The NKA foundation has started a architectural competition to design and promote the traditional Mud Hut. What is exciting about this project is their open source approach!The challenge is to design a single-family unit of about 30 x 40 feet on a plot of 60 x 60 feet to be built by maximum use of earth and local labor in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The client for the design is the middleincome family in the Ashanti Region. Total costs of constructing the design entry must not exceed $6,000; land value is excluded from this price point. The competition is aimed to!serve as an example to the local people that mud architecture can be beautiful and durable.! What is the design problem? The cause is this: in Ghana, as in other countries in West Africa, stereotypes about buildings made of earth persist because of poor construction. Earth architecture is fast giving way to modern dwellings made of cement blocks and other modern materials that are not simply expensive but thermally and acoustically problematic. From the cities to the lowincome villages, use of concrete – despite its dependence on imported resources – is considered indispensable for building. The rising cost of the modern building materials manufactured from imported resources makes it very difficult for low-income families to become homeowners. Yet an excellent, cheap and local alternative called laterite, red earth, is available everywhere in Ghana.!
For example, in the Abetenim area, 98% of the homes are made of earth, however local stereotypes about buildings made of earth persist because there are several examples of mud homes that have eroded over time due to poor construction and water damage. That is why there is local stigma associated with mud architecture. The local perception is that mud buildings are only for the very poor. The NKA foundation reason that a design intervention can help generate alternatives to resolve the problem.! In light of the problem, NKA foundation!is!running a Mud House Design Competition to encourage designers, architects and builders to use their creativity to come up with innovative designs for modest, affordable homes that can be built locally. The design should aim at creating a single family and semi-urban house type that is a place to live, a place to rest, store modest belongings, and feel safe. The first place winning entry will be built on a site in the Ashanti Region.!!! What is the preferred construction method for the winning entries? The method to be used to construct the design concept can be cob construction, rammed earth, mud brick, cast earth (poured earth) by formwork, or any other earth construction techniques that can be easily learned by local labor. Roofing design could be of vault, fired mud roof, or corrugated zinc sheets, which is the conventional roofing materials because zinc roofing stands the heavy rainfall better. The!design entry may therefore aim to accomplish a prototype, a durable mud house that promotes open source design for the continuity of building with earth under the feet for a more sustainable future.!!
Undeniably, the competition promotes open source design, as a sustainable development model.! By Open Source, we imply that the submitted designs will be available for all to appreciate, use, or improve them to generate a more practical and contemporary design solutions for the region. The long-term goal is to enable the Ghanaian population and lots of other places, to overcome the stigma that mud architecture is architecture for the very poor.!
Design Statement Eban Aya* From an accessible architectural process to a resilient community network (*Name of project and all high-lighted words derived from the Adinkra) Nka: Art; Ancient, Source The art of building with earth is ancient and has survived the test of endurance. Unfortunately, over time, misconceptions and the occidental introduction of cement have linked earth construction to the stigma of poverty. Reaching back and taking inspiration from the source, Eban Aya fuses earth as a building material with functionality and aesthetics as a means to valorize the modern mud structure. With future generations in mind, the building process respects the needs of individual Ashantis, their community and their land. Eban: Love, Safety and Security. The home to the Akan is a special place. One with a fence is considered to be ideal. Aya: Endurance and resourcefulness; a hardy plant that can grow in difficult places; someone who has endured many adversities and outlasted much difficulty Eban Aya begins with bamboo, which is inexpensive and grows abundantly in Ghana, yet is another undervalued resource. In cultivating an alliance with a government organization such as BARADEP (Bamboo and Rattan Development Program), non-invasive bamboo clumps are initially donated and planted along the periphery of the land, delineating property boundaries, providing security, safety and privacy. The bamboo fence will further serve as a crop to be harvested within a two year period, a portion of which is meant to be a donation to the construction of a neighboring home or community building. Bamboo poles will be used in construction as well, making individual production a valuable commodity. Osidan: The builder and Creativity Eban Aya is only a shell, a foundation for individual, familial and community creativity. Like earth itself, this shell can be transformed and adapted to meet the needs of its inhabitants and its primary function: a home for a family of two, four, six; a weaving studio, a women's cooperative, a community building; a school; a place of worship. This shell structure allows home owners to be involved in the space design process in order to create a unique dwelling based on their specific needs. The Eban Aya shell may initially utilize only the ground floor for a small family or as a starting point to build upon if finances are limited. Boa Nena Me Mmoa Wo: Cooperation and interdependence; "Help me and let me help you." The Eban Aya process embraces the idea of the nuclear family radiating out to include the larger community system-- which in turn supports the family. It invites individual ownership, community participation, collective learning, sharing and management in the creation and realization of each building. Local masons are trained in a viable earth building technique using only vernacular, readily available materials; bamboo is grown, shared, sold, utilized in construction and "payed forward" in order to help in the realization of the next home or community building. By incorporating the abundant laterite within the walls, the earth provides natural insulation, humidity regulation, acoustical properties and natural cooling. Building with earth reduces CO2 emissions, offers improved air quality and comfort, and is both enduring and durable. Extending the concept of permaculture (where "culture" refers to a global value system as opposed to simply "agriculture"), not just to a way of building but how it impacts individuals and community is not only logical, but essential to the future. Eban Aya facilitates the creation of this network.
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