E c o d o m u s

Ampefy . Madagascar . 2014

Client Private

Status Completed

This experimental and evolving project saw the day after an analysis about earth architecture in Madagascar Island.

How to continue building with clay today ?
How to extend technically the life of this building material ?
How to create a link between traditional local constructive culture and sustainability ?

The two domes are 16.5 and 14 feet in diameter (375 sq. ft. total area) and were built with 10 volunteers during a 30 days workshop.
It required 1.5 miles of polypropylene bags, 60 tons of laterite clay stabilized with pozzolane pebbles.

After two difficult years (strong rain, earthquakes, ant attacks, consecutive tests of coating based on banana juice or zebu dung), we found the ideal final plastering : hydraulic lime plus iron oxide.
Finally, a thatched roof was added in order to protect the plastering and to keep the breathing role of the raw earth walls.
Five volunteers who trained on the Ampefy workcamp built other domes across Madagascar.