BASEhabitat Two Designs, HOUSE by HOUSE (D.R. Congo), CHINKO headquarters (Central African Republic) by BASEhabitat

U1 = 105 mm

BASEhabitat is a project studio within the Department of Architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz. Professor Roland Gnaiger founded BASEhabitat together with students in 2004. It has since implemented numerous projects in the field of humanitarian architecture worldwide. Approaches based around sufficiency and the maxim of “helping people to help themselves” are based on the following: social and cultural integration, environmentally friendly construction, the use of local resources, and the aesthetic demands of the architectural design as requirements for sustainable and self-determined development. In addition to construction projects on the ground, workshops are regularly held on working with loam and bamboo as construction materials. There is also a summer school that takes place every two years with active, international participation. BASEhabitat has been a member of the UNESCO Chair Earthen Architecture since 2014. To live up to the increasing worldwide interest in BASEhabitat’s work and the need for projects in the area of humanitarian architecture, the University of Art and Design Linz has decided to establish a postgraduate BASEhabitat master’s degree.

ISBN 978-3-901112-83-6

Rückenstärke 8 mm –>

BASEhabitat Two Designs d. r. Congo | Central African Republic

148 mm

U4 = 105 mm

BASEhabitat Two Designs house by house d. r. Congo chinko headquarters Central African Republic

BASEhhabitat TD | A6 | Umschlag 4/4-CMYK | 100#er | RZ am 6. Februar 2018

U3 = 105 mm

148 mm

U2 = 105 mm

Rückenstärke 8 mm –>

BASEhhabitat TD | A6 | Umschlag 4/4-CMYK | 100#er | RZ am 6. Februar 2018

BASEhabitat Two Designs house by house d.r. Congo chinko headquarters Central African Republic

Kunstuniversität Linz University of Art and Design Linz die architektur

BASEhabitat Two Designs house by house d.r. Congo chinko headquarters Central African Republic

Kunstuniversität Linz University of Art and Design Linz die architektur

“We need an earth on earth — that’s good enough — instead of a heaven on earth.” Reinhard Kahl, figurehead of the Archiv der Zukunft (Archive of the Future)

BASEhabitat Network Map

chinko headquarters Central African Republic house by house d. r. Congo

current project enquiries realized projects participating students research

BASEhabitat Network Map

chinko headquarters Central African Republic house by house d. r. Congo

current project enquiries realized projects participating students research

Preface

house by house – d. r. Congo Typologies for Educational Buildings in Earthen Architecture

chinko Headquarters – Central African Republic Development of a Master Plan and a Handbook for Building

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Project Description

Katanga, d. r. Congo

Central African Republic

Lubumbashi Construction Workshop with craterre

chinko Headquarters Master Plan and Construction Handbook

Katanga Boot Research Trip to the Project Area

Failing

108

Stakeholders

Design Cornelia Bräuer Home away from Home

112

Constructional Recommendations

114

Imprint

Design Elke Schmedler About Houses and Gardens

Design Marcus Brückner Places to Learn

Stakeholders

Preface

house by house – d. r. Congo Typologies for Educational Buildings in Earthen Architecture

chinko Headquarters – Central African Republic Development of a Master Plan and a Handbook for Building

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Project Description

Katanga, d. r. Congo

Central African Republic

Lubumbashi Construction Workshop with craterre

chinko Headquarters Master Plan and Construction Handbook

Katanga Boot Research Trip to the Project Area

Failing

108

Stakeholders

Design Cornelia Bräuer Home away from Home

112

Constructional Recommendations

114

Imprint

Design Elke Schmedler About Houses and Gardens

Design Marcus Brückner Places to Learn

Stakeholders

BASEhabitat has been cooperating with various NGOs since 2004 to realize construction projects. In recent years numerous remarkable research and construction projects have emerged from basehabitat and the students’ enthusiasm and engagement. Nowadays we can build houses where the indoor climate can be controlled without using any external power, houses that use the local resources instead of destroying them, houses that improve the environment and provide people with new opportunities and employment. This can be done without restrictions, sacrifices, or additional responsibility. It just needs more intelligence, teamwork, passion, joy and beauty. In theses matters there is no difference between the “rich North” and the “poor South” of the world. BASEhabitat is a testing place for operating in this field.

“I explain my life as a chain of failures, because I believe it makes one more human than the loneliness of triumphs.” Roger Willemsen Failures simply belong to a good life, Sir Peter Ustinov formulated in 2002. Such an understanding is foreign to society altogether and also hardly present in the field of development cooperation. This not only applies to the project areas and dimensions which basehabitat works in, but also to state organizations and ngos, even to those who are active on much larger scales and for whom it is a matter of considerably more money than basehabitat. Development projects are hardly evaluated. Or they are accessed, but the results are never published.

The fact that flops are not allowed to be made public may lie on the risk of damage to one’s image or the tight resources and on the special pressure of handling the budgets in a success-oriented way. This altogether does not help the matter, because an accepting, positive dealing with mistakes and failure is the basis of every learning culture. It is only a failure when one does not learn anything out of it. Naturally, basehabitat also fails again and again. This booklet introduces two projects that “failed” because they were never realized. But all other basehabitat projects likewise experience setbacks or time-consuming errors. We know of no project where we do not find mistakes or come to the conclusion that many things could have been done differently. Regrettably, basehabitat (still) lacks the time and the financial possibilities to document mistakes, wrong tracks and failures in a beneficial way for those who follow.

The diploma thesis project house by house arose from a cooperation programme between caritas austria, craterre and basehabitat. Four architecture students travelled to an area in the south-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 350 km from Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Katanga. The central topic was access to education in this remote region. At the start there was a workshop in the provincial capital of Lubumbashi, during which two classroom units were built for a school. Then the students travelled to the project area for the research stage. The region contains 30 villages in a radius of 100 km and has been the missionary area of the Salesians for 70 years now. During the design process, two prototypical school projects were designed by Elke Schmedler and Marcus Brückner and a girls’ boarding school by Cornelia Bräuer.

house by house Typologies for Educational Buildings in Earthen Architecture Katanga, d. r. Congo

typical housing ensemble, Kipushia (Katanga)

house by house Typologies for Educational Buildings in Earthen Architecture Katanga, d. r. Congo

typical housing ensemble, Kipushia (Katanga)

In cooperation with BASEhabitat — architecture for development, three master’s theses were written. Apart from functional and constructive ideas for development, the plans also consider the aesthetic aspects of construction. The idea for the implementation of the projects was to get the local community strongly involved when preparing and realizing the projects. This would foster identification with the project and would ensure that they were motivated to maintain the school buildings in the future. The cooperation between regional and international trades people and organizations was also supposed to spur an intensive and durable exchange of knowledge. The first step in this longterm project was to construct a model school during a workshop in Lubumbashi in 2012. Later a small group of participants were to apply the skills learnt here during the construction of schools in Kipushia and promote these skills. There were also plans to build more schools in villages in the vicinity of Kipushia, with two classrooms each. The preferred approach for the architectural implementation of these schools was to build on local traditions while developing and improving them whenever necessary. The main raw materials used in construction are wood, clay, and straw, which have proven ideal for the local climate.

The quality of the buildings can be improved and thereby the durability can be increased by changing how these materials are processed and by modifying the dimensions. One of the main criteria is ensuring the considerate exploitation of local resources. The use of foreign and industrial materials is to be avoided, as this would entail long and expensive transport. Furthermore, using cheap materials and local materials should stimulate imitation. Unfortunately the projects could never be realized. Differences between the Salesians and CARITAS AUSTRIA stopped CARITAS AUSTRIA’s involvement in this project.

“Beauty is a right as fundamental as food. Beauty doesn’t cost anything except intelligence and spirit, care and (affectionate) attention.” Roland Gnaiger

Democratic Republic of the Congo 5°

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Capital • Kinshasa Border countries • Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola Population • 79.38 million Age structure • < 15 years 42.65 % • 15–64 years 54.72 % • > 64 years 2.63 % Population growth rate • 2.45 % Population density • 34/km2 Official languages Somalia • French, Kikongo, Lingala, Kingwana, Tshiluba Literacy • 63.8 % (age 15 and over) HDI Human Development Index • 0.433, rank 176 Median age • 18.1 years (vs. Austria 43.2 years) Average life expectancy at birth • 56.93 years • male 55.39 years • female 58.51 years

Kipushia

cia World Factbook, Human Development Reports undp, 2015

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cameroon

central african republic

south sudan

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Zimbabwe

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equ. guinea 100

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gabon

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ruanda d. r. congo

burundi

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atlantic ocean

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katanga province angola

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Kipushia

cia World Factbook, Human Development Reports undp, 2015

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Katanga is a province in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lubumbashi, the second largest city in the country with 1.6 million inhabitants, is the provincial capital. The region extends over 500,000 km2 and is rich in natural resources. As the only economic sector, mining for mineral resources such as coltan, cobalt, uranium and copper has left its imprint on the landscape and continues to cause riots.

Katanga, d. r. Congo

Lubumbashi from above, d. r. Congo

Kipushia is a village in the very south-east of the country on the border to Zambia. It is 350 km from Lubumbashi. A mission of the Salesians of Don Bosco is based in this village with three priests. The mission has been taking care of 30 villages within a 100 km radius for the last 70 years. Apart from their Christian and social commitment, the order of the Salesians focuses on providing good education to young people in order to improve their prospects in the future. Even today, access to education is very restricted in the rural parts of the country. Promises to guarantee free elementary education made by president Kabila’s government have not yet materialized. In particular, children from the remote area of Kipushia are still affected by the lack of educational opportunities. They often have to walk 10–20 km to reach the nearest school, which results in many young people dropping out of education. To change this deplorable state, a permanent structure for education is to be set up using participative processes.

Katanga, d. r. Congo

Lubumbashi from above, d. r. Congo

The following texts are excerpts of the diploma thesis which describe the experience of the team:

Lubumbashi Construction workshop with craterre

On the building site it was above all about transferring and exchanging knowledge. The team comprised almost only men; of different ages with different professional experience. Some people came here from far away. This wasn’t just an informative two and a half weeks for the workshop participants, but for us as well. In addition to learning about construction techniques, materials and construction methods, we also learnt a lot about building sites and time management, logistics and organization. We learnt about the tools available: their characteristics, qualities and uses.

The first station of the research trip was Lubumbashi, the main city of the Katanga province in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The workshop to build two model classes near the Chem Chem mission station had already started and the majority of the participants had already arrived. The workshop team worked together, above all, with small, local building companies, young people from the Salesian training programme and individual members of religious groups. In addition there were representatives from BASEhabitat, Caritas, and CRAterre. Together they worked on different theoretical content from the properties of loam as a construction material, to design techniques and the basics of economics. In parallel the first school building was developed step by step.

It seemed like machetes could be used for almost anything. Mixing ratios, plaster tests and quality tests for loam were noted in our sketch books immediately, as well as descriptions from the workers of how they built their own houses, their desires and visions, or about culture and language — Swahili in twenty days.

production and discussion about different test samples during the morning lessons

The most important elements to build are the u-blocks made of stabilized loam: 30 cm wide for the ring anchor and 20 cm wide for the lintels. They were made into a finished building element using reinforcing bars and concrete. They were built in with the concrete surface facing downwards. An important segment was completed by setting u-blocks, reinforcing them and finally filling them with concrete. 21

The following texts are excerpts of the diploma thesis which describe the experience of the team:

Lubumbashi Construction workshop with craterre

production and discussion about different test samples during the morning lessons

The first layers, which were made from stabilized adobe, marked the beginning of the first phase of construction. This was followed by a layer of bitumen to protect the adobe on top from moisture. Using a stretcher bond, every second layer was staggered to one third of the previous stone’s measurement. This technique minimizes the danger of the adobe bricks breaking in the middle but requires modified T and L wall connections compared to the traditional central stretcher bond. During the morning lessons, different tests were explained and test samples were created to provide information about compositions and the corresponding properties. In addition, various mix ratios were created for the loam plaster that was going to be used on the walls.

one of the two classrooms built during the workshop

team on site

By using wood as a construction material, the members of the community are in a constant battle against the termites that eat everything and also, of course, fundamentally shape the countryside with hills of different heights. Termites are a menace. They only need around one week to reach the roof truss of a single storey building by climbing along the walls. At present they can only be stopped by regularly cleaning the walls. Buildings that are left unattended for longer periods of time are in particular danger. The most commonly used antitermite treatment is burnt motor oil, which is applied to all wooden constructions and at the base of the walls. It has become a reliable method but the resulting vapours are unsafe, particularly in school buildings and in housing.

one of the two classrooms built during the workshop

team on site

The following texts are excerpts of the diploma thesis which describe the experience of the team:

Katanga Boot Research trip to the project area After the workshop the journey continued to the actual project area, the mission area around Kipushia. We found out about the local situation from conversations with residents, teachers and local politicians and then we documented this in the form of text, photos and sketches. the river between d. r. Congo and Zambia

Trip to paradise We are on our way to the furthest tip of the Congolese territory, which is also in the geographic centre of Zambia. Past Kabila’s property, his largest estate and farm area, past a thicket that is supposed to be crawling with military, we are already getting closer to the Zambian border. Four architecture students, one of the workshop participants who is using this as a trip back to his native village, a French engineer, a Congolese builder behind the wheel and his constant companion — a true Congolese all-rounder, his trademark being that he was both a former medical student and a car mechanic. The car was packed full of provisions, the luggage was fixed to the roof using bicycle tubes. We finally started our trip to paradise. Beforehand, others spoke of the edge of the world — a paradise ... although lacking many things. Waiting for us was a mission area of around 10.000 km2 and a circumference of c. 100 km that could be partially reached by car, partially by motorbike and sometimes only by bike or on foot. There are schools in some of the villages; churches in all of them. The size of the settlements is a mystery — as are many things in this large country. Some of the village communities have been there for a long time and others have been abandoned over time or have simply moved. 25

The following texts are excerpts of the diploma thesis which describe the experience of the team:

Kakielo, Kipushia, Nongo, Mbulu, Mpandala, ... An area in which the people living there have to squeeze something from the landscape every day to survive. An area in which the people are looking for tangible options to orient themselves for the future. An area where regional characteristics and potential are often overlooked. An area in which modernisation takes place in small, unhurried steps. An area where basic living conditions are lacking and pose a real need for many people. An area like an island in a conflict zone somewhere between exclusion and paradise.

project area in the geographical heart of Zambia

Chem Chem Lubumbashi

sambia Bangweulu Game Reserve

d. r. congo

Kipushia, centre of the project area The tenor in Kipushia seems to be that everything was better in the past. In the past there were orange groves that were watered using pumps from Belgium. Today lots of things are in disrepair and the infrastructure that had been built up is crumbling. In Kipushia there is wood and there are carpenters; there are even a few machines for working with wood. But the machines need fuel and that fuel is not available.

Kakielo Chingola

Sakania Kitwe

sambia

Watemwa Kipushia

sambia

White gold There is a powder made of lemon and salt that is an important medicine, but there is often not enough of it available. We ask why they cannot make such a simple mixture by themselves and we don’t understand why they have to wait for a delivery from outside. Later we learn that even salt is difficult to get hold of here. Locally it is known as white gold. In contrast to salt there are local sources for gold. 27

project area in the geographical heart of Zambia

Chem Chem Lubumbashi

sambia Bangweulu Game Reserve

d. r. congo

Kakielo Chingola

Sakania Kitwe

sambia

Watemwa Kipushia

sambia

Watemwa paradise gardens A small river has to be crossed to reach the village. Going past the fields and followed by children who are already hot on our heels, we reach this wonderful area with its, in this case, positive remoteness. Watemwa is organized well as a village. As in the past, cooking pots are made of clay. The regional expertise surpasses that of other villages by a long way and the local community in Watemwa doesn’t just support their own village, but they also sell surplus goods to the surrounding settlements. Small educational initiatives Teachers are badly paid and the lessons reflect this: it hardly seems to be worth going to school. One day Brother Jean decided to pay one teacher a double salary for three months to teach young women and mothers to read. This was very successful. Within a short time a lot of young women learnt to read Chibemba, the local language. As a result the young mothers started to trust education more and they increasingly sent their own children to school.

Shifting cultivation Slash-and-burn agriculture is used to create the fields, and the ashes provide nutrients for the soil in the short term. These fields in this area often cannot be used over long periods of time due to the poor soil conditions. The fields shift further away, resulting in the whole village moving towards the new areas that are to be used for agriculture. A direct result of the shifting fields is that the architecture is not very durable and remains basic.

traditional shifting cultivation

Village structures The individual buildings are grouped into private ensembles with different numbers of buildings and varying compositions. In the same way, these merge together in a loose organization into villages. The private spaces keep their distance from the main road and are connected to one another and to the area by a fine network of paths. These paths lead to the fields, the river, to the next village… house ensembles

House ensembles There is usually one house for sleeping which is the most private area. Then there is a pavilion, which is an area to work and socialize and is where people cook and chat. In addition there is a community pavilion just for communication and stopovers. Furthermore there are additional smaller constructions such as showers, toilets, and storage buildings. Small barns are dotted here and there and plants are fenced off. The houses in the villages seem to be randomly strewn around the countryside.

structural plan of a village

Typological exceptions Typological exceptions in the whole area are the buildings that the missionaries built and initiated: cloisters, churches, hospitals and schools. Above all their disproportional size and construction methods differentiate them. As before it seems like two parallel worlds exist in the same place. Construction materials – a thing of prestige Choosing bamboo as a construction material is closely connected with how it is considered locally. Using loam, bamboo and straw still means that you cannot afford more valuable materials. Corrugated sheeting and cement stand for durability and financial opportunity. Although the rural population is aware of the climatic disadvantages of these industrial materials, decisions are still made in this direction if at all possible. But there is also the desire for better solutions for working with traditional construction materials.

church in Kipushia

house ensemble

traditional building technique

school building in Kakielo

church in Kipushia

house ensemble

traditional building technique

school building in Kakielo

Every year, just before school starts, women from the surrounding villages meet together at Kipushia boarding school. These women are the mothers of the children who board at the school. Together they plaster the individual homes and prepare a place that reminds their daughters of their own home and family through the year. In the project area, a strong female network has continually developed. Artistic loam plastering as the traditional craft of the women in the Katanga boot.

Design Cornelia Bräuer Home away from Home

site plan

When we visited, the Salesian project office in Lubumbashi was planning on setting up a boarding school for girls in the long term. Financing for the project and the general future of the girl’s boarding school were still up in the air at this point. The architectural design of the boarding schools for girls and boys indicates who is valued more highly, or in other words, whose education is given a higher priority. Home away from Home is a prototypical attempt to create a temporary second home for young women. Through its size and function it illustrates what this type of building could look like. Our trip was relatively short and language barriers were often high so if this type of project were really to be implemented, it would first need to be compared with the real situation, and above all the actual wishes, needs and requirements of the local people would need to be considered in detail.

Design Cornelia Bräuer Home away from Home

site plan

stable

showers

Several homes should offer a group of around 25–30 women a place to live and exchange experiences. Four dorms were developed for the students. Each dorm is for a small group of six girls. A dorm is created for the carers, a storeroom for other miscellaneous uses, a food store, a classroom, somewhere to cook, four showers, and two toilets. In addition to the individual houses, there is a kitchen garden well protected from wild animals and theft. The dorms and storage rooms form an intact climatic shell and protect against cold and heat.

toilets

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food store

dorm

cooking area

kitchen garden

dorm

carer’s room

class room

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The ceilings are designed using Nubian barrel-vaults. This means that the primary structure can be built completely of loam, it is resistant to termites and temperature highs and lows are avoided as the solid structure can store heat. The roof spans across the whole ensemble: like an umbrella. The boarding school presents itself as a spatially differentiated community pavilion that is in the centre of the village. The young women eat, sleep, live, learn and relax... all under one roof.

Nubian barrel-vaults in the model

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Nubian barrel-vaults in the model

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Design Elke Schmedler About Houses and Gardens

About Houses ... When schools are built in this area then they are always built using the same style: two classes, one staff room and a storeroom linked together into one building in a linear form that stands apart from the village. The roof is only just large enough to close off the walls so it doesn’t add any extra value to the space around the school, and doesn’t provide any potential to experiment with lessons or allow the building to have any other functions. The current building layout fulfils its primary aim to provide lessons within four walls. However, if the buildings provided added value for the whole community, then they would be more strongly integrated into the structure of the village. The climate allows them to spend most of their time outside. Lessons take place during the summer months and in the transitional months. The converted space itself provides protection from the wind and can regulate the temperature, but protected zones are required to move around sheltered from the direct sun and rain. Segmentation and the flexibility of the design with regard to functionality are both important. Open structures should be created and the spaces should be able to be considered as a whole and as individual elements.

Design Elke Schmedler About Houses and Gardens

pavilion 4 3

vegetable gardens

storage Grundriss EG | M 1:100

teachers

M 1:100

toilets

One ensemble comprising three buildings form the basis for the first construction phase of the six class school that should be built later: one freestanding classroom (1), an additional classroom (2) together with staffroom (3) and storeroom (4) and a pavilion construction (5) that can be used as a teaching space and also as a space to meet or for festivities. Doors and windows that hinge around a centre axis allow the interior and exterior spaces to flow seamlessly. Woven nests are informally placed between and next to the buildings and together with the surrounding school garden they create a learning environment. Separating the spaces creates potential for useful, high quality spaces to develop inbetween. The buildings form an open courtyard that creates privacy without separating the school from the village.

garden for seedlings

classroom 5

1 classroom 2 additional classoom 3 staffroom 4 storeoom 5 pavillion construction

floor plan

10 m

additional classroom

pavilion 4 3

vegetable gardens

storage Grundriss EG | M 1:100

teachers

M 1:100

toilets

garden for seedlings

classroom 5

1 classroom 2 additional classoom 3 staffroom 4 storeoom 5 pavillion construction

floor plan

10 m

additional classroom

… and gardens As part of the project work, other basic problems apart from the spatial requirements concerned us in addition to the survey and architectural discussions. Above all the food situation and the health problems connected with this are issues that always made us re-evaluate things and often brought up the question of whether building a school is enough, or if it really is what is required at all. As school gardens were previously a tradition in the region but have unfortunately disappeared, it would be obvious to build one next to the school and to make the maintenance part of the lessons. A network with experience and sustainable results is required as a lot of agricultural knowledge is getting lost. The project A Thousand Gardens in Africa (a project by Terra Madre | Slow Food Foundation) provides a well coordinated and well functioning structure for founding gardens for schools, families and communities.

view

School roofs in the village The villages look like a collection of conical roofs, pavilion roofs and hipped roofs that turn grey over time and shimmer silver in the sun. As the optically largest part of the development they characterize the effect of the houses and the village like no other element.

Design Marcus Brückner Places to Learn

The school buildings add a new level of hierarchy to the village structure. This is created both from and within the same environment as the vernacular buildings. Their scale and position point to another use however: as an autonomous element in the centre of the village they are both houses to learn in and a location for the village itself. the collection of roofs; in the front the new school buildings

Developing a school typology It is typologically necessary to allow for the school building to expand to six classes with additional buildings, but also to allow the same DNA to be easily reproduced in different places. At the same time it is important to make sure that there is potential to carry this over into vernacular buildings and to sustainably improve living conditions. As in the wider region of influence, dignified living spaces are lacking and required for many people.

Design Marcus Brückner Places to Learn

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

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verstärkte verstärkte

strengthening the corners

increasing the thickness of the wallsWandstärke Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

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verstärkte verstärkte

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Öffnungen zwischen Pfeiler und Ecken

reducing height

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion Reaktionsmöglichkeit Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf auf Öffnungen Öffnungen zwischen zwischen Pfeiler Pfeiler und und Ecken Ecken

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

possibility to react to cardinal points Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktionthe Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf Himmelsrichtungen

und Ecken

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

immediate abutment

windows between pillars and corners Öffnungen zwischen Pfeiler

Himmelsrichtungen Himmelsrichtungen Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

straw roof Strohdach Strohdach Sockel Sockel and socleund und

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf Himmelsrichtungen

anchoring the roof Dachverankerung Dachverankerung

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte

strengthening the corners

increasing the thickness of the wallsWandstärke Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

Erhöhte Erhöhte Wandstärke Wandstärke

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

verstärkte verstärkte

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler

Öffnungen zwischen Pfeiler und Ecken

reducing height

Zwischenpfeiler Zwischenpfeiler Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion Reaktionsmöglichkeit Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf auf Öffnungen Öffnungen zwischen zwischen Pfeiler Pfeiler und und Ecken Ecken

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

possibility to react to cardinal points Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktionthe Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf Himmelsrichtungen

und Ecken

Eckausbildung Eckausbildung

immediate abutment

windows between pillars and corners Öffnungen zwischen Pfeiler

Himmelsrichtungen Himmelsrichtungen Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

straw roof Strohdach Strohdach Sockel Sockel and socleund und

Raumhöhenreduktion Raumhöhenreduktion

Reaktionsmöglichkeit auf Himmelsrichtungen

anchoring the roof Dachverankerung Dachverankerung

The main challenge for the stability of large rooms is the length and the height of the walls and the strength of the corner connections. The longer and higher the walls are, the more stable these need to be. Reinforcing corner connections and adding intermediate load-bearing pillars can reduce the depth of the wall without increasing the risk of buckling, tipping or overturning. For lower walls, the stabilizing elements can be correspondingly reduced. Openings without supports are possible in the areas between the pillars and the reinforced corners since stabilizing elements ensure that the building stands secure. These elements can be interpreted in many ways and can fulfil secondary functions such as dynamic connecting areas, places to sit, and storage space, etc. In addition this creates the potential to adapt based on geographical orientation and location. A comfortable room height is achieved despite low walls by using a straw roof with a minimum gradient of 45 degrees. In addition, straw has good climatic qualities such as good insulation properties and breathability. A rigid roof construction that is anchored to the reinforced corner formations of the walls is required for effective load dissipation. Horizontal forces are directed exclusively to these areas of the wall construction. The roof is protected against torsion from horizontal forces by staggering the wall elements. Anchoring the roof to the reinforced corners also ensures it is protected from wind suction. 52

section

floor plan

section

floor plan

Construction of the school buildings The direction that both class buildings face is oriented to the course of the village’s main connecting path. They share a joint frontage that connects them and have a recreational and play area behind. During construction additional elements were built in these areas that were needed during the construction phase and serve to generate additional uses for the future school building. No additional effort is required to generate a high level of quality from inception onwards and this achieves lasting appreciation and further enhances the school ensemble.

straw cover 35 cm

inferior purlin termite barrier concrete closure

carbonized roof anchoring surrounded by stabilized rammed earth

roof construction

rammed earth 4 cm fat clay with a high percentage of coarse sand

bitumen waterproofing

stabilized adobe stabilized rammed earth

stabilized rammed earth foundation

detail cut

straw cover 35 cm

inferior purlin termite barrier concrete closure

carbonized roof anchoring surrounded by stabilized rammed earth

roof construction

rammed earth 4 cm fat clay with a high percentage of coarse sand

bitumen waterproofing

stabilized adobe stabilized rammed earth

stabilized rammed earth foundation

detail cut

Cornelia Bräuer was born in Upper Austria and studied Architecture and Arts in Linz and Marseille. Her main interest in architecture is in social interaction and impact: working with different people from a diverse background and learning by travelling. As a student, she joined Anna Heringer on her homemade family houses project in Bangladesh. After finishing her studies, Cornelia worked as a project architect in various studios.

Stakeholders

stakeholders on the way to Kipushia, d. r. Congo

Marcus Brückner was born in the countryside of northern Bavaria in the middle of Germany and grew up there. After an apprenticeship as a drafter, he studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt and at the University of Art and Design in Linz. Marcus worked in various offices and on different architectural studies and projects both during and after his studies. 2016 he started studying for a PhD and he continues to take part in additional projects. Elke Schmedler was born in Upper Austria and grew up there. She has always been interested in trying new things. After her bachelor’s degree in mathematics, she began studying architecture at the University of Arts in Linz. She graduated in 2013. She worked as a maths tutor both during and after her studies. By chance, she started a new chapter in her life and since 2015 she runs the little Café Friedlieb und Töchter in Linz with a partner.

Stakeholders

stakeholders on the way to Kipushia, d. r. Congo

Karl Eisenhardt (Caritas Austria) studied commercial sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and worked in the controlling department of an international enterprise for ten years before working as a disaster-relief helper for Caritas Austria in Kosovo and Indonesia. He has been responsible for development programmes in the D. R. of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi since 2005. He is responsible for the lasting improvement of the living situations of small farmers, people with disabilities, children and young people.

The Salesian project office coordinates the project and is represented locally by Aurélie Jeannerod and Matthieu Griffin. Many young people from the Salesian training programme and priests from the parish communities have also contributed significantly to the implementation.

CRAterre was an important partner on this project. CRAterre is a universal research lab for loam construction and the location of the UNESCO Chair in Earthen Architecture, Construction Cultures and Sustainable Development. Together with two assistant lecturers from CRAterre, Mauricio Ganduglia and Alexandre Douline, the first two model classes were realized in Lubumbashi. This was a trial programme and a project teaching construction to further train the local workers. Both assistant lecturers campaign for construction that protects resources and they regularly lead international workshops on the topic.

house by house – d. r. Congo Research participants Cornelia Bräuer, Elke Schmedler, Marcus Brückner, Corinna König Research phase 07–08|2012 Concept and design Cornelia Bräuer, Elke Schmedler, Marcus Brückner Planning phase 09|2012–03|2013 Diploma supervision Roland Gnaiger Project coordination Clemens Quirin Project support Blaise Batatabo, Karl Eisenhardt (Caritas), Corinna König and Clemens Quirin (basehabitat) Cooperation with CARITAS AUSTRIA – foreign aid CRAterre – Unesco chair for earthen architecture Bureau Salésien de Projets, Lubumbashi Financial support CARITAS AUSTRIA – foreign aid Local support Aurelie and Eric Jeannerod (Salesians), Matthieu Griffin (Salesians), Benoit Nyota (construction company), Alexander Douline (CRAterre–ENSAG), Mauricio Gaduglia (architect, Angola), Padres der Mission Chem Chem (Salesians), Anaclet Ngoyi Wa Ngoyi (teacher at Chem Chem), Pater Jean Szkopiecki (Salesians, Mission Kipushia)

The Central African Republic is a crisis-ridden, economically poor country but it has a fabulous wealth of untouched natural areas. One of these is the Chinko|Mbari basin in the east of the country. The Chinko Project (cp) ngo made it their aim to protect this valuable ecosystem from illegal logging, organized poaching and the spread of rebel groups while at the same time creating jobs and training opportunities for local people.

chinko Headquarters Development of a Master Plan and a Handbook for Building Chinko, Central African Republic Raffael Hickisch, Chinko

At the start of 2014, Raffael Hickisch, an Austrian ecologist from the ngo Chinko Project commissioned the basehabitat studio to create a design for their central infrastructure (headquarters). On-site implementation was to be optimized by providing a flexible master plan, a construction handbook, and the main construction details. During an intensive design phase the four architectural students, Michael Brunmayr, Nicole Rodlsberger, Sophie Schrattenecker and Jomo Zeil created an architectural vision for the Chinko nature reserve. This was then used as an integral part of several applications for support. The recognition as a nature reserve followed in late 2014, and along with the cooperation with the African Parks Network, also the necessary financial resources to start the project. The implementation of the headquarters on the ground started together with the site manager Franz Landl short before Christmas the very same year. However, it quickly became apparent that planning and implementation can be two completely different things. 69

chinko Headquarters Development of a Master Plan and a Handbook for Building Chinko, Central African Republic Raffael Hickisch, Chinko

Project Description

cattle from Arabian herdsmen in the Chinko

The Chinko|Mbari basin has an ecosystem with exceptionally high biodiversity. It includes different vegetation zones: from lowland rainforest to savannas and woodland savannas. The untouched natural spaces there make it unique. Large parts of the area are uninhabited and have been sheltered from human influences. The area is increasingly under threat due to the political instability on the ground and the plight of the people in the country. A diverse ecosystem is facing overexploitation. Plant and animal life is endangered due to slash-and-burn agriculture and poaching (partly from armed herdsmen from the neighbouring Sudan), illegal hunting and logging, and poisoning prey to eliminate predators. Urgent action is needed.

“Poaching has increased dramatically since 2012. Lots of Arabian herdsmen can no longer migrate to South Sudan and they move along with their cattle from the south to the east of Central Africa during the dry period. As there are still wild animals there, they also kill the game they find there. Some of the Sudanese have even specialized in delivering weapons, ammunition and alcohol to herdsmen in the area. This is a dangerous mixture.” Raffael Hickisch, ngo Chinko Project 72

Project Description

cattle from Arabian herdsmen in the Chinko

Since December 2014, the Chinko|Mbari basin has officially been a nature reserve and the Chinko Project is part of the African Parks network. The project is mainly funded by usaid, the eu, the u.s. Fish and Wildlife Service and a number of private donors. In 2017, the Chinko have been patrolling a core area of ~7,000 km2. The surrounding area is governed as buffer zone. As there are very few villages within the vicinity of the reserve boundaries, the project has extended activities to communities in the park’s periphery.

training of park rangers, Kocho Camp, Chinko

The operation of this nature reserve provides jobs for more than 300 Central African staff, and improves the infrastructure for the surrounding communities: these had been missing for many conflict-ridden years. Moreover, the project was intended to improve the general security situation. Park rangers have to be trained to patrol and protect the area. At the same time it is important to involve people from the surrounding areas, including herdsmen and poachers. Information, education and effective training should improve understanding and future perspectives. In addition, a network of observation and travel infrastructure needs to be built up throughout the whole area, including, for example, roads, camps, medical facilities, logistics, radio stations and weather stations.

training of park rangers, Kocho Camp, Chinko

herdsmen in the Chinko

At the start of 2014 the Chinko Project commissioned basehabitat to plan infrastructure that could also be used for tourism in the long term. A master plan was to show the development potential for the next fifteen years. The base of the design was formed from a space allocation plan conceived by the ngo, visual satellite photos, coordinate data, photos, and several conversations with the ngo team. The planning phase was accelerated to meet the given deadline, by which the project had to be handed in to the funding agencies.

women from the surrounding villages and a legally hunted trophy, Chinko

herdsmen in the Chinko

women from the surrounding villages and a legally hunted trophy, Chinko

gps +6°18'17.53" N | +23°51'38.96" E The Chinko headquarters was formed at a strategically important location for coordinated surveillance and for the monitoring of the area and is there to protect the resources that are important to the project. The planning area and therefore also the construction site for the implemented infrastructure is right next to the existing Kocho airstrip and uses this logistical hub for relatively fast connections both within the basin and beyond. Existing small buildings such as an aeroplane hangar, a garage, and a radio station also influenced the choice of site. On dirt road it is around 120 km (8–12 hours by Land Cruiser) to the next largest town of Bakouma and an 800 km flight to the capital, Bangui.

It was impossible for the students to go on a research trip, not just because of the time pressure, but also due to the lack of safety in the project area and the high travel costs involved. During a short and very intense design phase in constant exchange with Raffael Hickisch and the ngo Chinko Project, the basehabitat team developed concrete designs and a flexible master plan, that could be adapted to actual needs and conditions. In addition, a catalogue containing technical building instructions and recommendations was created to provide the best possible support for the construction management team on site. basehabitat was to take an advisory role during the construction process. After the successful application process, the start of building followed quickly. Experience from previous projects has repeatedly shown that unforeseen circumstances have to be constantly dealt with on the ground during implementation, which naturally results in necessary compromises during the construction process. In this particular case, it quickly became apparent that planning and implementation can be two completely different things — different expectations clashed under extreme time pressure, which partly led to some significant changes in direction. During intensive conversations and interviews we attempted to understand the different experiences and expectations and to help them to converge. This allowed us to better understand both the whole process and the result. 78

Thierry Aebischer installing cameras in the Chinko

Central African Republic

The Central African Republic is a former French colony that hasn’t really managed to develop favourably since its independence. Today the country is one of the poorest in the world due to an instable government, corruption, and armed conflicts that continually flare up.

sudan

chad

south sudan Chinko|Mbari Basin 18.000 km2 central african republic

Yalinga Ndolo Bakouma

Rafai

Bangui

cameroon

congo

Kocho - Camp

Capital • Bangui Border countries • Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan Population • 5.4 million Age structure • < 15 years 40.4 % • 15–64 years 56 % • > 64 years 3.6 % Population growth rate • 2.13 % Population density • 7.1/km2 Official languages • French and Sangho Literacy • 36.8 % (age 15 and over) HDI Human Development Index • 0.35, rank 187 Median age • 19.5 years (vs. Austria 43.2 years) Average life expectancy at birth • 51.81 years • male 50.5 years • female 53.16 years

d. r. congo 500 km cia World Factbook, Human Development Reports undp, 2015

Central African Republic

sudan

chad

south sudan Chinko|Mbari Basin 18.000 km2 central african republic

Yalinga Ndolo Bakouma

Rafai

Bangui

cameroon

congo

Kocho - Camp

d. r. congo 500 km cia World Factbook, Human Development Reports undp, 2015

chinko Headquarters Master Plan and Construction Handbook

The basic concept for the master plan was a complex space allocation plan that included: living space for approx. seventy park rangers (yellow); living space for permanent research staff, security staff, twenty employees and the members of two of the managements’ families (green); recreational spaces, kitchens and spaces for slaughtering, drying, smoking, and storing meat (brown); sanitary facilities (blue); office buildings for four employees and a treatment| doctors room (red). In addition the following were also part of the space allocation plan: a garage (including a storeroom for spare parts), a central storage space for machines and tools, a place to store weapons, and several adjoining rooms as well as a water tower, a watch tower (for observation, radio station, weather station, etc.), and a garage for eight suvs.

park rangers sanitary facilities kitchen, storage

Modular Courtyards The whole ensemble was designed using a flexible master plan that was in essence made up of a courtyard structure, resulting in a regular grid in a modular form to make a structure that remained adaptable in its size and dimensions. This allows the requirements of the central headquarters to be matched to the resources available and the individual modules to be used for smaller camps outside.

permanent living space administration and doctor functional diagram of the chinko headquarters master plan

chinko Headquarters Master Plan and Construction Handbook

park rangers sanitary facilities kitchen, storage

permanent living space administration and doctor functional diagram of the chinko headquarters master plan

life in Kocho Camp, Chinko

The building design was to be treated as a prototypical construction that could also be implemented in other areas of the region. There is an increased risk of attack, as the headquarters doesn’t just contain food, but also weapons and fuel. The courtyard structures face inwards for security reasons with small openings facing outwards. The buildings are also as clearly arranged as possible to avoid dead corners. The frequent bush fires, which are sometimes set deliberately, also influenced the direction of the individual courtyards. The design team explains the main design ideas as followed, “The execution planning was not a detailed plan using 1:50, but it instead specified basic decisions such as how to deal with the infrastructure and specific grid plans. It also considered the direction of the drainage (direction of the roof and the drainage ditches), as well as the maximum length of supports and beams. The planning was first and foremost for the first construction phase, that is, for one courtyard module. Each subsequent construction phase should profit from the previous courtyards and any changes to the construction or improvements in planning and implementation. Each courtyard should get better based on experience!”

erection of the constructive grid

DETAIL

GSEducationalVersion

MASTERPLAN

erection of the constructive grid

DETAIL

GSEducationalVersion

MASTERPLAN

3,00

3,375

2,85

0,15

large room

1,50

0,15

2,00

standard room

2,845

standard 0,30 room

2,255

0,15

0,90

single room

4,00

2,00

3,00

part of one modular courtyard in detail

The camp rangers live up to four months a year separated from their families. In order to keep up morale for this perilous job, private double rooms are available to them. Each of the around 22 such units are grouped around a courtyard, which sanitary areas as well as a common room are assigned to. Each courtyard is based on a construction grid of 3 × 3 meters. This dimension derives from the maximum element size that is still to be transported by plane or car. The consequently kept grid gives the exterior spaces order and creates freedom for the subjacent organization of spaces and room sizes. Struts support the flat saddle roof with a 4° slope. Under the completed roof membrane the spacedefining walls can be erected regardless of the weather. This separation of load-bearing and spaceforming structure makes a temporally separated execution possible. During the construction cycle the space under the roof can be used as a storage or working space.

detail rainger quarters M 1:50 GSEducationalVersion

If walls stand in a column grid, the affected columns are replaced by shorter steel columns. In order to prevent the infestation of wooden roof constructions by termites as much as possible and to promote thermal rear ventilation, these are raised from the walls.

3,00

3,375

2,85

0,15

large room

1,50

0,15

2,00

standard room

2,845

standard 0,30 room

2,255

0,15

0,90

single room

4,00

2,00

3,00

part of one modular courtyard in detail

detail rainger quarters M 1:50 GSEducationalVersion

ranger courtyard 20 Rangers

ranger courtyard 21 Rangers

ranger courtyard 23 Rangers

sanitary

rangers

permanent living courtyard team-meating storage meeting hall

kitchen | storage

flag hangar

office

watch tower

meat preperation

office

water tower guests

garage storage server

medical administration courtyard workshop petrol storage runway

floor plan

10m

ranger courtyard 20 Rangers

ranger courtyard 21 Rangers

ranger courtyard 23 Rangers

sanitary

rangers

permanent living courtyard team-meating storage meeting hall

kitchen | storage

flag hangar

office

watch tower

meat preperation

office

water tower guests

garage storage server

medical administration courtyard workshop petrol storage runway

floor plan

10m

Roof Construction corrugated steel panels wood beams 8/8 cm double wood beams 8/16 cm (shifted halfway)

Building Engineering The frequent heavy rainfall was an important parameter for the technical design considerations of the building. This was confronted in the design by using a higher base measuring at least 45 cm and also by putting a kink in both roofs to drain the roof water to the outside instead of draining it to inside the courtyards. The water from the roofs can then be drained away using two drainage systems for each.

1,50 m Roof overlap Steel Pillar

The roof is lifted to provide a good climate. This allows air to circulate and prevents the rooms below from overheating. The heavy horizontal rain is confronted in the foreman planning with a vertical wooden grating that protects the space between the roof ceiling and the roof itself. The outside walls are planned to have two and a half rows of bricks for both climatic and security reasons.

Rain Shelter horizontal split bamboo between wooden frame

Ring Beam u-bricks filled with reinforced concrete Opening bricks vertical with distance

Flooring inside: rammed earth floor outside: cement plaster blinding layer drainage layer compressed earth filling

allowing the air to circulate to prevent overheating

Damp Proof Course cement mortar

detail cut

Ceiling Construction clay plaster bricks 24/24 cm iron rods 16 mm distance 12 cm welded to L-profiles (distance 1 m)

Pillar Basis cast in concrete crosswise fixation with metal rods Foundation masonry stone plinth with cement mortar

Roof Construction corrugated steel panels wood beams 8/8 cm double wood beams 8/16 cm (shifted halfway)

1,50 m Roof overlap Steel Pillar

Rain Shelter horizontal split bamboo between wooden frame

Ring Beam u-bricks filled with reinforced concrete Opening bricks vertical with distance

Flooring inside: rammed earth floor outside: cement plaster blinding layer drainage layer compressed earth filling

allowing the air to circulate to prevent overheating

Damp Proof Course cement mortar

detail cut

Ceiling Construction clay plaster bricks 24/24 cm iron rods 16 mm distance 12 cm welded to L-profiles (distance 1 m)

Pillar Basis cast in concrete crosswise fixation with metal rods Foundation masonry stone plinth with cement mortar

Damp proof course (dpc) A barrier between the basement and the masonry walls to prevent moisture moving upward due to capillary action. It is very important that all walls are kept dry so that the whole structure remains durable. Common materials are liquid bitumen or sheeting, thin iron sheeting, plastic sheeting, etc. In addition, insects should also be prevented from getting inside the walls.

Details from the handbook for building Because of the complicated reachability of the Kocho Camp and the fact that much more responsibility lies with the local actors as in other cases, the construction plans were supplemented with a building handbook. This book not only presents the design team the most important guiding details illustrated in text and pictures, but also has an explanation of their practical implementation. The goal of the handbook was, with the help of easily understandable sketches, to take the load off the construction manager, to enable a building process that is as frictionless as possible, as well as to facilitate the handling of the locally available materials and tools. As Franz Landl, the construction manager of basehabitat mentions in retrospect, this was an important aid in daily work: “The lists were translated from German to French, and some also into Sangho (...) On the ground I had three translators who translated from English into Sangho.”

Lintel band There should be a ring beam holding the walls together on top of the wall. It should be a reinforced concrete ring. This is made easily using special u-shaped bricks. Iron rods are put inside and filled up with concrete. It is important that the reinforcing iron rods have a continuous ring at the corners because the rods take all the tensile force. The rods should run continuously around the corners of the building and the protrusions.

Water hose level To determine a completely horizontal level without using technical devices, you can use a flexible transparent water hose of around 10 meters filled with water. The water level at both ends of the hose is exactly horizontal. 94

Implementation on site Due to the isolated location of the project area it was extremely limited as to which construction materials could be used. Building materials that are not available near the site are expensive and difficult to get due to the huge logistical requirements. Any construction materials that cannot be bought in Bakouma have to be collected from far or flown in. Locally there is loam, tropical timber, grasses, palm leaves, round stones (20 cm diameter) and gravel. It is difficult to use these resources as the manual skills are not available and adequate machinery is lacking. In addition to hand tools such as hammers, chisels, saws, axes and machetes, there was a front loader, drills, chain saws, electrode welders and car repair tools. The main construction materials used were air-dried loam blocks (adobe), rammedearth foundations and wooden beams from the local African hardwoods that were cut by hand. All the screw connections were built using the norms for automobile repair tools, as these are available in the warehouse. As requested by the ngo, corrugated sheets were used to cover the roofs.

David Simpson, park manager on site

The actual implementation on site did not use some of the parameter from the design: so steel was used for the roof construction instead of wood, and burnt bricks were used instead of the planned adobe bricks. This was mainly due to the tight time limit, the instable political situation, and also the financial situation. 96

David Simpson, park manager on site

clearing and leveling the site foundations work

Failing

“There’s no succes like failure.” Bob Dylan In the chinko headquarters design project, a special dimension of failure was experienced on account of the complicated conditions and project prerequisites. Several causes are known to us, but others remain concealed. 1. Every planning procedure must be preceded by an extensive on-site investigation. On this occasion, the people and their possibilities, the climactic and logistic conditions, the preconditions for a stay and the available tools and materials are explored. In Chinko we had to rely on stories. The Central African Republic ranked among the most dangerous countries in the world. The basehabitat management could not consider it as justifiable to send instructors and students into the country against all travel warnings. Therefore, crucial conditions could not be taken into account in the planning phase.

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“It is very abstract to plan from afar using Google Earth photos, coordinates and satellite telephone transmissions. It’s like a computer game. There are people walking around with weapons, there are Chinese road builders dealing ivory, etc. Within this environment we were supposed to plan high quality, thought-through details. That’s not realistic. You can do that to make money or to set things in motion. But it can’t be any more than that if you aren’t on the ground there.” Design team 101

Failing

100

“If we had the chance to do this again, I’d solve it differently. The architecture team would have to go to the site to make their plans together with the park manager in a timely manner. This plan would then match both, the actual requirements and the available materials and we would be able to implement it immediately.” Raffael Hickisch, ngo Chinko Project

2. An important precondition for any work is to know the company culture and decision processes of the partner organizations well. In the basehabitat project chinko headquarters, the determining factors changed vastly in the very short time span between planning and the start of construction: The security situation worsened dramatically, workers were threatened, stores plundered, and internal communication was severely limited due to the high costs of satellite telephoning. The construction manager and basehabitat were first confronted with these profound changes on the already operating construction site. Joint planning decisions were jettisoned on site. It was first necessary to build a large warehouse to safely store the huge amount of food, tools and equipment for all the workers. The construction for this began without planning. What ultimately killed the basehabitat project was the opinion of the park manager, who said that ranger accommodations are not necessary. Instead of the 70 rangers in the headquarters, the rangers were to be divided among outposts — in order to better cover the large area (19,000 km2). This stance is understandable, but contradicts all programmes and design bases. As a result, nothing remained of the design of Linz architecture students. Up to today we still do not know whether this was a solitary decision, whether this way was agreed upon within the organization, or whether our project was conceived from the very start only for acquiring funds.

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“The conservation project Chinko Project started in 2013 and is today a fully fledged nature reserve with around four hundred employees. (…) Lots of people volunteered on this project and it would never have been realized without the momentum that the work of basehabitat and the students provided. At the end of the day there might not have been any financing without the master plan; without the financing, there wouldn’t have been any cooperation with African Parks; and so on.” Raffael Hickisch, ngo Chinko Project

3. There are several irrevocable conditions for successful work. Among them are a minimum of understanding possibilities and a maximum number of people working on a matter. When the construction manager arrived at the building site, around 200 men were already employed there; 50 0f them on the building site. This large number of people would have required logistics, which were not even mentioned during the planning. Nearly all of the workers were unskilled and communication with them was only possible “with hands and feet,” since hardly any of them spoke English.

“When I arrived, two hundred men were working on site. Within six months, food supplies, clothes, equipment, tools, car parts and machine parts, construction materials, diesel, etc. had to be hauled in for the next six months. Storage and stock is therefore an important topic.” Franz Landl

errecting the steel structure of the warehouse

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errecting the steel structure of the warehouse

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Generally, even under better organizational circumstances and with well-practiced teams, it is impossible to train such a large number of workers and to coordinate and to instruct them in a sensible way at the same time. Beyond bidding farewell to designs and notions one has grown fond of, it is beautiful to experience that there are also aspects and experience levels in (in our view) failed projects that expand our horizons and from which those involved can gain something.

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“Four architects spending countless weeks planning a new headquarters are of huge value. In Chinko, unfortunately, this is only being recognized today. The warehouse takes on a core function on the ground: it is stable and durable. It is however a shame for the long term that the ranger accommodation couldn’t be built. Ranger morale is an essential part of the journey to the sustainable protection of this region. If I had to rate the basehabitat chinko headquarters project, then I would say that the project was around 30 percent successful. Even if hardly any of the architectural designs were implemented, we were able to pass on and implement knowledge of construction and basic architectural elements. Locally a seemingly commonplace hall has taken on a central importance for the functioning of the reserve (…). It is the biggest building for around 500 km. Being able to construct a building of this size in the Chinko was a huge step for the reserve, and the build is a reference project for other national parks.” Raffael Hickisch, ngo Chinko Project

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Challenges on site Preparation work and orders were partially done from Austria, shortages resulted in things being imported from neighbouring countries and there often wasn’t any time at all for in-depth consideration and discussions, so Franz Landl illustrates, “You can order roof tiles in Bangui but you don’t know when you will get them and what the quality will be like. Therefore, roof tiles, tubular steel and other materials were ordered in Douala, Cameroon in October and driven to Bangui in a convoy. The materials arrived on site at the start of March, already a bit in bad condition. Before the roof of the warehouse could be covered every individual piece of corrugated sheet had to be bent and/or repaired.

“Old diesel containers were used for shower tanks. So after showering you always smelt a bit of diesel. You are in the middle of the African bush and you listen to generators the whole day long; it stinks of diesel and smells terrible because a half-rotted cow has just arrived again ready to be prepared any minute. It is not particularly romantic, but it is amazingly interesting. At the same time everything is hard work.” Franz Landl, Construction Manager

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foundation work

collecting clay for burning bricks

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working the stones for the foundations

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foundation work

collecting clay for burning bricks

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working the stones for the foundations

There was cement nearby (Rafai, Bakouma), since everyone needs it at some time or other. It gets there via the d. r. of the Congo. Sand came from the stream. Loam from the loam pit. Bricks were formed and burnt on site. Stones were collected and chiselled into cuboids. The electricity on site came from the generator. One welding generator, two smaller generators and a larger generator were available. Wood arrives green, warped, and with random measurements. There are areas of rainforest in these parts so good wood would have been available, but it isn’t felled locally in the nature reserve; it’s bought in. After the park manager bought huge steel pipes from a town nearby, the construction was adapted to fit the materials available. All these uncertainties ask for a high flexibility and the ability of improvisation. The individual skills of the construction manager, the logistic team, the client and the workers are main factors influencing the quality of the building. Based on this setting, new constructions can be implemented successfully and costs can be reduced by the use of locally available material.” cutting the metall pillars burning bricks

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Stakeholders chinko headquarters A group of four students worked on a basic concept for the chinko headquarters on behalf of basehabitat. In just a few weeks the team created a flexible master plan and a construction handbook containing the main important details. Michael Brunmayr grew up in Upper Austria in the foothills of the Alps. Being outside and working with his hands was always important to him. After a technical education, Michael started studying at the University of Art and Design Linz in 2009. Parallel to his studies, Michael took part in many design and build projects, which increased his awareness of the potential for creating a more liveable world.

Sophie Schrattenecker was born in Upper Austria and grew up in Vienna. Between 2008 and 2009 she lived and worked in Ecuador, where she developed a strong interest for human living spaces and the built environment. After returning, Sophie studied architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz and did field research on Southern American bamboo constructions. As second course of studies she signed in for archaeology in Salzburg and finished her Master of Architecture in 2017. Jomo Zeil was born in Ramotswa, Botswana. He spent his childhood and youth in both Africa and Holland. Between 2002 and 2015, he graduated as a carpenter and joiner, studied timber construction and architecture, and graduated from the University of Art and Design, Linz. Jomo sees himself as an architect, carpenter and engineer. He has worked for Bernardo Bader and Anna Heringer. Since 2015 he works at Lehm Ton Erde in Vorarlberg, Austria.

Nicole Rodlsberger was born southwest of Salzburg, in the centre of the main northern chain of the Alps. After a technical education, she studied Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna, and Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. After graduating in both areas, Nicole decided to do a master’s degree in Architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz where she finished in 2017. After her studies Nicole started working for an architecture office in Salzburg. 112

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Franz Landl was born in Upper Austria and studied at the University of Art and Design Linz. He was tasked with implementing the project on the ground. He was originally trained as a blacksmith and has experience as a construction manager in Rwanda, Uganda and India. Several long stays and extensive trips through the African continent lie at the root of his interest in participating in the project. Raffael Hickisch was born in Upper Austria and studied IT and Social & Human Ecology. He is co-founder of the Chinko Projects, which he set up in 2013 together with three Swiss biology students, Thierry Aebischer, Erik Mararv, and David Simpson, and with two people from the Central African Republic, David Zokoé and Jean Baptiste Mamang. In 2014 the Central African Republic gave the Chinko Project a 50-year mandate for the sustainable management of the Chinko Project region. The Chinko Project is now part of the African Parks network.

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chinko headquarters – Central African Republic Concept and design Michael Brunmayr, Sophie Schrattenecker, Nicole Rodlsberger, Jomo Zeil Planning phase 03|2014 Design consulting Roland Gnaiger Project coordination Jomo Zeil (basehabitat), Raffael Hickisch (Chinko Project) Cooperation with African Parks Realization on site 12|2014–03|2015 Construction management Franz Landl

“The work there is very meaningful. The region becomes more stable due to the new jobs in the nature reserve, the training provided to all the employees, and increased earning potential through agriculture and manual trades outside the nature reserve. A project like this creates identity in an area in which otherwise weapons call the shots. I would do this work again any time.” Franz Landl 115

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Constructional Recommendations Fighting Termites · Preferably remove all organic materials from the ground around a building (dead roots, etc.) · Avoid adding organic materials when making bricks · Concrete or stone floors and foundations of the same material or cementstabilized clay bricks offer good protection · Termite barriers made of metal or bitumen between the lower brick rows · Use more resistant tropical wood for structurally important parts of the construction

· Char the outer layer of wood constructions · Apply a coat of used motor oil on the construction · Use chili in powdered form as an additive to treat wood. Its active agent capsaicin is already deployed as a pesticide · Fill the excavations for the foundation with wood ash, used oil, crushed leaves or seeds of the neem tree; a thick layer of sand (grain size 1–3 mm, layer thickness 10–15 cm) also forms a barrier

Thatched Roofs · Recommended roof pitch 45°; the steeper the roof, the longer the life cycle of the covering · Two crucial factors for and prior to using: avoidance of standing moisture (always ventilate sufficiently!) · Cover from the eave to the crown (full-length horizontal layers) with the butt ends facing the eave; · The goal is a smooth roof surface of butt ends (no stalks visible!) · Battens: depending on the roof pitch, the length of the reeds, and the wind suction hazard of the covering (maximum batten distance at a pitch up to 65° = 35 cm; more pitch = smaller batten distance) · Thatched roof thickness: surface at least 30 cm · Roof overhang on all sides: eave 50 cm verge 15–25 cm

· For long-lasting preservation, thatch coverings have to be maintained at regular intervals · Durability: at least 25 years, ø 30–50 years Straw Roofs · Straw roofs are to be executed similarly to thatch coverings; variation: batten spacing (25–30 cm) · Straw covering thickness: surface as of the first batten ~35 cm eave ~ 30 cm crown ~ 20 cm · Rye straw is ideal (wheat straw is also possible) · Straw must be fully grown, straight, preferably long and well-threshed · Machine-threshed straw is unusable (broken stems) · Durability: a minimum of 25 years

Cf. Albert Bell (GTZ GmbH), “Integrated Termite Management in Grain Storage,” Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, 2000.

Cf. Zentralverband des Deutschen Dachdeckerhandwerks (www.reetdachdeckung.de)

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Cf. Albert Bell (GTZ GmbH), “Integrated Termite Management in Grain Storage,” Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, 2000.

Cf. Zentralverband des Deutschen Dachdeckerhandwerks (www.reetdachdeckung.de)

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Imprint

Copyright © 2018 · Published by BASEhabitat · Printed with the support of the University of Art and Design, Linz · Pictures from Brent Stirton by Getty Images 2015 All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise. BASEhabitat · University of Art and Design Linz Kunstuniversität Linz die architektur · Hauptplatz 8, 4020 Linz, Austria · Phone +43.732.78 98 2293 · Mobile +43.676.847 898 2293 · basehabitat@ufg.at · www.basehabitat.org

Editing and Interviews · Corinna König Text · Corinna König · Cornelia Bräuer · Roland Gnaiger · Raffael Hickisch

Typeface · Questa Sans designed by Jos Buivenga & Martin Majoor

Copy editing · Claudia Mazanek

Pre-press Production · Boris Bonev

Translation · Gearóid O’Callaghan · Amy O’Callaghan · Brian Dorsey

Paper · Lenzing Impact 250 g · Lenzing Impact 100 g

Photos · Cornelia Bräuer · Marcus Brückner · cawa · Chinko Project · Katharina Doblinger · Corinna König · Franz Landl · Elke Schmedler · Brent Stirton | Getty Images 2015 Drawings · Cornelia Bräuer . Marcus Brückner . Michael Brunmayr · Nicole Rodlsberger · Elke Schmedler · Sophie Schrattenecker · Jomo Zeil

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Graphic design · Basic Concept: Clemens Schedler, Büro für konkrete Gestaltung · Implementation: Corinna König

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Printing · Buch.Bücher.Theiss Druckerei 1st edition · 500 copies, March 2018 ISBN · 978-3-901112-83-6 Price of sale · 10.– EUR

Imprint

Editing and Interviews · Corinna König Text · Corinna König · Cornelia Bräuer · Roland Gnaiger · Raffael Hickisch

Typeface · Questa Sans designed by Jos Buivenga & Martin Majoor

Copy editing · Claudia Mazanek

Pre-press Production · Boris Bonev

Translation · Gearóid O’Callaghan · Amy O’Callaghan · Brian Dorsey

Paper · Lenzing Impact 250 g · Lenzing Impact 100 g

118

Graphic design · Basic Concept: Clemens Schedler, Büro für konkrete Gestaltung · Implementation: Corinna König

119

Printing · Buch.Bücher.Theiss Druckerei 1st edition · 500 copies, March 2018 ISBN · 978-3-901112-83-6 Price of sale · 10.– EUR

BASEhabitat University of Art and Design Linz Kunstuniversität Linz die architektur Hauptplatz 8, 4020 Linz, Austria Phone +43.732.78 98 2293 Mobile +43.676.847 898 2293 basehabitat@ufg.at www.basehabitat.org

U3 = 105 mm

148 mm

U2 = 105 mm

Rückenstärke 8 mm –>

BASEhhabitat TD | A6 | Umschlag 4/4-CMYK | 100#er | RZ am 6. Februar 2018

U1 = 105 mm

ISBN 978-3-901112-83-6

Rückenstärke 8 mm –>

BASEhabitat Two Designs d. r. Congo | Central African Republic

148 mm

U4 = 105 mm

BASEhabitat Two Designs house by house d. r. Congo chinko headquarters Central African Republic

BASEhhabitat TD | A6 | Umschlag 4/4-CMYK | 100#er | RZ am 6. Februar 2018