About working here

A while ago someone told me that she had dated an architect for a while, and she really could feel stressed from HIS job... Through what he was telling her, she had the impression that nothing could ever go well in our job, that every day brings new problems...

Well it's true that it's day-to-day problem solving when you're in charge of a construction... but that's what makes it challenging and interesting, is it not ? :)

But working here is definitely a pleasure for me. I truly sing in the car when going to site ! The good weather probably plays a big role in this. But also...

Because the workers on site are actually pleased to see me coming, and happy that I'm giving them directions.

Because there's no problem when we want to try out things, or make some adjustments on site (in time, that is, before it's actually done), and everybody is willing to do so.

Because even if not everything is perfectly made, the overall look is very satisfactory, and beautiful.

Because even if we use different tools, we're not drown in the technology and still use our brains very much ;)

And using natural materials and no heavy machinery is definitely also playing a big part in the pleasure.

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A shortened week 6 : Independance Day, death and burials

On the 6th week we trained our workers on the CSEB production : how to mix, how to use the press safely, and accept or reject the blocks that are made, how to handle the blocks... and how to monitor the production. Our main person on site - not the construction foreman, but our "site clerk" and "HR director" C. is also responsible for keeping track of what's going on with the production, and sending me the daily figures so I can monitor that from my computer. We were hoping to get the JCB to dig for more soil (we asked for tenders from contractors for manual excavations and we got crazy expensive propositions), and start digging the foundations when they'd be marked, but unfortunately deaths happened in the families of the JCB operator, the foreman and the structural and building engineer, thus taking them away from work for a couple of days. Friday 6th was also a national holiday, being the commemoration of Malawi's Independanc...

Week 5 : The launch of CSEB making

So, yeah, this week saw the start of the production of our CSEB - Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks, also called "SSB" for Stabilized Soil bricks, or BTC in French, for Blocs de Terre Comprimée (manque un S pour stabilisée mais bref). They are much more eco-friendly than the fired bricks (using a looot of wood to get cooked) or concrete (using a loooot of (imported) cement), as these blocks should count only 5% of cement for the stabilization, and don't need any plaster or paint or any other layer on them at the end to be confortable and beautiful. So some soil has already been extracted and sieved, and kinda analyzed ( a bit too roughly unfortunately), we had a bag of cement ready, some water nearby, a large area for the curing was prepared, the machine was assembled and we were ready to start testing ! We made our first blocks on Monday afternoon, guiding the guys for the dry mixing, the wet mixing, the steps for the compression, the handling on the block...

Construction : week 2

Program this week : the JCB machine and operator will be on site from this morning 7:30, gotta be there to give instructions as the operations boss is away. Moving heaps of soil, rocks, levelling and flattening, digging some places. Then the proper structures marking and foundations digging can start ! Excitement level : \o/

Eco-Archi in Malawi

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