MUD BRICK MACHINES
Making mudbricks is a specialist art using three types of mud/soil found in the local hills. Through the Auroville Institute in Pondicherry in South India a project has been set up to make traditional mud bricks. Houses in Spiti need to be insulated and waterproofed correctly. We need to teach the next generation how to do this before this skill vanishes forever.
Why are we doing this?
- The cost of production is cheap
- Mudbricks traditionally are the ancient method of building houses in this area
- They act as insulation to retain the heat in winter, and keep the houses cool in summer
MUD BRICK MANUFACTURE IN THE SPITI VALLEY
BACKGROUND
Concern was raised by Spiti Projects that a number of new buildings within the Spiti Valley were being constructed from cement building blocks. Buildings made from cement building blocks are seen by villagers as being modern, advanced and better than the traditional rammed earth or adobe brick buildings. Recent research has shown that cement blocks are environmentally unsound, expensive, have poor strength and low resistance to earthquakes and give poor thermal insulation in the extreme climates found in the high Himalayas. In order to reverse this trend Spiti Projects bought a specially designed manual machine that would produce compressed earth building blocks with a small addition of cement. The resulting block is stronger, more rain resistant, cheaper and more insulating than the concrete blocks. The Mud Brick machine was delivered from Auroville to Mane Village in early August 2006
Four men attended a training course at Auroville, Pondichery earlier that year to learn in detail about the mud brick machine and its operation and the various bricks that can be made using it. Spiti Projects had then arranged for Mr Satprem Maini, the designer of the mud brick machine and a world's authority on mud bricks and constructions to give a 5 day course on brick making and construction techniques in Mane village. The plan was to construct the new toilet block for the village school from these mud bricks.
THE SEMINARS
Mr Satprem Maini came to Mane village in August 2006 and gave 2 seminars to invited guests from the Spiti valley. Fifty guests including 3 monks from Dankhar monastery, 3 monks from Tabo, plus people from Mane, Lhalung, Kaza villages attended. These seminars generated a lot of interest.
The seminars were held in the library of Mane School and were well attended. These were followed by a number of practical sessions using the mud brick machine, showing how to make adjustments to the machinery and the mix, how to install new tolls to produce different shaped bricks and also how to store and cure the manufactured bricks. There was some time left to show how buildings should be constructed using these bricks.
FOLLOW UP
Two small business teams were set up to sell and manufacture the mud bricks in the Spiti Valley. A second machine was purchased in 2007. Each machine can be moved to a village location and the local materials and labour are used to produce bricks for local construction purposes.
One team has been given a contract to build a six-classroom school at Tabu Monastery. The second team has been granted a contract by an army officer to build him a house in Kaza.
SPITI PROJECTS NEEDS YOUR HELP
SPONSOR A BRICK FOR THE SCHOOL DORMITORY IN SPITI VALLEY,
Our project for 2008 is to build a school dormitory for the children in the outlying areas around Mane Village. The plans have been drawn up by our architect Suneetha Kacker, and will consist of a dormitory to house 12 boys and 12 girls with a study area, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a teacher's resident room.
Traditional in style, the design is a 2 storey building, made from mud bricks manufactured by Spiti Projects mud brick machine teams. This will be an eco-friendly building using solar power, local materials and labour.
The dormitory is needed to house children from families from outlying villages. The school has been an incredible success, and has been upgraded to 12th Grade by the Indian Government, allowing for study up to college level. This has been a result of earlier generous support and Spiti Projects' hard work. We know the people of the Spiti Valley would like to thank in advance sponsors who would be prepared to donate bricks.
TOTAL NUMBER OF BRICKS REQUIRED = 21,450
APPROXIMATE COST PER BRICK = £0.15
TOTAL COST OF BRICKS = £3,220
PLEASE SEND YOUR DONATION TO SPITI PROJECTS
