schap! 2011
The second project by CUAS at the Ithuba Community College in South Africa contained the development of a master plan for the whole Primary School and active realization of two classrooms including sanitary facilities and secondary rooms for teachers and storage.
The students undergo all phases of implementation process from design decisions to organizational tasks, fund-raising and full scale workshops before travelling to South Africa in their holidays testing their design-skills in the real world.
The implementation was divided into two phases of seven weeks around February 2011, four weeks for the extension in 2012 and additional 2 weeks for plastering. Main focus was put on the development of the modular construction system applied by buildCollectiveNPO with a local construction team on smaller campus facilities.
The straw light-clay is applied directly into the climbing framework which is attached to self-produced concrete pillars which form with steel trusses, welded in the school workshop, the load-baring module.
The quality of covered outside space and courtyards define a grid for rooms and circulation orientated with the sun and covered with a dynamic roof providing natural ventilation.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The design-build project of the CUAS profited from experiences made by buildCollective NPO and their continuous work with a local team of older learners and community members at the school campus.
The wide spread knowledge of working with concrete and steel and the easy accessibility of cement and basic steel profiles provide the opportunity to involve local labor and income generation through prefabrication.
Pillars and Trusses are designed to be carried and set up by hand. The design of the loadbearing structure can easily adapt to orientation, openings and extension.
Through the close cooperation with the CUAS masters course of engineering the strength and workability could be tested, concrete mix enhanced and reinforcing sized efficient.
The ecological and affordable light-clay wall-infill provides insulation and accumulation within the element for comfortable room climate in winter and summer. Advantage lies on the availability (financially and geographically) of the prospective users, easy to transfer know how and appropriate technology. To save time and assure binding strength the clay is sieved and mixed with water in a stirring device. The straw has to be fully covered with clay and needs to soak for 8 to 24 hours before further processing. The soaked straw is filled by hand into a climbing-form that is clamped or screwed between the loadbearing pillars and compacted to the desired density through stamping. The forms can be removed immediately and slip further up until necessary wall height is reached.
The straw-light infill needs a drying process of several months depending on humidity before finished up with plaster. In collaboration with buildCollectiveNPO and a Japanese clay-plaster expert different mixtures balancing respiration capacities and protection could be developed on site. The first layer is applied directly on the wall without additional lathwork and reinforced with natural jute fiber before the floated top layer.
In sustainable process with local communities, academy and other players an alternative path of applied research and social responsibility can lead to new possibilities reducing the lack of adequate housing while introducing ecological architecture.