mansi
New Member
Posts: 2 
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Post by mansi on Aug 23, 2014 8:09:28 GMT -6
i wanted to get information about two things:
1) what is the daily routine of the people we have to design the house for? what kind of spaces do they need? do they rear cattle and have seperate space for them in the house itself? how is the sanitation practiced? do they work from home like weave baskets or things of that sort and need space for that? do they have kitchen garden or not? it would b helpful if i get some details of the existing houses.do they practise rain water harvesting?
2) what r the construction thechniques followed at present? how r the walls made? how r the lintels, slabs and roofs casted? how is the foundation done? what is mixed with mud, in what proportions? what are the flaws in the present techniques? what needs to b addressed to now? how do the buildings and houses errode now?
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Post by Nka on Aug 23, 2014 10:43:05 GMT -6
REPLY TO MANSI
You wanted to get information about two things:
1) “What is the daily routine of the people we have to design the house for? what kind of spaces do they need? do they rear cattle and have seperate space for them in the house itself? how is the sanitation practiced? do they work from home like weave baskets or things of that sort and need space for that? do they have kitchen garden or not? it would b helpful if i get some details of the existing houses. do they practise rain water harvesting?”
“What kind of spaces do they need?” The townships in the Ashanti Region are much like any other townships in Africa. You are desgning for the middle income sector. You are designing a contemporary mud home for a working class family who needs a place to rest after the days work, sleep, watch TV or just engage in other family moments, entertain visitors. And some people use a part of their house for a home business. See: nkaprojects.boards.net/thread/11/lifestyle-local-customs
In a recent “Up Dates” we sent out, we noted that there are Ghanaians who prefer universal designs; and there others who want some customary elements such as a fenced-backyard or a courtyard, a vegetable garden or a shop to produce/sell stuff.
“Do they practice rain water harvesting?” No, it is undesirable in view of the costs of filtration of the rain water. Water supply is by public grid and private bore hole or hand dug well.
2) “what r the construction thechniques followed at present? how r the walls made? how r the lintels, slabs and roofs casted? how is the foundation done? what is mixed with mud, in what proportions? what are the flaws in the present techniques? what needs to b addressed to now? how do the buildings and houses errode now?”
Note there are diverse methods of building with earth that are applicable to the region. The methods include mud bricks, in-situ adobe (stabilized with cement), earth bag, rammed earth (usually stabilized with cement), poured earth (stabilized with cement), pressed earth bricks (stabilized with cement), wattle-and-daub, light-earth and cob construction.
“What r the construction techniques followed at present?” Use of cement blocks is the primary building construction technique in the townships in the region. It is no affordable to this sector of the population, hence this competition to generate contemporary mud houses. The method of building with earth vernacular to the region is
atakpamé (cob) construction method. Mud brick has now become a building traditions in the region, as is becoming the rammed earth method.
  Process photos of a project going on in the region as I write. It combines the conventional cement block building method with atakpamé wall construction method built upon a poured concrete foundation. The workshop is lead by Giulia Fortunato, an architect and PhD researcher at the University of Rome in Italy.
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Post by Nka on Dec 13, 2014 14:55:37 GMT -6
Compressed Earth Block Making
CEB Press
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