Introducción a la Ciencia y Tecnologías de Construcción en Tierra

An Ecuadorian University has approached the EcoSouth Network to assist them in creating a course on earth construction for an E-learning program with semi-presence teaching. The ultimate goal of this pilot experience is to expand this into a masters course in “EcoTechnologies.

This project combines the experiences from traditional construction and the knowledge of modern science in the area of building with clay and create a learning environment for professionals, students and practitioners.

According to several surveys more than 50% of the world’s population live in structures built with clay and it is obvious that for most people in the poorer nations there is no other way of building a decent dwelling than using clay for the walls. During most of the 20th century this fact has been systematically negated by the mainstream of the construction trade, universities and lending institutions. It is only in the last few years that a consciousness is evolving among a wider group of professionals and students about this reality and several universities are beginning to tacitly include clay construction in their curriculum.

The “Biennal de Arquitectura de Quito”, the major Latin American Architectural event, invited the EcoSouth network to present a seminar on EcoMaterials at its recent Biennal in November 2004. It was the theme “earth construction” that provided lively discussions and many students voiced their interest in receiving further guidance in the theme, not only from a technical perspective, but also including cultural, economic and social considerations.

Grupo Sofonias, being the leader of the network, and the “Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja” , Ecuador’s leading university in distance learning, have signed a cooperation agreement wherein Sofonias will provide the content of the course, ensure tutoring of the students and monitoring the exams for those students who aspire to have credits for future postgraduate studies. The team includes people from 5 countries and is a unique group of university professors, directors of development projects and consultants who are all involved in investigations coordinated by grupo sofonias through the EcoSur network.

The project consists in setting up the curriculum for the course and implementing it in the two months of August and September 2005. After a final evaluation between all partners the continuation will be decided on, with the vision of building a full masters course in “EcoTechnologies” of construction. Grupo Sofonias and the “Bauhaus Weimar Stiftung” cofinance the project.

Beginning in April, the pregrade students of the school of architecture in Loja will start a laboratory testing program for earth construction that will provide information for the E-course, they will also prepare samples so that the E-course participants can replicate some of the tests during their one week final session where they will be in Loja. One member of the Sofonias-team will spend some ten weeks in Loja, instructing and supervising the materials testing procedures and directing the final exams. Thus local teachers of the UTPL will be prepared to assume those activities in the future by themselves. If there are several students in other areas of the continent interested in the formal course, it should be possible to organize this test-week also in other universities, specifically in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba

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