I’m back home now (yeah!), but wanted to share more of what we saw while touring earthbag projects near Kathmandu. Carisimo, a German-based NGO, have built 30 earthbag houses in this village using young foreign volunteers and local families. This is the largest earthbag housing project in Nepal that we know of.
sustainable
The Forest Man of India
“Since the 1970’s Majuli islander Jadav Payeng has been planting trees in order to save his island. To date he has single handedly planted a forest larger than Central Park NYC. His forest has transformed what was once a barren wasteland, into a lush oasis. Humble yet passionate and philosophical about his work. Payeng takes us on a journey into his incredible forest.”
The Owner Builder Magazine: Rebuilding Nepal
Lynda at The Owner Builder Magazine kindly sent us this excellent article written by Mark Clayton. Full text is available through their magazine or by downloading it from Earthbag Building.com.
Reconstructing Steel Framed Schools in Nepal with Earthbags
Phulping, Sindhupalchok: This first of its kind school reconstruction project reuses existing steel posts, steel trusses, metal roofing, foundation, concrete slab floor, windows and doors, and integrates them with earthbag tube walls. The design is very strong because the steel frame braces the earthbag walls, and the earthbag walls and buttresses reinforce the steel posts.
The Case for Catenary Roofs
Excerpt from the “Journal of the National Institute of Building Sciences,” February 2016:
“The Swiss civil engineer and contractor Heinz Isler (1926-2009) is regarded as one of the pioneers of shell structures. He gained renown for his experimental, physical methods of form-finding and the resulting expressive shell structures produced in thin-walled concrete, and first triggered his lifelong fascination and professional work with such structures by draping a saturated bed sheet in freezing weather to form a catenary shell before inverting it. He proved that, what gravity forms when inverted, is resistant to the forces of gravity.
Gabion Band Stone Construction
Special thanks to Randolph Langenbach who sent me this information on rebuilding rural stone houses in earthquake zones with gabion bands. The basic concept uses ring beams of stones wrapped in strong mesh to tie the masonry walls together.