“In meetings with the community, getting feedback about the two completed constructions, and trying to decide on next steps forward, we learned that the super adobe style of building (soil stabilized with cement), although designed to be an affordable answer to the problem of durable housing, was still economically out of the reach of most people in Haiti, owing to the incredibly inflated cost of building materials.
“A piece of land and a home to live on the outskirts of Guanajuato. A green building project underway.
“This is an absolutely unique guest cottage. Clay Cottage took one year, by several volunteers at Ban Rom Sai to build. The cottage is made entirely of clay!
“by Roberto Lou Ma, Civil Engineer, Centro de Experimentación enTecnología Apropiada, Guatemala
The CETA-RAM is a manually operated block press, developed by the author just after the February 1976 Guatemalan Earthquake, specifically for the production of hollow soil-cement building blocks. The hollow blocks are intended for use in reinforced masonry for low cost earthquake resistant housing.The CETA-RAM is a modified version of the well known CINVA-RAM.
Just got this email from Cliff, a long time reader in NZ. This is a nice looking home!
“In my surfing looking for New Zealand thatch houses (which are rare) I came across this and thought you might find it interesting.
The Rural Housing Knowledge Network featured in yesterday’s blog post is a treasure trove. I doubt most readers will spend an hour or more surfing the sites we profile, so I decided to feature one story on their website.