Ongoing BWB Projects:
Sustainable Rebuilding Solutions for Haiti (see also Home Page)
In the wake of Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, a Builders Without Borders team is developing safe, affordable, sustainable rebuilding solutions for Haiti. Lead by Berkeley architect Martin Hammer, the team includes architects Dan Smith and Chris Andrews, engineer Henri Mannik, designer/builder Andy Mueller, and Haitian trainees Samuel Alcide, Jean Louis Elie, and Annio Baptiste. Projects include the Ti Kay Pay (Small Straw House), the Senp Kay (Simple House) and a school and cafeteria for the What If Foundation. A rural development proposal has also been submitted to USAID for a community of straw bale houses in the Artibonite Valley.
PAKSBAB
Our partner organization Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB), which formed in response to the destruction of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, is completing it’s 27th home in Pakistan. They continue to work, even in the wake of recent rains that have caused much additional homelessness. One of their small strawbale homes currently is housing 20 people. It takes only $1000 per month to keep their small, dedicated Pakistani building crew employed, creating comfortable, seismically stable homes for those in need.
In 2009, PAKSBAB proved the seismic resistance of its design on a “shake-table” at the University of Nevada in Reno. The full-scale model building, constructed with straw bales and earthen plaster reinforced with plastic fishing net, withstood three increasingly forceful simulated earthquakes. The final quake simulated twice the seismic acceleration of the Northridge, California quake, yet the model strawbale home remained standing! See PAKSBAB’s website for more information about their work, and the seismic test. www.paksbab.org
Previous BWB Projects:
Eco-house Exhibition in Washington D.C.
Casas de la Cruz – Anapra, Mexico
BWB Mongolian Tour of the Southwest
Sacred Mountain Camp National Indian Youth Leadership Project
