REEDCOB Summer School Practical Kit Manual by EZBET Project

Online Interactive REEDCOB SUMMER SCHOOL Tool-Kit Manual

About the Summer School

The Reedcob summer school history goes back to four years ago. This is the fourth edition of the course. Last year, around 17 nationalities were participating in the summer school and 4 universities from Europe and Africa. This year, because of the COVID-19 Challenges all over the world, the summer school will take place as an online course for the first time. The course objective is to promote a building technique called “ReedCob” which is made using earth and reed canes, as an excellent sustainable technology to small/medium buildings. This is developed by the Architects Paulo Carneiro and Alina Jerónimo of CAS Studio, Eng. Fernando Cartaxo with the fundamental contribution for M&A of the Civil Engineering Dept. of the FCT/ NOVA of Lisbon. The technique is an upgrade of a traditional and vernacular technique known as Cob, with the addition of mechanical and thermal potentials of reed canes. 3

EZBET & CAS Studio, About the Cooperation

EZBET Project is cooperating with CAS Studio from Lisbon, Portugal and is happy to announce this great opportunity to go beyond academia into practical techniques. EZBET Team in Egypt is organising and planning the summer school on the local level and will provide extra practical training (extra certified credits) for all interested participants. Additional to that, technical support (one to one) to achieve the most out of the course will be offered by EZBET. Under this cooperation, EZBET Team is providing all participants (locally) with this tool kit. This tool kit includes all needed materials (sand, clay, reed, ...etc.) and tools needed (small mason trowel, gloves, ruler, other required tools, â&#x20AC;Śetc.) for the practical exercise during the training, to be detailed in this manual.

Online Summer School Structure The full package of the training under the cooperation with EZBET project is comprised of two parts: 1. The summer school technical and practical courses in collaboration with CAS Studio and Civil Engineering Dept. of the FCT/NOVA of Lisbon and this will be running between 7th to 11th of September (calculated as 2 Weeks training course). 2.

Additional to this, EZBET will be continuing for 2 more training weeks from 12th to 26th of September.

Certificates • For the first part; a certificate of participation to be issued by CAS Studio and FCT/NOVA of Lisbon (Civil Engineering Department of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa) Lisbon, Portugal. • For the second part, an additional certificate will be issued by EZBET Project, which is an academic project running under the umbrella of Ain Shams University in Cairo and University of Stuttgart in Germany. • The two parts together will be calculated with 3 ECTS in total.

About this Manual / Handbook This Tool-kit manual (handbook) is designed to the participants of the summer school “ReedCob IV”, which has been organized this year (2020) for the first time as an online course. As part of the online course offer, and especially on the local level in Egypt, EZBET Project the local partner, is providing additional training sessions that will be accompanied with tools and materials kit. So, the manual is mainly for the cause of the practical and training sessions of the summer school. The Tool-kit manual helps the participants with the following: • It provides more knowledge and information about the different materials given in the tool-kit (soils, clay, tools and so on) and the use of them in the various exercises. • It includes description of the soil field tests that are essential to understand the properties of the different types of the soil in the tool-kit. It is always needed on real site work to get to know the soil (Clay) properties and structure and this can be tested easily in the field through those illustrated practical tests. • It also guides the participants with the different steps of the practical exercises, that we are going to practice together within the two weeks online training sessions. • It contains all quantities and description of the materials and the two main introduced techniques (Adobe and ReedCob) • Finally, there are more free pages (at the end of the handbook) where participants can put and write their notes and all what have been learned along the summer school as well as the practical sessions.

The manual (handbook) is therefore very good piece of work which can be saved in the book shelves and can be reviewed again whenever such work with earth construction techniques become part of the participants’ work or still of their interest. The manual is arranged into different sections and chapters. It starts first with the introduction about the summer school and about the collaboration between EZBET Project from Cairo & Stuttgart, Germany and CAS-Studio from Lisbon, Portugal. It is then explaining all the content of the tool-kits in a graphic easy understanding way, that also illustrates a description and the use of each material and tool. The third section is listing all tools and things that participants will need to prepare at home to be ready for the practical exercises. The last three sections are the core of the manual as they illustrate in details the practical training/sessions 1, 2 and 3: • Practical training/session 1 is about the soil field tests. • Practical training/session 2 illustrates the ReedCob model instructions and steps. • Practical training/session 3 includes the adobe brick model instructions and steps to build and test the model. We recommend observation of the two models in the following two month and report (if possible) the cracks and the stability of the model.

Content of this Tool-Kit

Content of this Kit Soil 1: This is an Egyptian soil form Fayoum desert. It’s considered Silty Soil as it contains more Silt than other parts. It’s the main component of an earth construction mixture, and will be used throughout the whole training.

Soil 2: This is soil from Agricultural land. You’ll use this in the Soil tests session to compare with other soils and get better understanding of soil components.

Soil 3: This is soil is from Aswan. It’s usually used in pottery making as it have very high content of clay. You’ll also use this soil only in the soil tests session.

Sand: Construction sand Also from Fayoum. Sands give the material its strength, whilst clays bind it together. adding sand to soil mix helps to control the characteristics of the soil and compensate for higher clay content. 10

Lime:

one of the oldest binding materials used in several ancient architectural works. It works as stabilizer and add water resistance properties to the earth construction soil.

Straws:

An agricultural by-product consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed.

Reeds:

These reeds are from Fayoum. Reed are one of the main components of reedcob technique. It improves the mechanical and thermal properties of the structure.

Wood & Rods: The two wood boards and the four steel rod will be used to construct the form-work for the reedcob model.

Wood mold: This is a traditional adobe making mold in its most simple form. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use this to make an adobe brick then compare such simple technique to the more advance reedcob technique.

Gloves:

This is very important to protect your hands while dealing with materials such as lime that might cause irritations.

Trowel:

Very helpful tool, it will make it easier to mix materials as well as to spread plastering on a surface.

Float:

Another helpful tool, will be used to smooth out plastering.

Wrench:

will be used to construct the reedcob model mold.

Other tools you will need

Tools and things, you will need to prepare at home for the training: Workspace: â&#x20AC;˘ Work surface for the models and tests. â&#x20AC;˘ Small table for the tools Open air would be perfect. The space should provide enough lighting (preferable daylight); may be in the balcony or in front of your home, or garden areas. Indoor space is acceptable but please keep it clean after work. Plastic Sheet: To cover the whole work surface area, either on table or ground to keep them clean after work. (old or used plastic or trash bags, can be stick together and used). Water bucket: 3L capacity is enough. will be used for the mixtures. (PS: Try not to use clean water Ex. air conditioner water).

Measurement cup / Cup: A measuring tool to measure constant quantities of different materials. Normal cup can be used or even a half of an used water bottle 1.5L. 14

Plastic bottle: with holes in the cap (any used 1.5L bottle and making holes on it).

Towels:

Any kind of old towels for cleaning when needed.

(3x) Jar:

Will be used for soil tests (any old or used glass or plastic container).

Sieve:

might be used during the practical exercises especially on practical session 3, plastering.

Note: It is preferable to wear old or unused clothes. We emphasize the awareness of being a sustainable and environmentally friendly user of recycled material. Try not to buy new things. Please keep it sustainable, try to bring old or used materials. 15

Practical Session 1 Soil Field Tests

Practical Session 1: Soil Field Tests 1. Touch Test: • Take a small quantity of dry soil and rub it in the palm of the hand feeling its texture.

• Moisten the soil; if it begins to give off a musty smell, it contains organic material.

• Gently rub the moistened soil, again feeling its texture. If soil feels coarse when dry and smooth when moistened it contains lumps of clay. Sand on the other hand will feel gritty, as will to a lesser extent silt. • Gently wash the soil off the palm of the hand, noting how sticky it is. - If not sticky and washes off easily, it has a high gravel or sand content. - If the soil is sticky and difficult to wash off, it has a high silt content. - If the soil is very sticky and very difficult to wash off (leaving traces of colour), it has a high clay content. 18

2. SEDIMENTATION ON JAR TEST: • Take a transparent cylindrical jar or bottle of at least 1/2 litre capacity and fill it with approximately 1/4 soil and 3/4 water.

• Seal the top using your hand and shake well.

• Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes and observe the sedimentation layers.

Coarse material (gravels) will be deposited on the bottom, followed by sands, then silts, with clays at the top (according to particle size). The depth of each layer gives an indication of the proportions of each type of material. These proportions are only approximate: the layer of gravel, which contains many voids, will seem relatively “deep” compared to that of clay, which will have very few voids. Nevertheless, the test shows if the soil has a reasonable distribution of all types of material or if on the contrary it contains too much of one type. 19

3. CIGAR TEST: • Remove all coarse aggregates from the soil sample. Then moisten and knead it well until a smooth paste is obtained. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, or more, to allow it to become very smooth.

• Roll the soil between the hands into a cigar shape 3 cm in diameter and about 25 - 30 cm in length.

• Place the “cigar” across the work surface and push it gently forward over the edge until it breaks off. Then Measure the length of the piece which breaks off.

This test enables one to observe the cohesion of the soil and thus above all the quantity and quality of the clays present. The lengths measured: -

Less than 7 cm: the soil contains too much sand,

More than 12 cm: the soil contains too much clay,

Between 7 and 12 cm: the soil is good.

4. BISCUIT TEST: • Proceed as with the cigar test, by removing all gravel and kneading the sample well until a smooth paste is obtained.

• Mould it into flat biscuit-shaped discs approximately 3 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick. then leave to dry and observe any signs of shrinkage (away from the sides of the mould and/or any cracking).

• Break the “biscuit” noting how hard it is.

Shrinkage: If the biscuit is cracked or if there is a clear gap between the dried sample and the sides of the mould, the soil contains too much clay. Breaking: - If very hard to break; breaks with an audible crack: the soil has a high clay content. - If brittle, but breaks fairly easily and can be crumbled between the thumb and forefinger: a good, sandy-clayey soil; - If breaks readily and is easily reduced to powder: the soil has a high sand or silt content. 21

Practical Session 2 REEDCOB Model

Practical Session 2: REEDCOB Model • Start by preparing the work space by putting the plastic sheet on the work surface to make it easier to clean after finishing. Then clean the empty plastic box of the kit to use it as mixing container. • Before getting your hands dirty, use the 2 wood boards to construct the form-work for the reedcob model. Use the steel tie rods to keep them 15cm apart. Tie the first tie rod then tie the next rod following diagonal order. • Add the Soil and Sand, following the ratios concluded from the cigar test (for Soil #1 it’s 1:1.5 Soil:Sand). Then add Lime (5-10% is the optimum ratio for using lime to stabilize soil, 5% is enough for this exercise). Then dry mix using the trowel until incorporated. This help having a constant mix after adding water. • Gradually add the water then mix again. Until the mix reaches plastic consistency. (for Soil #1 you need to add 1:1 soil:water ratio).

3 2 1 4

• Sprinkle the Straws over the mixture then mix again to incorporate them. It’s easier to mix by hands at this stage than using the trowel, But Make sure to use the gloves as lime may hurt your naked hands. Also lime could harm your eye, make sure to protect them from it. • Take a handful of soil mix and start constructing a layer of soil mix 5 - 7 cm thick. • Then add a row of 4 Reed Canes, keeping them 3 cm apart, and extending outside the soil mix layer.

• Repeat last two steps one more time. Then add a final layer of Soil mix on top.

• Carefully un-install and remove the formwork and adjust the final shape of the model if needed. • Leave it to dry outdoors (if possible) for several days.

Practical Session 3 Adobe Brick

Practical Session 3: Adobe Brick • Start by preparing the work space by putting the plastic sheet on the work surface to make it easier to clean after finishing. Then clean the empty plastic box of the kit to use it as mixing container. Also, prepare the Adobe mold before getting your hands dirty.

• Just like last session, start by adding the Soil and Sand, following the ratios concluded from the cigar test (for Soil #1 it’s 1:1.5 Soil:Sand). For this exercise, exclude the lime to study the difference it makes. Then dry mix using the trowel until well incorporated.

• Gradually add the water then mix again. Adobe mixture is typically more moist than cob mixture. keep adding water until the mix reaches semi-viscous consistency.

• Sprinkle the Straws over the mixture then mix again to incorporate them.

It is safe to use your naked hands to mix this mixture as it does not contain Lime or other materials that cause irritations.

• With both of your hand, take enough mixture to fill the mold. • Gently compress the mixture inside the mold using your fingers and the palm of your hand. • Swipe the excess mixture off the top of the mold to have clean surface.

• Carefully remove the mold and leave it to dry in it’s place (preferably outdoors) for several days.

Practical Session 4 Plastering & Rendering

Practical Session 4: Plastering & Rendering • Start by preparing the work space by putting the plastic sheet on the work surface to make it easier to clean after finishing. Then clean the empty plastic box of the kit to use it as mixing container. Also, prepare a 1/4” Sieve if available.

• Screen in Soil and Sand to get smoother plastering at the end, increasing sand ratio for this mixture to study how it might affect cracking. (for Soil #1 use 1:2 Soil:Sand). For this exercise also, add lime (5-10%) as it improves water resistance. Then dry mix using the trowel until well incorporated.

• Gradually add the water then mix again. Plastering mixture is typically more moist than cob and adobe mixtures. keep adding water until the mix reaches viscous consistency.

• Using the back of the trowel, spread the plastering in overlapping patches starting vertically from bottom to top.

• Gently Use the float in the same direction to smooth out and level the plastering. Then let dry for 30 mins or until firm.

• After 30 mins, spray the plastering with water and gently use the trowel to smooth it even more. (Water helps smooth and fill pores).

ONLINE SUMMER SCHOOL DELIVERABLES

Deliverables Summery

The online summer school is designed to be interactive as it can be. So, participants will be engaged in different activities and they will be assigned with different assignments that help them gain the most knowledge and deeply understand information provided. During the summer school different outputs will be produced, developed and be in form of physical and documentations formats delivered. â&#x20AC;˘ The physical outputs and products are as illustrated in the manual the different tests and models that participants are going to produce with the instructors in the practical and training sessions. â&#x20AC;˘ The other format of deliverables will be in form of written, oral and films or photo documentations. These documentations are extracted from the whole three week learnt lessons along the lectures, case studies analysis and the practical and training work. 36

Soil Tests:

Reedcop model:

Adobe Brick:

Plastering:

Participants should document the different soil tests that are going to be introduced during the first session. Participants will learn how to feel, sense and measure the materials. Soil tests can provide the information necessary for maintaining any construction and can be easily experimented on the field without the need for laboratories. This model should help understanding the theoretical analysis of this technique studied during the first week. This product should be observed in different phases after producing it during the second session. A documentation of the model through observation day by day in terms of humidity, cracking, texture, color ...etc. This is the second model to be produced as one of the simplest earth construction techniques to compare it to the more advanced reed cob technique. The same here this model should be daily observed for a minimum one week till it gets completely dry. A documentation of this observation should be illustrated in a table format. The plastering is essential part of earth construction. It is so enjoyable as well. The goal is to know how to apply it to the ReedCob model, and to reflect easily to the general earth construction techniques. It is a special field in which more practice and study are needed. This is a hint if you decide to work with this technique in the future! 37

Oral Presentations:

Report:

Media materials:

Participants will be asked to give short presentations about their understanding of earth construction and other related topics such as environmentally friendly building materials, vernacular architecture and community participation. The presentation format will be PechaKucha (japanese presentations techniques: 20 slides x 20 seconds each). Also, local case studiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; presentations will be assigned in the second part of the summer school. Focusing on how sustainable these projects were designed and built. The site construction challanges could be a topic for a presentation as well. Participants will be asked to report about the different models and outputs from the practical sessions. The documentation will be in form of an observation table about the process of how the models get dry in the different phases and make a chick list of evaluation to include the durability, sustainability and visual features and performance of each technique. Here is the fun part! Participants will be asked to record the different moments during exercises with their hands dirty. All copyright of the videos and photos will be preserved for the owners. The media coverage will be for the use of the educational purposes and all participants will be informed about the use of their materials.

NOTES

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This Tool-Kit manual (handbook) is prepared by: Assoc. Prof. D. Manal El-Shahat (Director and founder of EZBET Project, and associate professor in the UDPD at faculty of Engineering in Ain Shams University) Architect Eng. Islam Abo Eldardaa (Architect, Instructor and organiser at ReedCob Summer School 2020) Architect Eng. Samaa Salah (Architect, and member in the media team in EZBET Project) This Kit is put Together by: Architect Eng. Mahmoud El-Salamouny (Architect, member in EZBET Team and organiser at ReedCob Summer School 2020) Technical Illustrations by: Architect Eng. Islam Abo Eldardaa (Architect, Instructor and organiser at ReedCob Summer School 2020) Soil Field Tests Illustrations copyrights belong to Vincent Ragassi