School day

Spent the morning attending school but this time as a “external critic”. I just wanted to see the final year’s (3rd year) Final presentation of Architecture. But I was asked if I’d like to grade the students which I reject offering instead to comment on the work.

It was an eye opening experience. Though the school has a really good structure mixing, under the same roof, practical/technical students (plumbers, bricklayers etc…) with the “intellectual” part of the industry (architects and engineers). They don’t seem to communicate and so an otherwise excellent model is lost.

In the presentation I found many projects with serious structural problems and few with any concepts or ideas. I understand that the course is new (this will be the first class to graduate) and I saw that the teachers were disappointed but the truth is that these students are not yet prepared to be architects. Not that one ever is when one finishes school but at least I feel that after what I’ve learnt, and with a little help, I can deal with most of the issues (both design issues and construction solutions) that can be presented to me.

I agreed to give an introductory lecture/presentation, Friday the 11th of May, on European Architecture. It will be a slide show of buildings and structures that I’ve visited since I started studying. It will not attempt to be more than that, I thought it could be an interesting show of architecture for most of them.

I also found something very important for my work at the school, the out of print book on Basotho houses! If I don’t manage to find one for myself I know that I can always use that one.

I then met with 2 of the students for Lydia’s house and after a design discussion (where I presented what I think should be the direction we should take) We agreed to meet next Tuesday and properly dimension the site so that we can discuss about what they envision for the site.

Rest of my day was spent on site. Yesterday they managed to cut the slabs and today they had already dug out much of one of them. What we discovered under there is a small architectural/construction horror. A 40mm to 75mm concrete slab sitting on 2mt of uncompacted terrain with no grading what so ever! DPMs that were made of concrete bags!!! And reinforcing steel fabric that is not bond to the concrete, it is instead sitting in the middle of rubble. Really a shock and no wonder the building is as it is.

I had suggested casting a ring beam around the structure using the last course of block as lost shuttering but I had not provided any detail or told them how I wanted it done. I had just mentioned it as and idea. Luckily I saw it today and I managed to stop a mistake that could have otherwise been a costly one.

Apart from that minor incident work seems to be on its way and in little time we’ll be cruising to completion! or at least that’s what I hope…

More photos click here


Just one last remark.
Archicad (and programs alike) will kill architecture in country like this. It does not stimulate thinking and gives you a series of international solutions that do not apply worldwide, plus the finished look that it gives you and the facility of generating the details without thought process, will contribute to the decline of architecture in a country which had a rich vernacular culture.