- Title: Raw earth construction makes a comeback in Senegal
- Date: 16th May 2021
- Summary: DAKAR, SENEGAL (MAY 4, 2021) (REUTERS) HOME DESIGNED BY WOROFILA UNDER CONSTRUCTION FACADE OF HOME UNDER CONSTRUCTION VARIOUS OF WORKER APPLYING A MIX OF RAW SOIL, TYPHA AND WATER ON A WALL CO-FOUNDER OF WOROFILA, NZINGA MBOUP, WALKING DOWN STAIRS NZINGA MBOUP, CO-FOUNDER OF WOROFILA, LOOKING OUT WINDOW HOUSE FACADE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WOROFILA CO-FOUNDER, NZINGA MBOUP, SAYING (PLEASE NOTE SOUNDBITE OVERLAYS SHOT 6): "Given the sun that we have, and the fact that we always want to isolate the facade from the sun, having the setbacks sort of gives a cantilever that kind of casts a shadow on the facade, sort of giving it, instead of having a really big cantilever on the roof, having sort of those intermediate ones, gives a shade while creating a very unique aesthetic language that can only be achieved with bricks." VARIOUS OF WORKER CUTTING BRICKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) WOROFIILA CO-FOUNDER, NZINGA MBOUP, SAYING: "I think there's been a bit of a divergence from just very basic principles, which isorientation, using the materials that you have locally, only because they sort of respond better to the climate, you know earth has great inertia and for sort of a hot and dry climate as we have here, even for tropical climate it works really well in regulating the temperature. It's readily available and to produce it doesn't require any additional CO2 emissions and it can also create local jobs and reinvigorate, I think, building traditional know-hows that have been lost for quite some time." MBOUP AND OTHER CO-FOUNDER OF WOROFILA, NICOLAS RONDET, MEETING AT CONSTRUCTION SITE MBOUP DURING MEETING RONDET LOOKING THROUGH ARCHITECTURAL PLANS WOROFILA LOGO ON PLANS (SOUNDBITE) (French) WOROFILA CO-FOUNDER, NICOLAS RONDET, WALKING IN BUILDING AND SAYING: "This project is a project with CEB (Compressed Earth Brick) located in Ngor, Dakar." CEB WALL (SOUNDBITE) (French) WOROFILA CO-FOUNDER, NICOLAS RONDET, SAYING: "To produce cement, you need limestone, so you need limestone pits. In Senegal the baobab tree grows on limestone. So in order to meet the growing demand for cement, the cement companies deforest classified baobab forests to extract the limestone which will then be heated up at very high temperatures in the factory." WORKER UNDERNEATH CEILING REINFORCED WITH COMPRESSED TYPHA BLOCKS FOR ACOUSTIC ISOLATION COMPRESSED TYPHA BLOCKS VARIOUS OF RONDET CLIMBING UP STAIRS FINISHED CEILING (SOUNDBITE) (French) WOROFILA CO-FOUNDER, NICOLAS RONDET, SAYING (PLEASE NOTE SOUNDITE OVERLAYS SHOT 21): "Above those little bricks, before pouring the slab, we added shredded typha for acoustic insulation between the slabs. The alternative would have been to add a plastic or polystyrene insulator, so we are always trying to source locally, and organically in order to reach our goals." GANDIGAL, SENEGAL (MAY 10, 2021) (REUTERS) AERIAL OF ELEMENTERRE FACTORY (MUTE) VARIOUS OF WORKERS SEPARATING RAW SOIL AND ROCKS WORKERS MIXING RAW SOIL, LIMESTONE, CEMENT (8 PERCENT) AND WATER STACK OF CEB BRICKS WITH WORKERS IN THE BACKGROUND (MUTE) AERIAL OF WORKERS MAKING CEB BRICKS (MUTE) VARIOUS OF WORKERS MAKING CEB BRICKS WITH MANUAL PRESS VARIOUS OF ELEMENTERRE FOUNDER, DOUDOU DEME, LOOKING AT SOIL THEY USED FOR TESTING VARIOUS OF DEME EXPLAINING HOW THEY TEST THE SOIL BEFORE THEY DECIDE THEY CAN USE IT TO MAKE BRICKS (SOUNDBITE) (French) ELEMENTERRE FOUNDER, DOUDOU DEME, SAYING: "Yes I think there is, at least for us compared to our start 10 years ago, yes at the start we were looking for clients, today we don't look for them, we have a lot of demand, we can't respond to everything, so we can say it's a good sign but it is indeed a drop of water when you look at Dakar. I personally do not focus on Dakar, I try to tell myself that maybe the rest of the country is interesting to salvage, but Dakar is complicated, the constraints are very different. So for now we have a few sites, we are going to make a few buildings but it's not for us, a private company, to save Dakar." DAKAR, SENEGAL (MAY 13, 2021) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION WITH CONCRETE / AERIAL OF DAKAR (MUTE) DAKAR, SENEGAL (MAY 12, 2021) (REUTERS) RONDET AT HIS COMPUTER IN THE WOROFILA OFFICE MBOUP WORKING AT DESK AS RONDET LOOKS AT PLANS FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR A COMPANY CALLED SCHULLER RONDET PLAYING BUILDING SIMULATION (MUTE)
- Embargoed: 30th May 2021 20:58
- Keywords: architecture climate concrete heat raw soil
- Location: DAKAR, GANDIGAL, AND RUFISQUE, SENEGAL
- City: DAKAR, GANDIGAL, AND RUFISQUE, SENEGAL
- Country: Senegal
- Topics: Africa,Climate Adaptation and Solution,Climate Change,Environment,General News,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001EDCN6FR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Construction sites are everywhere in Senegal's capital, Dakar, but in the Ngor neighbourhood one site stands out from the rest. The unfinished building is made of raw earth, or dirt compressed into reddish bricks.
Rows of half cut bricks stick out on the red house's facade, an intentional design which allows for the building to look aesthetically different but also for the walls to always be in the shade, says Nzinga Mboup, Worofila's Senegalese-Cameroonian co-founder.
"Given the sun that we have, and the fact that we always want to isolate the facade from the sun, having the setbacks sort of gives a cantilever that kind of casts a shadow on the facade, sort of giving it, instead of having a really big cantilever on the roof, having sort of those intermediate ones, gives a shade while creating a very unique aesthetic language that can only be achieved with bricks," she says.
Most houses in Dakar are made of concrete, inexpensive, but poorly suited to the West African heat. Basically they are built like furnaces, they stay cool only with air conditioning blasting cold air.
Earth, on the other hand, naturally regulates heat and humidity, say the founders of Worofila who specialize in bioclimatic design. Since 2016, they have been pushing for the ancient building material to make a comeback.
"So I think there's been a bit of a divergence from just very basic principles, which orientation, using the materials that you have locally, only because they sort of respond better to the climate, you know earth had great inertia for sort of a hot and dry climate as we have here, even for tropical climate it works really well in regulating the temperature. It's readily available and to produce it doesn't require any additional CO2 emissions and it can also create local jobs and reinvigorate, I think, traditional know know-hows that have been lost," Mboup says.
Unlike concrete, earthen bricks require almost no energy to produce. The production of cement, the main ingredient in concrete, is estimated to account for 8% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.
Nicolas Rondet, a French architect based in Senegal, Worofila co-founder, says they minimize the use of concrete in their projects because in Senegal producing cement also means cutting down its precious baobab trees.
"To produce cement, you need limestone, so you need limestone pits. In Senegal the baobab tree grows on limestone. So in order to meet the growing demand for cement, the cement companies deforest classied baobab forests to extract the limestone which will then be heated up at very high temperatures in the factory." he says.
Worofila also sources as much local and natural materials as they can to build their projects says Rondet. Blocks of shredded and compressed typha, a fast-growing invasive reed found in the Senegal river, are placed between each floor for acoustic insulation.
Senegal's traditional dwellings were made of earth like this, but that was abandoned. Dakar's sidewalks today are littered with piles of sand and stones that are mixed with cement to make cheap bricks.
To make modern day raw soil bricks, workers mix soil with small amounts of cement and water to create a mixture that they compress with a hand-operated machine and leave to dry for 21 days.
Construction with earth again is still niche in Senegal, but it's regaining popularity.
"Yes I think there is, at least for us compared to our start 10 years ago, yes at the start we were looking for clients, today we don't look for them, we have a lot of demand, we can't respond to everything, so we can say it's a good sign but it is indeed a drop of water when you look at Dakar. I personally do not focus on Dakar, I try to tell myself that maybe the rest of the country is interesting to salvage, but Dakar is complicated, the constraints are very different. So for now we have a few sites, we are going to make a few buildings but it's not for us, a private company, to save Dakar," said said Doudou Deme, who in 2010 founded Elementerre, a company that makes compressed earth bricks near Mbour, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Dakar.
Elementerre and Worofila have partnered on several projects including private homes, offices and part of a train station, but are still barely making a dent in Dakar's booming construction industry.
One of those projects, which is still in the planning phase, is to build the workshop and offices of local Senegalese company Schuller metal that makes aluminum building materials.
Malick Gueye, the Schuller's company's general manager says the decision to use natural materials to build his new offices wasn't difficult.
"I think that today the choice is obvious because we can't afford to put off decisions on environment, we have to do it now. So for us, it is first of all an ethical choice, caring about the environment, and beyond the money saving aspect for the company, what is really important for us is the well-being of our collaborators," he said.
Worofila has been longlisted for an Ashden Award, a UK prize highlighting global climate solutions, which the team hopes will raise visibility.
Although people may not have heard of earth construction, when Mboup explains the concept it resonates. They remember that their grandmother's earthen house in the village was - somehow - always cool.
(Christophe Van Der Perre) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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