Build Sites Everywhere
I am currently in Senegal after a month in Cabo Verde. Everywhere one sees only concrete blocks, in piles, rows, waiting to be mortared together over and over again, boring, heavy, prison-like, costly, energy-intensive, non-biodegradable, harmful to the Earth and to the people living inside of these Soul-deadening and sealed walls.
People wait for years to be able to afford to buy them and start building and soon enough the work stops mid-way for lack of funds. And there is old destroyed building garbage everywhere, useless, ugly. And everywhere one sees partial concrete block structures, an eyesore for those like me that know the beauty and thrill of cob buildings.
Construction debris lines the Beaches
Construction debris in Dakar
So here I am turning the locals on to renewed earthen building techniques, beyond those of their ancestors. Why? Apparently here when they build with Earth, they use what is on site, regardless of the quality of the mix. They may have to add some clay if it’s too sandy, but it is all done haphazardly with no testing. Thus many structures do not survive the rainy season and some even fall down regardless of rain. Yet this is Africa, one day at a time, and the rebuilding has become part of the culture. Long-term permanence is not so much the norm on this Continent. And each day is a whole new life.
I am excited to bring California or Oregon Cob to Africa. And perhaps help embed the unsightly plastic and concrete rubble away from the eyes and the Earth. People are hungry for learning something new. Especially when they know it’s the new fashion in
Sobobade Hotel in Toubab Dialaw, a beautiful example of unique Soulful building!
the White countries. Next week I will bring a group together, African and European, to build together an oven, a couch and a BBQ. Let’s see what happens….
COB BUILDING is a silent revolution.
Be a revolutionary, build a COB HOUSE!!!
To the right is an amazingly beautiful Art Hotel built by Gerard Chenet, a Haitian immigrant to Senegal in the 1970’s, as an example of functional wild passionate architecture. The Sobobade Hotel (www.sobobade.com) compound has become an ecovillage of sorts, where all are drawn to hang out. Feeds the Soul, Beautifies the Planet, inspiring, pleasing, fun.
