Up! Up! And away…

March 9th at 9pm I will fly out and the mission will begin. As a case study for finishing my diploma at FAUP (Porto Architectural School), I've decided to volunteer and join A4A (Architects for Aid) in one of their humanitarian architecture projects. The projected on which I've been assigned is the construction of the LCCU (Lesotho Children Counseling Unit) centre in Lesotho. The building has been halted and an assessment, survey and new proposal and program will be drawn up in order that the building might finish to be built. Once this is completed a second trip will be organized and I'll be overseeing the building on site. The objective of this blog is to keep record of the work that is being done, both for the benefit of the members of A4A in London, FAUP to whom I'll also be reporting, my own record as well as friends and family that might want to know what I'm up to. Please comment on any post that you have an opinion, as this will undoubtedly help me in the completion of my thesis. Disclaimer: The information displayed on this site has not been previously edited or checked by any A4A staff and I'm the sole responsible for it's contents. A4A or any of the other involved organizations are not to be hold responsible on any account for what is published on this blog.

Thursday, 19 July 2007

And the beat goes on…

Still not sure what to do about the roof, today I took a teacher from the Polytechnic to have a look at it.

At first he said that it looked weak, but after coming up on to the roof and looking at it properly he was quite confident that it would hold. We then took a sample of the strap to another teacher, this time a structural engineer, and he said that it would be fine! He actually told me that traditionally there are no straps what so ever, that the roof is not attached at all, just sitting on top! Don’t know if that should reassure me or scare me…

The spacing of the bracing has also been an issue… When I confronted the contractor with this, he replied back that that was the traditional way, and that was what he quoted for! I told him that he also quoted for a wall plate, so where has it? He said that if I insisted I could have my wall plate because it was cheaper… I DON’T WANT CHEAPER! I WANT SAFE AND RELIABLE!

Tomorrow I will try and contact another architect, and get from him another opinion, but I can’t wait for too long, time is running out! Work on other sections, such as plastering is proceeding at good rhythm but the roof is rather crucial!

Rest of day was spent chasing suppliers and finding materials. Tomorrow we will start the playground at the QEII. I’ve managed to persuade a student to come and help us and he has organized a team of 3…

It will be good to actually do some manual labour for a change and put my brain to rest!
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