Major Project - Tutorial 04

Major Project - Tutorial 03

Prototyping Week - Day 5

Air-dried mud bricks.

Final prototype - the brick had completely dried overnight and I only needed to remove one side of the formwork for the brick to slid out.

Final brick prototype and frog.

Failed first attempt at casting brick prototype.

Rammed earth wall with formwork completely removed. We removed the block when the wall had set and created a recess within the wall.

Prototyping Week - Day 4

Removing the formwork from our rammed earth wall. We embedded steel reinforcement and a cavity to experiment how the earth wall would cope with these insertions.

Mud bricks after one day of air drying. The bricks had become stuck to the formwork. This was because the mixture was very sticky, and also because the formwork was very rough and the mixture clung to the grain. The bricks were still slightly wet, and some of the bricks began to sag after the formwork had been removed.

Formwork and 'Frog' for my final brick prototypes.

Formwork and 'Frog' for my final brick prototypes.

I produced two bricks for my final prototype. The first brick wasn't a success. This is because I removed the formwork as soon as I had pressed the mixture into the mould with the frog. Even though the new formwork was very smooth and slid out fairly easily, the brick sagged instantly.

The second brick turned out brilliantly. I left this is the formwork overnight to ensure that it set properly.

Prototyping Week - Day 3

Formwork and 'Frog' for mud bricks

I made two different types of 'Frogs' to test which would perform the best. The smaller frog is flush with the timber block, whereas the longer frog has been recessed to provide a lip around the top of the bricks.

Mixing the mud brick mixture - a combination of clay, soil, sand and straw.

After I pressed the mixture into the moulds, I used the frogs to compress the bricks. The longer frog with the lip performed the best.

I added some timber stakes into a few of the bricks to create air holes.

Bricks with the timber stakes removed.

Bricks drying in the formwork.

Prototyping Week - Day 2

After leaving the bricks to dry overnight, we struck the formwork to see what happened.

The first two bricks were still far too wet and began to sag. At the end of the day, they had still not dried out.

The underside of all of the bricks had taken on the pattern of the timber board that lay underneath them.

The bricks were fairly large and heavy, so I decided to try and make formwork for smaller bricks.

Prototyping Week - Day 1

During Prototyping Week, we are to experiment with materials that we intend to use in our Spiritual Retreat in the Atlas Mountains.

Several members of my studio, including me, decided to experiment with Adobe construction and mud bricks.

We constructed the formwork and poured into each hole a different consistency of mud, clay, straw, limestone, sand and cement. We then left then to dry overnight.

Major Project - Second Tutorial (10th March)

Group Model Development - Ourika Valley

Major Project Initial Thoughts - First Tutorial

Years of drought in Morocco are becoming more frequent and severe. Over the last sixteen years, nine droughts have been recorded, whereas during the first half of the century there was on average one drought every ten years.

This year, very little snow fell over the Atlas Mountains, which meant that the water level of the river that once carved the Ourika Valley lies very low.

However, when the snows do fall over the High Atlas Mountains, the resulting melt-water courses in torrents down the mountainsides creating powerful floods that sweep the length of the Ourika Valley.

As this precious resource dwindles as the droughts increase due to global warming, more will need to be done to preserve what water remains. As the supplies run out in the remote villages, people will make pilgrimages in search of water.

In order to ensure a supply of water for these pilgrims, the melt-water that flows down from the mountain peaks each spring is to be collected and conserved within the retreat.

The retreat will consist of a complex close to the river where the water will be stored. This water will irrigate the once desolate terraces and promote self-sustenance within the retreat. The retreat will also offer water to the pilgrims who come in search of this life giving substance. In return, they will dwell within the retreat for several days, reflecting upon the spiritual nature of water and helping maintain the watercourses used to collect the melt-water. There are existing courses imprinted in the mountainside that the melt-water follows each year.

These are to be cultivated so that some of the water becomes channelled into the retreat.

This will be one of a series of retreats along the Atlas Mountains that will form a chain of reservoirs for the mountain people as they perform their water pilgrimage.