Mud Construction Case Study

CASE STUDY REPORT – MUD
CONSTRUCTION
BY:
G. MADHUMITHA
F. SOFIYA
B.J. VIGNESH
AUROVILLE VISITOR’S CENTRE
THE AUROVILLE VISITORS AND RECEPTION CENTRE IS A POPULAR
AND PLEASANT PLACE FOR THE USE OF VISITORS AND AUROVILIANS
ALIKE. IT WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1988 WITH GRANTS FROM HUDCO
AND THE FOUNDATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION, AND HAS
BECOME WELL-KNOWN FOR ITS ARCHITECTURE AND ENERGY-
SAVING CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS. HERE, THE ARCHITECT AND
BUILDER CONCENTRATES ON THE MORE TECHNICAL DETAILS OF
THIS REMARKABLE BUILDING. LET’S SEE IT IN DETAIL.
The Auroville Experiment
Using compressed earth blocks
As the main purpose of the Auroville Information and Reception Centre is to introduce
the international township to visitors, the Auroville Building Centre (AVBC) has taken the
opportunity to demonstrate and promote the rich potential of alternative technologies in
its construction, with particular emphasis on the use of mud as a building material. An
information office, conference room, exhibition space, video room, restaurant,
handicrafts shop and toilets were accommodated in a structure specifically designed for
visitors from all over the world, with the local climate materials and building skills
influencing the design. Special emphasis was placed on natural lighting and ventilation in
the building, as renewable energy sources were to be used. The AVBC wanted to limit the
use of concrete and steel, but this was easier said than done, for in a compression
structure the construction of arches, vaults and domes is necessitated. Prefabricated
ferrocement elements were used for all doors and overhangs, thereby doing away with
the use of wood. A 4m grid using load-bearing pillars and arched or corbelled openings
was made with stabilised compressed earth blocks to reduce costs. Solar, wind and
biomass energy, water management and recycling techniques, mud and ferrocement
technology, and reclamation and afforestation were all integrated in the process.
Stabilised soil blocks for domes and prefabricated ferrocement channels were considered
as the best solution to roofing. It was felt the resulting sequence of arcaded and semi-
covered spaces would give a clear sense of direction to people.
As 1.6 lakhs blocks were to be made for this and future
projects, AVBC employed a number of special tools for
their specific needs - standard wheelbarrows to
transport soil, flat wheelbarrows to transport the blocks,
metal sieves of various mesh sizes, steel centring for
arches, compasses for constructing domes, and a new
improved Auram 3000 press to compress the earth
blocks. This press was specially designed for higher
output, with many unique features, as the Astrams
acquired only manufactured 30.5x14.5x10cm blocks
when ¾-and ½-sized blocks were needed for bonding and
thinner blocks of the same size, 30.5x14.5x5cm, for the
domes.
Granite block foundations and earth block structures
A composite type of foundation in stabilised mud mortar was
used because of its advantages. The material to be used had to
essentially have a greater load bearing capacity than the
stabilised blocks. Thus the use of fired bricks was eliminated
and locally mined rough granite blocks were used instead. This
foundation was cheaper and less time consuming than the
conventional fired brick foundation, and most of it could be
done using unskilled labour. The excavations for pillar
foundations were always made up to the clay and gravel strata,
which varied between 75cm and 120cm below ground level.
The plinth surface was evened with a normal cement plaster
bed and then given a primer of bitumen and kerosene followed
by a layer of hot bitumen as a damp-proof course and anti-
termite barrier.
This was not a complete success as the pillars, pushed outwards by the
loading of arches and domes, started sliding out over the bitumen layer.
This was corrected by drilling holes in the horizontal plane at the base of
the pillars and anchoring them with steel bars to the granite plinth. For
best results in earth building a clear understanding of the available soil is
imperative, and some basic characteristics of grain size distribution,
Atterberg limits (liquid limit, plasticity index, shrinkage limits) and procure
are to be analysed.
At the start of the project, the Auroville soil laboratory was not yet
available, and no lab analyses were done, only a number of tests were
conducted with various soil-sand-cement mixes with the two different soils
available on the site - a gravelly soil and a yellow sandy soil. The two
parameters of need -the cost factor quality and the type- as well as the two
parameters of specific project requirements -including quality and cost
factors- plus the actual product behaviour in terms of dry and wet
compressive strength, water absorption, quality of surface and edges, led
to the choice of the optimum mixes.
The test results indicated the eventual manufacture of two types of
compressed earth blocks with 5 and 4 percent cement content by weight
in the following mixes:
The 5 percent blocks - 95 percent by weight of soil constituting 1/5
gravely soil 4/5 yellow sandy soil. 5 percent by weight of cement, 11
percent moisture content and,
the 4 percent blocks - 96 percent by weight of yellow sandy soil, 4
percent by weight of cement, 11 percent moisture content.
The 5 percent blocks were used for the first floor pillars and all other
walls.
The core function of the center is to inform the visitors about the purpose
of the Auroville, its spiritual and material aim with exhibitions and audio
visuals. The complex is also a demonstration centre or sustainable
technologies such as appropriate building material and technologies,
Watershed management and landscaping with indigenous plants,
renewable energies, wastewater recycling techniques etc.,
The process of the building this complex is used as a training exercise for
the local villagers in soil block making, earth construction techniques
such as arches and domes and ferrocement roofing techniques. This
centre acts as an ‘awareness and exposure centre on solar passive
architecture and appropriate architecture.
The Visitor’s centre has been built by the former
AVBC / Earth Unit in Auroville between 1989 and
1992. This centre of about 1200 m2 has been
granted the 1992 International award “HASSAN
FATHY, ARCHITECTURE OF THE POOR”.
THANK
YOU…

Mud Construction Case Study

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mud Construction Case Study

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Mud Construction Case Study

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

CASE STUDY REPORT – MUD

You might also like