THE GAMBIALight Straw, Clay Construction

University of KansasSchool of Architecture

Studio 409Fall 2014

Re-purposing Rural Mud-Brick Architecture in The GambiaLight Straw, Clay Construction

Project Overview

Our project began with an assessment of problems with buildings (wall systems) in The Gambia. From our assessment, we concluded that afford-ability, ventilation, and water conservation were among the highest concerns. By using light straw, clay construction to replace typical mud brick construction, we came up with a wall sys-tem that provided multiple solutions. Our wall system was designed specifically to allow winds to pass through, cooling off inhabitants. It was also designed with avail-able resources from The Gambia in mind, making it highly affordable and simple. Finally, to address the lack of rainwater in The Gambia, we designed our wall system to allow water to flow through it vertically, collecting water to be used around the household .

ABSTRACT

This project is about utilizing available materials in The Gambia to create a sustainable wall system which addresses multiple problems.

TEAMMYAT HTOO AUNGTHOMAS JOSEPH BERK IVANTHONY BRYANT MOON JR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSNILS GOREBAKARY SUSO

A gleaming example of our blocks coming together to create a wall system.

POPULATIONBANJUL

ARGRICULTURE WORKFORCE

CORRUPT GOVERNMENTNO BUILDING CODE GDP

2,000POOR SANITATION

THE GAMBIA

NATIO

NA

L SYMB

OL

75%

1,925,527

NATURAL RESOURCES

RAINY SEASON

DRINKING WATER

CLIMATE

3 MONTHSLIFE EXPECTANCY65 YEARS1.1 BEDSPER 1000

BEANS FISH

LACK OF ACCESSIBLE

CLAY SAND

20 Y

RS 21 YR

S

AVGAGE

Building in the Gambia provided our group with many opportunities to explore. The unique environment and lack of available building materials pre-sented us with several challenges. Some of the problems we focused on were dealing with the hot/humid climate of the Gambia, collecting water from the very short and arid rainy season, and making all of it affordable convenient while aesthetically pleasing. Being able to address all of these problems with one wall system was our initial goal.

Current Building Conditions

Thermal comfort is an established practice in architecture. Creating a com-fortable environment for patrons of fu-ture buildings is highly taken into con-sideration during the design. Light straw, clay construction is much lighter, and airy than a traditional mud brick. This gives more appropriate thermal properties for The Gambia. Along with this, we designed our block to be arranged in a multitude of ways. These arrangements should be in coordinance with the amount of ventilation the consumer/client de-sires. Spreading the blocks further apart will allow for more air to pass through, but also inhibit the visual security.

The rainy season in The Gambia con-sists of only 3 months of the year, and provides very little. Some villages have a centralized well (if they’re lucky) that the villagers must travel to in order to collect water for their household. Our goal was to limit the amount of trips one must make to collect this water. We de-signed our blocks to allow water to pass through, collecting at the foundation to be used by the household. The blocks will slide into place, down the water pipes. This creates an easy method to install blocks, and collect water. A pos-sible irrigation system could be explored to promote agricultural households.

An important factor in the process of this project was making it site specific and affordable to rural parts of The Gambia. A vast majority of the country’s cement is imported. This can lead to heavy expens-es, and does not necessarily promote The Gambian economy. Straw, clay, sand, and water are all natural resources in The Gambia. We used these components to create our building material. To optimize the forming of the block, we invented a mold system that allowed us to make sev-eral blocks at once. Further developing this idea could lead to a system in which these blocks can be mass produced.

Initial Block Design

Wind (thermal comfort)

Rainwater

Initial block design with arch Weight testing to determine the durability and struc-tural support of our block.

Our initial design was a block with an arch with holes on either side to pass water through. These blocks could be ar-ranged in many ways, allowing for differ-ent fenestrations, and plants. Structural-ly, this shape proved to be successful, but was difficult to construct because of the arch. The openings created by the arches caused a discrepancy because we wanted more privacy visually. Our goal was to be able to pass enough air through to venti-late properly, but to also keep the fenes-trations small enough to avert unwanted eyes having multiple holes in the brick also weakened the integrity, as some of our bricks began to crumble at the holes.

Final Block Design

Rainwater

Blocks used in the final “wall” curing after being molded and set into place.

We contemplated a lot of different factors when designing the final shape of our block. These included ease of construction (optimization), allowing maximum rainfall through the system, maximum ventilation while limiting vi-sion inside, and how the bricks would be arranged in a wall. The “L” shaped brick provided ample solutions to all of these considerations. Thin, tall fenestrations allow air to flow through the building while averting the eyes of those passing by. The basic water conservation system not only provides a way for water to pass through, but keeps all of the bricks in place and gives some structural sup-port. Having a family of different shaped blocks together was an idea we played with, but the simplicity of having one type of block worked to our best benefit.

12”

2”

6”

8”

1.5”

Wind (thermal comfort)

Photo of our finished “wall”. This wall is composed of (8) of our “L” blocks. The pipe which water runs

through inside the blocks also helps keep the blocks in place for structural support.

Dado cuts were made into several pieces of wood, making grooves to allow these pieces to slide. We used this method to compress straw.

We wanted to have multiple molds so we could make several bricks at a time. Dado cuts were made so we could slide the molds in and out of place.

Molds for Creation

Finding the Correct Mixture

Negative

-could be faster (making)-still a little mushy-sustains life (grass)

Negative

-too much clay-too long to cure-too much water-did not hold together-water holes crumbled

Negative

-Joint in “L” would weaken

Positive

-worked finally-stable-dry quicker-water holes remain intact-good load bearing

Positive

-good starting point-well constructed mold

Positive

-able to make multiple (quickly)-does not grow grass-dries quickest-water holes remain intact-good load bearing-less chunky, more of a clay coating

Water

5%

Water

10%

Straw

20%

Straw

50%

Clay

75%

Sand

5%

Clay

35%

Water

5%

Straw

75%

Clay

20%

Shredding the straw was our first step in creating the mixture for our bricks.

After mixing clay and water in a bucket, we added the mixture to the straw. Giving it a thin adhesive coating.

With the mold slid into position, the mixture is placed inside the mold and compressed. A pipe runs verti-cally through the mold to produce the hole inside the brick

What our bricks look like directly after pulling the mold off of them.

This arrangement is completely sealed. No fen-estrations, has the smallest footprint, and most structurally sound.

Our personal favorite block arrangement. Mirroring each (2) blocks every row created taller fenestrations. This creates a light, but structurally sound wall.

Arrangements of Blocks

This arrangement is the weakest due to its vast fenestrations. To create wider openings, we needed to place each block further apart, which weakens the load.

This arrangement has the same spacing as the second (our favorite) but the openings are half the height.

These two wall types have the same spacing, but the left wall uses the mirrored row method, while the right wall repeats the same pattern throughout.

A sample of how the bricks can be arranged to form an arch, or different building components

Wall Cap (Funnels water into pipes)

Water Pipe

Water tank

Water Conservation

Building and Using the Forge

Grinding edges of framing to weld onto pre-cut table top. All of the pieces used to build the forge were scrap metal.

Welding supports to the bottom of the steel drum, which holds the coals and centralizes the heat/ airflow

Positioning the crank (arm) to be bolted to the table-top and supporting angle piece.

Melting recycled materials such as aluminum and plastic (bottles) interest-ed us from the beginning of the project. With a blower from over a century ago, and scavenged metal, we grinded, cut, welded and bolted this forge together. After using a plasma cutter to create the openings in our table top, we cut down and grinded angles and piping to create the legs and supports. To support the weight of the steel drum where the heat will be centralized, we built a cradle from excess angles. To connect the blower to the steel drum, we use thin aluminum sheets, which we rolled up creating a path for air to travel through. Even though our poor was unsuccessful, the forge itself worked without any problems.

Air is cranked by the blower up through the steel drum into the flaming coals, producing more heat. Some other miscellaneous pieces of flammable material were used to ignite the flame.

A clay piece surrounds the heated aluminum. The heat proved too much as the clay encasement cracked in multiple places within minutes.

A short “wall” was welded on top of the platform to contain the coal for ease of mobility. We placed a cap on the bottom of the piping to disallow airflow downward, and collect ash/coals

Our idea was to make a more aesthetically pleasing facade to our wall using recycled aluminum cans.

There were several factors which inhibited us from mak-ing a consistent pour. The first being that the top of the con-tainer holding the melted aluminum was too cold to keep the metal melted. It began to harden and form at the spout, dis-abling us from making solid pours. It would have also bene-fited us to make an in-place pouring contraption that would cause less human error when actually pouring in the mold.

Recycler (plastic, metal, glass)

Fisherman

Consumers

Fenestrator

Brick fabricator

transports straw to (brick fab)transports water to the farmercarries recycled products

Buys supplies (farmer)Buys supplies (from recycler)could create a building code in The Gambiasolves building problemsStimulates economycreates various building blocks

Hires (fenestrator)Buys bricks (brick fab)Make their own house

Buys supplies (from recycler)makes aesthetic improvement to buildingforging metal/ plastic

FarmerUnused straw now has a purpose in building constructionHire sifters to turn unused land into moneyCreate job opportunities

Sifterextracts clay for farmer in return for compensation

CompressorMakes bales for farmer in return for compensation

bricks come in various sizes and shapes ready to build.

Bricks

Business Plan

“Archive: The Gambia From Space (Archive: NASA, International Space Station, 12/04/10).” Flickr. Yahoo!, 30 June 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

BAKER, LAURIE. “Mud.” Earth Architecture (n.d.): n. pag. Eartharchitecture. Web.

“Brake Drum Forge for Beginning Blacksmiths.” Brake Drum Forge for Beginning Blacksmiths. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

“Design Coalition.” Design Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

“MONKEY ON BOAT WITH MANGO TREES. Galoya, GAMBIA. 2011.” Flickr. Yahoo!, 11 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Bibliography