representa mais uma das muitas formas de utilização da terra com enormes potencialidades e possibilidades de utilização no contexto arquitectónico português.

Já agora, deixo aqui um agradecimento especial para o R. P., um conterrâneo dos tempos de juventude que, amavelmente, disponibilizou o seu tempo (e paciência) para me conduzir na visita pela obra.