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.

Friday, 31 August 2007

At the end it was just too late…

Yesterday I got held up by all sorts of little bits, concerning the Sentebale guest house, so by the time I did manage to have some time it was already too late to go to site.

I did manage however to meet the welder and with him we discussed the detail for the frames that will be mounted on the courtyard. The QS also returned an amended version of the claim and like that it was a lot easier to check…

On site work was going well, the door frames should now all be up, and all the partition walls are now done. All that we got left now is plastering roofing, and the courtyard.

Where, by the way Tau has already started to lay the foundations for. Speaking to both the contractor and the foreman, it seems that they are keen to at least have half of the building as an example that they can follow once I’m gone.

In the afternoon I went to meet the welder and since he was working at an old site (which I had visited with Martin nearly 6months ago) I decided to have a look around and see how that work had matured. The walls still look new and that really gives me confidence that our building might look the same in 6months time.

You could say that I’m not ambitious, but I am trust me. I have seen many buildings, less than a year old, with cracks that were not your average hairline or shrinkage crack, some had serious structural problems!
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