Keywords
compressed earth blocks
stabilization
tests
selfhelp
Key Words Plus
Building materials – Testing
Industrialized building
Self-help housing
How to Cite
Abstract
In the wake of traditional unfired earth construction techniques,the investigation conducted at the Material and Testing Laboratoryof the 2nd School of Architecture of the Politecnico di Torinowas aimed to gain a better knowledge of the basic material andto develop optimized methods for the production and installationof blocks in stabilized compressed earth, with a special focus onconstruction projects in the developing countries. Using speciallyfashioned blocks with projections and recesses, made with a newversion of the geo 50 manual press by the Altech company, unskilledworkers can produce good quality self-help masonry. The resultsof laboratory tests found practical application in several communitiesin Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Cuba), Mindanao Island(Philippines) and Africa (Burkina Faso).Apuntes is registered under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. Thus, this work may be reproduced, distributed, and publicly shared in digital format, as long as the names of the authors and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana are acknowledged. Others are allowed to quote, adapt, transform, auto-archive, republish, and create based on this material, for any purpose (even commercial ones), provided the authorship is duly acknowledged, a link to the original work is provided, and it is specified if changes have been made. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana does not hold the rights of published works and the authors are solely responsible for the contents of their works; they keep the moral, intellectual, privacy, and publicity rights.
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