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I teach a high school building construction class. We go onsite to build, but this week we are doing a research paper on how people build in other cultures and countries. Does anyone have any ideas on good sources for this subject? Thanks
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Corlis, This is an interesting subject and I will check with some of my sources in Europe for what your looking for. Allow me to provide a few observations for the construction/renovation fields having lived in southern (Stuttgart & Bad Toelz, south of Munich) Germany for a total of fourteen years, up until May '99.
What sticks in my memory are three things; tradition, tradition, tradition. All of the trades are steeped in the proper steps to becoming a carpenter, plumber, welder, etc. Some folks choose to observe more closely than others. For example, when new wooden structures are going up, and even some that have very little wood in them, will have a small pine tree erected on the most prominent high point of the building in honor and to pay respect to the one above and to all of that wood being used. I have met more than one mason that would pour a swallow of beer (or a favorite beverage) on the ground for all of those past masons. When many apprentices finish their schooling and come to the point where they need to apply themselves in their chosen field, they will literally hit the road in search of their rainbow/pot-o-gold. There is an entire "proper" outfit for these apprentices, from hat, pants, vest and coat, all black with a noticable bell bottom to the pants. Lots of chrome silver extras in the way of buttons, a multi-layer chain that serves as a hammer holder, and a wide brimmed hat. Seeing them on the road is not uncommon, pack over their shoulder off they go. Many of these folks will continue to wear the pants, vest for quite awhile after their apprenticeship is over, they are usually quite well made (Carhartt quality).
Color and the color of the clothing play a lot in recognizing what the individual is doing or how he/she is employed. Black for apprentices, and blue for laborers for example, in fact overalls with straps over your shoulders, insulated Carhartt coveralls are not a fashion statement and strictly worn for their intended use. This color thing extends to tools also, particularly electric tools; black for hobby, green for homeowners, blue for professional, red/grey also for professional altho' in my experience it often depended upon who made the tool to recognize what interest level it was meant for.
The busy homemaker-power tool homeowner and DIY market is BIG over there and just as competitive as anything American made. In fact the "Fisher" firm and other related firms which make just about anything related to the plastic wall plug, metal concrete anchor, fasteners, and related hardware is a multi-billion $/DMark business. Its no wonder they pay what they do for landscaping, housing or a freeway on a postage stamp sized section of earth.
All of that aside, I'll get off this soapbox and go look up what your looking for. Hope this helps some, measure twice and cut once.
*It is mostly about the building of a particular house in Northampton, Massachussets, but "House" by Tracy Kidder gives a lot of background info (such as the evergreen brough nailed to the top of newly framed structure) as all of his books do.Sounds like you need more specific info more quickly, but House would be great background for you and your class.How about those hemispherical domes built somewhere in Africa? Unfired mud and brick is built up and then fired in place! A BIG fire inside makes the mud waterproof and the hemisphere is a very stable shape. A small model would be a fun project, in conjection with a ceramics/art teacher. A bunch of pottery clay, a blowtorch . . .
*Didn't the January FHB have an article about someone building overseas?
*CORLIS I SERVED A 4YR APPRENTICESHIP IN CARPENTRY& JOINERY IN ENGLAND.IT WAS DONE ON A DAY RELEASE SYSTEM,4 DAYS AT WORK 1 DAY AT COLLEGE. I WAS INDENTURED SO I COULD'NT LEAVE THE COMPANY FOR ANOTHER JOB,BUT THEY COULD'NT LAY ME OFF. I PAID FOR MY COLLEGE AT THE BEGINING OF THE YEAR, WHEN I PASSED MY EXAMS I WAS REIMBURSED FROM THE COMPANY.AFTER 4 YRS THEY GIVE ME 2 MONTHS TO FIND ANOTHER JOB TO GET MORE EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRADE,THIS WAS COMMON IN ANY TRADE IN THE U.K..HOUSES IN THE U.K.ARE MAINLY BRICK& BLOCK, WITH THE INTERIOR BEING PLASTERBOARD & WOOD STUDS THE TRIM IS SIMILAR TO THE U.S.IF YOU NEED ANY MORE INFO I WILL TRY TO HELP YOU OUT. E-MAIL ME AT [email protected]
*Phil,Could you do us a favor and hit that caps lock button ?Typing in all caps is considered shouting.Thank you.b : )
*England! We kicked youse outa here a coupla hundred years ago..you lime eaters!Whaddya know about building const., not much I'll venture!And all ya got is greasy fish 'n chips in newspaper..and no ice cubes and terrible shit house paper..you'ld be postin' in German if it weren't fer the good ole USA..what else..ha ha ..just kiddin therephil mellor..welcome to Breaktime! thanks for some insight to how things go on the other side of the puddle..now knock off the caps,Dan-O
*sorry about the caps,will not let it happen again. The Brits used to suck on lemons,but the french pronounce lemon as limon,that's where limey comes from.
*Welcome, Phil.And well met.
*B*gger England, Dan-O. But we Brits will look out for each other, just so long as it's not something i really important, like the rugby international those English bast*rds humped us at over the weekend just passed. I'll stick up for him, even if he did SHOUT the first time. Greasy fish'n'chips is magic by the way. Cholestorel'fest in a newspaper. What's wrong with all you big American girls' blouses anyway regarding a wee bit of fat in your diet? Slainte, RJ.
*Quality fat is wot I say. As long as it's quality, and consumed with thankfulness to the lord who provided it...of course, I did let out a pair of britches earlier this evening.Back to the original Q- I'm sure a hit on your search engine will lead you to some info on Adobe-one of the oldest, most basic, and still one of the best for certain climatesLog homes-another primitive with enduring appealJapanese architecture-which I find fascinating. They have lots of earthquakes so the house design is intended to move and go with the flow but not fall down. Their joinery is absolutely amazing!Mediteranean - Stone masonry that lasts for thousands of yearsand don't forget the northern example of adaptation to local climate and available materials, - the igloo!
*CorlisMy sister is an architect working in Germany. She's in charge of OKing all restoration, renovation plans for a large chunk of the city she's working in. If you send me an email I can relay your request to her.One of the things I noticed in Germany, building w/wood (eg frame housing) is considered cheap construction. They have a tendency to build with two foot thick stone/block walls and people think the 1900s is not old.
*plantlust1, You are right on about that two foot stone block building structure, sometimes those blocks are inner and outer walls and up to the 8' level to boot, had a home like that once. I was always very impressed with their ability to build and keep things dry inside and dampness out, and for the sake of preservation regarding wood, stone and the like. Regards..
*I don't have any specific sources but I've been doing international mission trips with my churches youth group for a couple of years now (Jamiaca, Honduras, Puerto Rico). It's amazing to see what passes for Fine Homebuilding in some of these places. It's always hard for me to focus on the fact that several homes that are sorta straight and semi waterproof is better than one that is almost perfect.Eric
*Check with Habitat for Humanity International, ask for their Global Village Program. Habitat.org or 1800 HABITAT. Habitat has been building around the world. In Peace and Partnership,Martin
*Straw Bale Building and The Straw Bale House are two good books for reference on this method of building, with some history thrown in and good photos.
*Are you interested in current practices or traditional practices? A few years ago, the PBS series The Woodwright Shop did several programs on traditional building methods in various countries. Might be difficult to find the video tapes, however. If you are near a University with an Architecture department, perusing their library should give you lots of resources. The U.C. Berkeley Architecture library has shelves of books that would fit in with your topic.If not, you might try http://www.amazon.com and search for books on titles like "Asian houses" or "European building" and then seeing if you can get the books through inter-library loan from you local library.You should be able to find something by going to Google and doing a web search. I took about ten minutes and didn't do very well, however. My choice of search terms was definitely not optimal, so you will need to be creative. Using "Asian construction methods" gave me the following:http://web1.arch.hawaii.edu/events/apca/index.htmlhttp://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/research/iaste/1988%20wps.htmhttp://archnet.org/library/documents/documents.tcl?keyword=indigenous%2Fvernacular%2Ftraditional%20buildingA short article but might form the basis for a discussion:http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/NB/96.11/9611codestip.htmlIf you poke around this site enough, you might find something (maybe):http://www.architectureasia.com/MALAYSIA/These are more about development than construction:http://www.unchs.org/Istanbul+5/120.pdfhttp://www.care2.com/channels/ecoinfo/sustainable_development
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I teach a high school building construction class. We go onsite to build, but this week we are doing a research paper on how people build in other cultures and countries. Does anyone have any ideas on good sources for this subject? Thanks