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Green Schools Building The Future

Sonam Wangchuk

News & HappeningsSparsh - Touching Waste With Love4th January 2009, Kathmandu

On the 4th of January, 2009, Raju Khadka, a third year architectural student of ACM E Engineering College, Kathmandu, :: read more

Talking Architecture11th January 2009, Lalitpur

We often complain about the standard of education in our schools and normally our concern is limited to the quality of teachers and textbooks. How many of us think of the other factors which might influence the performance of our children?Design of school buildings has been a highly neglected field in the whole subcontinent whether it is in India, Nepal or Bangladesh. While school buildings in the mountains are terribly cold and unusable for many months, schools in the terai on the other hand are unbearably hot in summer. With school buildings in the terai that are open on most sides and have tin roofing (galvanized iron), it is hotter inside the class rooms during summer than the outside. In fact it becomes so hot that the schools change their timings to start at an unearthly hour of six in the morning which virtually means that many of the little ones reach the school before they are even fully awake.

The 10th volume of Vaastu was launched amid a function attended by professional architects, academicians and students at the Institute of Engineering (IOE), on 11th January 2009. :: read more

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At the same time, although we associate the terai with the killing heat waves, we often forget that the terai actually gets really If you had missed the earlier edition of cold in winter too. And when the cold breeze blows through all the openings, it is as cold inside as the outside, which can be a SPACES, you can view it through following freezing 7 to 10 C. It hence becomes a difficult choice as to whether to keep the solid tin or wooden window shutters open or link : shut - if you shut them it becomes dark and if you open them, it gets cold. Then in monsoon, when the raindrops clatter on the tin roof, it becomes very diffic ult to hear, let alone understand, what the teacher is saying. Summer, winter and the rainy season - Read Archives unfortunately these are the only three seasons that the terai has. It is amusing to think that although humans invented shelters to protect themselves from the challenges of climate, this does not seem to be so in the case in our schools. Advertising & Subscription We often c omplain about the standard of educ ation in our schools and normally our c oncern is limited to the quality of teac hers Kathmandu : and textbooks. How many of us think of the other factors which might influence the performance of our children? Rec ent IMPRESSIONS Publishing Pvt. Ltd. academic researches in Denmark indicate that a temperature reduction from 25 C (considered hot in Denmark!) to 20 C Ph : 5544606. 5526040Email : market@spacesnepal.com

resulted in an improved academic performanc e of between 10% to 20% among primary level students. The present sc hools not only fail to provide an appropriate educational environment inside but are also a threat to the global environment. Baked brick kilns are a big c ause of pollution and deforestation. Iron sheets imported from India or the proposed plastic s heets (UPVC) imported from China are not only very energy intensive in production and polluting in transportation, but will also definitely make these two countries richer with Nepals hard earned foreign exchange. Apart from the above softer issues, one thing Nepal must be very cautious about when constructing new school buildings is earthquake safety, especially with the entire Himalayan belt falling in Zone 4 of earthquake risk. The recent experience in China where an unusually large number of children were killed by collapsing sc hool buildings only shows what can happen in Nepal. With these issues in mind, M S Nepal and BASE Bardiya in c ollaboration with the Department of Education (DOE) attempted to present alternative solutions to these complex issues facing school buildings in Nepal. A prototype of the new school was thus built last September (2008) in a freed Kamaiya village c alled Janta Nagar in Bardiya district. In November the Educ ation M inister, M s. Renu Kumari Yadav and the Danish Ambassador HE, Finn Thilsted, visited Bardiya on the oc casion of the inauguration of the school building. This prototype c omes at a time when Nepal Government is set out to build 50,000 new classrooms by 2012, under the Education For All (EFA) programme. The school that hopes to replace Chinese plastic and Indian iron sheets with Nepali soil and labour is also expected to solve several other challenges. The main features of the new school building are:1. Cost Effective- built with Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB) using local soil and labour 2. Climate Responsive (bioclimatic) - cool in summer, warm in winter 3. Environment friendly- low carbon emission, low transportations needs 4. Earthquake safe tec hnology used and approved in many earthquake prone regions in India and Iran 5. Fast to build the school was built in just 20 days. 6. Generates employment- labour intensive process 7. Community Empowering: promotes partic ipation, pride and ownership in community.

A cost effective solutionThe school is built with c ost-effective local materials like Compressed Stabilised Earth Block or CSEB, which is local earth/soil mixed with some sand and five to six percent c ement as stabiliser. This mix is then compressed in a press machine with a force of 15 tonnes. The resulting bric ks are as strong as country fired bricks and are not affected by rainwater unlike ordinary earth blocks. The roof is made of parabolic channels using another highly c ost effective and labour intensive tec hnique called ferroc ement. The ferrocement c hannels are made with a rich but thin layer of c ement and sand with chicken mesh wire as reinforcement. They are cheap, locally made and have a life of roughly 90 years, compared to 30 years of tin roof. The cost of a CSEB/ ferrocemment school building of 100 meter square plinth area comes to roughly NRs 9 lakhs, which is comparable to the conventional tin and UPVC plastic roof school. A significant part of the cost goes towards earth quake safety features, otherwise it would easily be cheaper than the conventional school. Since earth and labour are two of the most abundant resources in Nepal, the technique, if applied on a large sc ale, can save the country millions of dollars worth of foreign c urrency.

How is it earthquake safe?The building is designed as per earthquake safety norms. It has six horizontal tie beams starting from the foundation level ring beam. The others are at plinth level, window sill level, lintel level, roof level and finally at rooftop level. These are made of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) cast inside U shaped CSEB blocks. It also has numerous vertical reinforc ements - one at every 1.5 meters length of wall and also on each side of all openings like doors and windows. Apart from this, the ferroc ement roof channels which are tied to the walls at various points are three times lighter than an RCC slab roof.

And how is it Climate Responsive?The school will be relatively more comfortable in all seasons. The roof is well insulated with low c ost locally available insulation materials like rice husk ash. For better shading in summer, the building has a green roof with green grass and creeper plants covering the whole roof and shading it from direc t sunlight. It is a thermal asset in the terai that the temperature a few meters below ground remains constant and comfortable at 25 C in all seasons. When it is 42 C in summer this is a source for c oolness and yet at the same time c an also be a heat sourc e for the winters. Hence to benefit from this treasure, the building has loose earth skirt piled up around it in order to better connec t it to the underground. This helps the building to keep cool in summer and warm in winter. In addition to this, the building has most of its glass windows on the south facing wall, which gets all the sunrays in winter but none in summer, as the summer sun stays overhead except during mornings and evenings. Therefore the east and west walls have only ventilations and no windows in order to prevent overheating in summer. To protect the building from the autumn sun and rain there are ferrocement shades provided over all the windows. The heavy thermal mass in the earth walls act like magic . The hot afternoon heat travels inwards and reac hes inside the c lassroom with a time lag of some 12 hours i.e., after midnight when there are no children. Similarly it captures the cool of the night in its mass and makes the classroom cool and comfortable during the day.

How is it environment friendly?Unlike c onventional bricks the CSEB blocks need only curing in water and no fire. Hence in the process, eight times lesser carbon is emitted as compared to country fired bric ks. Since most of the material is loc al, there is very little transportation involved. As mentioned above, the building being climate responsive, saves energy in cooling and heating of the rooms year after year.

Is CSEB new in Nepal?Attempts were made to introduce it in Nepal decades ago, however it does not seem to have picked up. The reasons seem to be partly the prejudice in our minds against earth as an inferior and backward material as compared to cement which is considered an advanced material. Interestingly, exactly the opposite is the case in countries like America, Australia and in Europe, where earth made houses are often considered a luxury that only the rich can afford. This is because most earth tec hniques require intensive human labour which is very expensive in the west, but luckily not in Nepal. Secondly, the problem might to some extent have been that the earth blocks in the past were muc h simpler in design and softer than the present ones designed and promoted by Auroville Earth Institute in Tamil Nadu, India. The mac hine AURAM 3000 used in Bardiya produces blocks with 15 ton forc e and can produce different forms, from plain bloc ks to hollow interlocking blocks for earthquake safety, U blocks for ring beams, coping blocks for the roof top and even tiles for the floor. Finally, choosing techniques that are labour intensive adds another interesting dimension. Although where funds are available, it can generate loc al employment, even the shortage of funds can at times be an opportunity rather than a problem - for the community can partic ipate and contribute voluntary labour (Shramdhaan) as their share. This participation makes the community proud and empowers them to ensure not only the quality of the school building construction but also as to what happens inside the building afterwards. Currently the Bardiya model is being considered by the DOE for adoption and replication in many more districts in the Terai under the EFA programme. As for the sc hools in the Pahar and Himal areas, designs for solar heated version of the building which would not need any heating during the winters, are being worked upon. As Nepal is setting out to construc t roughly 50,000 classrooms in the next few years it would definitely be good to test various such prototypes before plunging into one. The whole Indian subcontinent is crying for good sc hool designs, if we are able to come up with an effective design, Nepal c an become a model for the whole region.

Diary of a school in 20 days!Day 1 Inauguration day today exciting, c olourful and full of c eremonies. Work moves fast. Day 2 Work starts late with a lot of confusion. For better efficiency, masons were served free food so that they Day 3 Work progresses normally. RCC ring beam at window sill level laid by noon. With this, Day 4 Satprem M aini, the French architec t and earth expert who heads Auroville Earth

would not have to worry about three ring beams have already Institute in South India visits site. cooking, etc . In been cast Rained return, work c ontinued daily for one at foundation level, another heavily disrupting work. Window

one hour more. Four courses of blocks laid above the plinth beam and the door frames were also put in place. Day 5 Still raining cats and dogs......no...... elephants and rhinos. Work disrupted for few hours. M anaged to put all window frames back and added five courses of blocks. Day 6 M any villages in Bardiya and neighbouring districts are under flood. Hundreds of people are displaced. Work resumes slowly nonetheless at 12 noon when the rain somewhat ceases. Somehow manage to reach almost lintel level. Day 9 Walls above the arches filled and raised to roof ring beam level; c oncrete filled in the roof beam U blocks and left for curing for three days. Day 10 Working on finishing (pointing) of the outside walls. East and west parapet walls built. Supporting bars and chicken mesh net for ferro-c ement overhang shade laid. Day 13 Earth skirt (berm) put around the south side of the building over the waterproof c ement plaster laid earlier up to the window sill level, with a layer of turf over it. Remaining channels lifted up by sunset this time round with women power. Day 14 Valleys between ferrocement channels filled with conc rete mortar and base for rooftop ring beam cast. In situ casting of ferrocement overhang shade completed. Work on ramp for wheel chairs started. Gentle slope maintained outside building for rain water. Finishing touches to black boards. Installation

at plinth level and the third at sill level. Window frames also plac ed in position Day 7 Sunshine is back. Lintel beams laid with pre-cast U blocks. Lintel level ring beam cast around all the walls of the whole building. Before pouring conc rete in the ring beam, electricity pipes with cables also laid in the same space. Day 11 Pointing work inside rooms completed. Waterproof layer plaster on outside wall upto sill level laid. First coat of cement mix cast in situ on ferrrocement shades. Day 15 top of ferrocement channels to bind the channels. Parapet walls built with the last three courses of blocks. Coping blocks laid over the parapet walls to protect the walls from rain water. Bottom joints of ferrocement channels

frames bigger than specified, hence dismantled and sent for resizing. Day 8 Window shades (pre-cast in ferrocement) fixed over lintel beams. Building looking more complete now on the south side. Work starts on the two-semicirc ular earth block arches on the verandah.

Day 12 Critical day today. The 8.5 m long, 800 kg each, elliptical ferrocement roof channels were lifted needing some 30 people. By evening, 14 channels were successfully lifted and placed. Day 16 birthday of Gandhi and is the closing and handover ceremony of the school. Although it has only been 16 days, two days are added for making the rammed earth foundation and laying of the foundation ring beam (completed two months ago). Counting another two days for remaining work of floor tiles (hampered by the floods) and a final waterproof plaster on the roof, that makes it 20 days built by 17 masons and roughly 30 community volunteers.

Roof top level ring beam laid on Today is the 2nd of October, the

of electrical fittings completed. plaster from inside the room. Finishing touches given to the wheelc hair ramp.

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