Facilitator: Julius Führer & Yannik Rohloff
The idea to build a house arose during one of our project brain storming sessions. We wanted to create an open workspace, something to bring our ideas together: the tiles, the oven, ropes and furniture. We thought a little house of ideas would be the perfect centre for our project in Nairobi. When we started to plan the house we wanted to bring new ideas of building to the slum. Most of the schools in the slums do not own the land they are built on and have to move a lot. So we planned a way of building a strong structure that is still deconstructable. We used screw foundations instead of cement to build the foundation for the house. We also used screws to connect the beams and to apply the roof and floor.
Another idea was to combine different techniques in one structure. In the drawings we planned two removable timber walls and two fixed walls, built with a traditional clay technique. When we arrived at the Kangemi Youth Centre, their headmaster Mr. Simiyu welcomed us with open arms. Nevertheless, we faced a lot of difficulties. For example, the soil wasn’t exactly what we expected; purchasing the needed materials was quite an adventure itself and so on. We realized very soon that our time was too short to build an entire house in an unknown surrounding.
In the two weeks there we managed to build the main structure as well as the roof and the floor, thanks to a great helping hand from Ken Busuru, the caretaker of the Kangemi Youth Centre. We were able to teach him and learn from him. With the new knowledge acquired, the structure can develop further without our help now. According to the specific needs of the school they can now adjust our initial plan and give the house any purpose that suits their needs.