32. Construction Design Considerations
Building systems: Superadobe. Also known as earthbag construction, superadobe consists as using sandbags of earth, stacked, and tied together to form a structural basis for a building. Superadobe consists of a few main elements: •
Sandbags; often polymer or burlap.
•
Filling; moist soil, sand, and possibly small amounts of stabiliser such as cement or lime.
•
Barbed wire
Render; covering to the sandbag structure, can be plaster or clay and earth, but often a mix of both. These materials are cheap, easy to transport, and most importantly common to the local region of Baghere. Earth and sand are natural components that could be harvested locally thus minimising the need for transportation of what is the largest and heaviest element of the construction. The tools necessary for superadobe construction are basic hand tools such as shovels and tampers, which are easily obtained locally. Superadobe requires no heavy machinery. (Cal-earth, 2020)
