Saturday, November 29, 2008

DeskTop (click to enlarge image)


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Same Polytechnic Design Charette/Process

Look at these links to learn about sustainable building & planning in East Africa.

Same Design Process

Plans in Progress

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

LEED Habitat Homes Before & After


Click on images to enlarge and note red building front
at the end of the block as a reference point.

email chain with a builder in Kenya

Karibu tena Bwana Richard.


On 11/11/08, Richard Reilly <RichardReilly@boaconstruction.com> wrote:

Sir,
I, too, am proud of our democracy and President-elect Obama. It will be a hard road for him so he will need all our prayers and support.

Asante sana kwa barua yako,

Richard Reilly, LEED AP Chief Operating Officer Boa Construction Company Perfecting the Craft of Homebuilding

From: kamau harrison [mailto:promaxbuilders@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 1:35 AMTo: Richard ReillySubject: Same project


Dear Richard,Thank for visiting our site and for your mail. It gives me great pleasure to interact with people who share my passion from around the world.i visited the Same website and Boa site too.Let me answer your questions,1.construction techniques used in region; i presume you mean local construction. the most common and most durable and most popular is of strip foundations, with natural stone foundation walling, with a concrete slab on hardcore. the walls basically comprise natural stone walling keyed externally and internally plastered and painted.Roofing is with concrete roofing tiles or corrugated iron sheets on timber trusses.Cellings mostly comprise softboard .Windows most commonly used are steel casement with glass panes.Aluminium and plastic are considered expensive.Timber houses or stuctures are shunned here because of burglars and they are considered semi permanent, timber is also quite expensive.2.East africa region is a tropical region, ie it does not experience extreme weather conditions.Coastal areas are hot and humid, they use same construction techniques but with high ceillings and more windows.further interior same technics but lower ceilling and less windows. Semi desert areas use similar styles as coastal. Mountain regions same materials but also incoporate a fire place.In the absence of natural stone, concrete blocks are used and at times bricks are also used for walling. In some cases where cutting cost is priority the stabilized soil blocks are used. I dont know of a book the details weather and geological conditions of the region.soil types however are basically Three in the region, 1. red soil, 2. black cotton soil 3.sandy soil. Same should have red soil.I dont have photos of different techniques at the moment.Hope have been of help.Hey, i salute the American people for demonstratrion to the world the highest level of democracy by choosing president elect Barack Obama. Long live Obama, USA and Kenya.

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 10:54 PM, Richard Reilly <RichardReilly@boaconstruction.com> wrote:
Sir,
Greetings from the United States. I too am passionate about construction and I came across you and your company while trying to find out about construction details in East Africa. Please see the website link below to find out some information about a project in the Same District of Tanzania. It would be a great benefit if you would be able to share some information or images about common construction techniques used in your region. Are there books that you know of that describe the geology and weather of the various regions in East Africa along with recommending the appropriate materials for such conditions? Any recommendations would be most welcome.
What materials are considered the most sustainable?
The photos of your work are very interesting. I was fortunate enough to spend 2 weeks in Kenya in 2006 and fondly remember every moment.
http://www.samepolytechnic.org/school.php
Sincere thanks,
Richard Reilly, LEED AP
Chief Operating Officer

Saturday, November 8, 2008

web collaboration


Sharepoint is a password protected collaborative tool. Here is a screen shot for the Tanzania Project. I am using this tool with Habitat and Architecture for Humanity as well. It is a great way to work with people from mulitple organizations and in multiple locations around the world.