Building Trust volunteers help with earthbag build

Building Trust volunteers help out on site with an exciting eco-hut project built from earthbags, adobe and recycled glass bottles in Siem Reap with The Hand in Heart Project

Louise

More photos from vulture hide!

The latest pics from our hide in the north of Cambodia

Green roof is added to the roof

Inside the hide, viewing bench for visitors

Hide is almost invisible to bird life

We cannot wait to see the building in use over the upcoming months.

Thanks for reading,

Loiuse

Building Trust win Challenging Practice Award

We were thrilled to be told that we have been awarded the prize of Challenging Practice Award from ASF International. The award  aims to recognize “efficient solutions developed by architects globally to the many social, environmental and economic challenges facing the built environment.”

Read more

See our awesome award here:

Thanks to our global network of volunteers and staff who helped us to achieve this award!

If you would like to join our team get in touch today!

Thanks for reading,

Louise

What is #SAFEhouse?

 

What is #SAFEhouse?

Building Trust team enter Nepal housing competition with innovative design!

Safe House is not only modular within its’ structural elements, but also within its entirety.

Earthquake resistant design principles were applied to the design in order to reduce the level of damage the building sustains during an earthquake.  The simplistic rectangular form of the building eliminates weak structural junctions, which will reduce the amount of localized failings to the structure during an earthquake.

By using reinforced raft foundations the building has a very strong base that spreads its load evenly on the ground and reduces differential settlement.  The foundation can be used to level a sloping site and mitigate problems associated with unstable terrain and soil conditions, so can be applied in most contextual situations in Nepal and Tibet.  A 200mm upstanding plinth also creates a strong connection between the foundations and the structural frame it supports.

The design has just been entered into the IKUKU design challenge, check out our design here

Keep your fingers crossed that our design wins the challenge and helps us see our housing designed realised in Nepal.

Thanks for reading,

Louise

 

Latest photos from our vulture hide

NEWS: Update from Dongphlat with some new photos from the hide construction. Brick wall is complete and wood structure to create the roof has been fitted.

Timber and concrete interior begins to reveal itself

Damp proof course gets fitted

Keep up to date with the project here

Thanks for reading,

Louise

Framework House hits the Press

Designed and constructed in partnership with local community groups, Habitat for Humanity Cambodia and COLE. Framework House delivers a safe & structured way of providing housing to low income & at risk communities. It gives Public and NGO housing providers a way of structuring community involvement without risking inflated project costs. The design allows for infill wall & floor materials that are site specific reducing the overall cost & carbon footprint. These infill areas allow for expansion and extension of the property over time by residents once skills have been shared through construction.

Our Framework House design recently made it into many online articles such as Designboom, Domus, Inhabitat and more…

If you would like to write an article about our Framework House project please get in touch.

And see some more photos of the final design:

Thanks for reading,

Louise

Building a submerged hide with Cambodia’s 1st green roof

Eco-tourism and Conservation project from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Sam Vensa Centre and Building Trust international. The project will see the construction of a submerged hide with Cambodia’s 1st green roof. The project will bring revenue from tourists and wildlife enthusiasts and help local villagers protect the nearby forests and plains.

Foundations for the hide are dug out

Rebar is placed to create foundations for hide

Sketching out design with local community and WCS staff

This project will be constructed over the upcoming weeks in Dongphlat, Cambodia.

Check out our Facebook album to see more!

Thanks for reading,

Louise

Turning a car park into a play park for students

Over the upcoming weeks we will be turning a car park into a play park for students at the Cambodian Children’s Fund‘s school.

The project which was initially designed alongside local students with the Building Trust team takes on the children’s designs creating a play space from recycled tyres in an unused space of their school site.

The space (above)

Tyres for playground get a paint job!

Tyres are painted and ready to be placed into position!

Playground starts to take shape.

Keep reading to be kept up to date with the progress of our 3 playgrounds. See our Facebook album for more photos!

Thanks,

Louise

Our design for Cambodia’s first public skate park has been unveiled

Check out the video for the mixed use riverside location intended to create play spaces for all, with Skateistan!

Our project brings more public space to Phnom Penh for people of all ages and today it was the centre page in today’s Phnom Penh Post!

 

We look forward to seeing this project progress over the upcoming months!

Thanks for reading,

Louise

 

 

WET/DRY house still looking good two years on!

We received an amazing update today from Habitat for Humanity Cambodia on how well the family at our WET/DRY house are doing. The home owners were doing very well and are pleased with their new home which is also used as a shop front. The family moved in back in June 2013.

Check out more on this great housing design here

Thanks for reading

Louise