January-December 2020 Issue 47 As 2020 quietly started, little did we expect AVEI NEWSLETTER that a few months later the COVID-19 pandemic would send all of India into one of the strictest In this issue: lockdowns in the world. Despite projects being underway and a full schedule of training courses • AVEI Projects & Consultancy Abroad 2 in progress, the Earth Institute was required Partnering with AKAH in Syria 2 Structural study for a vault in Mauritania 3 to close its doors at the end of March and only Developing CSEB capacity in Mauritania 4 began to resume its activities in late May. To date, many of the Earth Institute’s activities • AVEI Projects in India 5 have been affected, including training, external Structural study for a dome in Gujarat 5 project consultancy, and technology transfer. • AVEI Projects in Auroville 6 But the team continues to push forward 6 Aureka, Petite Ferme, The Colours of Nature with projects within the community, and has started three online courses – AVD Theory, • AVEI in Conferences, Presentations, & Webinars 7 CSEB Theory, and CSEB Design – so that it can • AVEI Communications & Dissemination 9 continue to reach students unable to travel to Auroville for training. We are also happy to report • AVEI Training 10 the promising early stages of two international Starting online courses at AVEI 10 technology transfers. Revisions to the AVD manual 11 Please feel free to share this newsletter with 12 • AVEI Team your friends and colleagues as we spread the knowledge of earth architecture to the world! • Colophon 13 AVEI training course schedules for 2021 13 Earthily yours, The AVEI Team January - December 2020 Issue 47 AVEI Projects & Consultancy Abroad & Consultancy Projects AVEI Partnering with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat in Syria A rendering of the model house to be built in the village of Barri The Earth Institute was contacted in the first familiarized with CSEB and AVD through the half of 2020 by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat online courses with a smaller subgroup of 30 (AKAH) to collaborate on a project to promote students working through AutoCAD exercises the use of compressed stabilized earth blocks and soil identification tests to give them deeper in Syria, a region which has a long history of expertise. The soil identification done by the adobe construction. In spite of the constraints students has been particularly important in on travel and the uncertainty of the pandemic, giving the Earth Institute team an idea of the the project was able to go forward with those soil types available Syria and how suited they elements as could be completed remotely. will be to CSEB. As a critical first step to introducing CSEB in the region, the Earth Institute proposed a Concurrently, Satprem and the rest of the combination of online courses to introduce architecture team worked on the design of a architects and engineers selected by AKAH to demonstration house and detached workshop the concepts of CSEB construction and the to be built in the Syrian village of Barri, near use of arches, vaults and domes (AVD), followed Salamiyah. The house will be constructed by hands-on training courses once it would be primarily with CSEB, and feature various AVEI- possible for Satprem to travel. developed technologies such as the composite lintel, column, and staircase, as well as arches, So far, approximately 55 participants have been various vaults, and a cloister dome. Earth 2 A 38 January - December 2020 Issue 47 59 914 59 15 AVEI Projects & Consultancy Abroad & Consultancy Projects AVEI Institute associate Omar Rabie contributed 110 crucial inputs on the bioclimatic design of the building for the particular climate of that area of 7 Syria. The team is now developing the working B B drawings for these buildings. 507 650 26 Satprem plans to travel to Syria in February for 406 a preliminary visit and will return for hands- 289 263 on training on block-making once the Auram machinery arrives, most likely toward the end of March. Subsequent visits will be made over the course of the year to give practical training on construction with CSEB and with arches, vaults, and domes and to guide the construction of the demonstration house. 38 90 38 30 590 30 38 90 Through the combined effort of widespread 128 650 128 training and building a house that demonstrates 906 the adaptability and possibility of the CSEB A technology, the Earth Institute hopes that this 1032 project can inspire Syrian building professionals PLAN COUPE AA to utilize the low-carbon and low-cost technologies of stabilized earth as they rebuild into the future after this tumultuous decade of Further 3D renderings of the house and detached workshop war. Structural study for a vault in Mauritania 238 8.5 Indispensable de poser les blocs de béton à l'envers et de les remplir de sable 6 4 8.5 In May, the Earth Institute was contacted 15 6 I 4 HT Forme de pente béton: 2000 kg/m³ W1 = 42.21 15 by Mathieu Hardy, the director of Al-Mizan 15 Dalle béton armé: 2200 kg/m³ W2 = 70.26 W3 = 40.33 W1 W4 = 73.28 W3 W5 = 40.33 Adobe: 1700 kg/m³ W5 W2 Sahel – an organization providing sustainable W4 W6 = 85.16 W7 W7 = 40.33 110 W6 LP' W9 110.8 W8 = 99.47 W8 W9 = 40.33 architecture solutions based out of Béton armé: 2200 kg/m³ 110 110 W10 = 110.88 W11 W11 = 40.33 W10 7 7 W13 W12 = 119.76 Nouakchott, Mauritania – for a structural study W13 = 40.33 38 26 W14 = 122.36 W15 = 40.33 W14W12 W16 = 40.33 7 for a classroom to be built using the traditional W15 I COUPE SUR CHAINAGE ARC, VOUTE ET TOITURE W16 HT W17 = 116.22 Contrainte dans l'arc W17 W18 = 40.33 26 Poids: 3133.38 kg/m W18 W19 = 40.33 - Sommet = 11.65 kg/cm² W19 507 Nubian vault-building technique. The aim of W20 W20 = 99.16 - Sommier = 16.82 kg/cm² W21 W3 W1 W21 = 96.75 W5 W4 W2 W7 W6 W9 W8 bringing in the Earth Institute’s expertise was to 1 cm = 50 kg/m HT = 11514.83 kg/38 cm HT' = ~1.3 W 144 W11 W10 W1 = 45.43 W22 = 306.77 W13 W12 W2 = 875.15 W3 = 45.43 optimize this model classroom design to reduce W15 W14 W17 144 W4 = 875.77 W16 W5 = 45.43 R374.2 LP' W19 W6 = 873.59 the use of reinforced concrete by eliminating W23 = 381.47 W18 W7 = 45.43 W21 W8 = 870.76 296 W20 W9 = 45.43 the inverted T beams on which the vault W23 W10 = 866.64 W11 = 45.43 W22 W12 = 860.80 295 W13 = 45.43 would be built and to replace them with adobe 119 W24 = 535.26 W24 W14 = 852.97 W15 = 45.43 T = 16614.29 kg/38 cm sur le sommier arches. Satprem undertook a detailed stability W16 = 842.24 W17 = 45.43 119 W18 = 828.54 96.6 W19 = 45.43 W = 3501.91 kg/m study and provided his recommendations for Poids et pression à la base du contrefort (158 x 38 cm): r = Adobe = 1,700 kg/m³ 2.6 W20 = 810.76 r = Forme de pente béton maigre 2% = 2000 kg/m³ 17681.21 kg = 2.94 kg/cm² W21 = 45.43 W25 = 646.90 r = Dalle béton armé 6 cm = 2200 kg/m³ W22 = 788.45 the design and construction of the building. W23 = 45.43 LP 231.2 25 W24 = 761.55 W25 = 45.43 W26 = 1157.56 70 Stability study done for the vault of the classroom 70 T = 23725.38 kg/38 cm poussée totale Poids et pression à la base de la fondation du contrefort (225 x 60m): W27 = 1004.52 17681.21 + 2079 kg = 19760.21 kg = 1.46 kg/cm² 59 200 38 200 38 200 38 200 59 W25W24W23W22 W33 W32 W31 W30 W29 W28 W27 W26 W25 3 LP 17.95 W28 = 1446.78 914 59 W29 = 764.67 51 90 38 30 15 W30 = 845.57 1032 90 Note: Le diagramme funiculaire est basé sur la largeur de l'arc et des reins de 38 cm, W31 = 930.17 130 60 35 surchargé du poids de la voute et toiture, calculé en kg/m W32 = 1019.21 Système voute, reins et murs porteur de 59 cm: Non stable 158 W = 20743.76 kg/ 38 cm Arc avec mur, contrefort et poids des voutes: stable et sûr W33 = 1113.15 r = Adobe = 1700 kg/m³ 215 ETUDE DE STABILITÉ, VOUTE ET TOUTE LA STRUCTURE ETUDE DE STABILITÉ, ARC ET TOUTE LA STRUCTURE COUPE BB Satprem SALLE DE CLASSE VOUTE NUBIENNE AVEC ARCADES ÉTUDE STRUCTURELLE Maïni January - December 2020 Issue 47 AVEI Projects & Consultancy Abroad & Consultancy Projects AVEI Developing CSEB capacity in Mauritania Aerial view of Selibaby, one of the potential sites of intervention (© 2021 CNES / Airbus) The Etablissement d’Exécution de Travaux include a mosque, a social housing project, Réalisés en Matériaux Locaux (ETR-ML, school facilities, and a health center. which can be translated as the Institution for the execution of works carried out with We look forward to seeing how this project local materials) in Mauritania reached out the develops after Satprem’s visit to Mauritania. Auroville Earth Institute in October to ask for technical assistance in promoting the use of compressed stabilized blocks across the Northwest African country. While the project is still in its nascent phases, Satprem will be making a preliminary visit during January to Nouakchott and the other towns that the project targets to evaluate the suitability of CSEB for those areas.