Testing local material

One of the things I enjoyed in the previous village I was staying at was access to free raw materials for testing. The quality of laterite there had clayey elements in it, but when it dried out, there were visible crack lines.

Laterite is a rich red soil found in different shades of red all over Nigeria. The value of the laterite's colour varies with location. In places like Enugu, it's pure red and sticky when wet.

It's different from clay.

My ancestors built with this laterite, but they were abandoned with colonization. I never witnessed how they built with them; I only saw remnants of huts that were not yet demolished. I realized that we should have further developed what we have instead of complete abandonment.

I decided to add different materials like sharp sand, stones, cement to the laterite and watch how they cracked as they dried.

Each wall was a mix of laterite and one other material to see how they react.

My first error was in the water mix ratio to the laterite. Thankfully, the other materials absorbed the water to stabilise the mix.

#AfricanArchitecture #Mud #BuildingModel

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