Woodless construction: the training of trainers and builders
Practical Action
structures, of which nowadays one is a kiln (providing practice on vault building), the other a building
covered by a domed roof. These two buildings are partially paid for by the community, and in the
case of the kiln, this is then used by one of the many local women’s pottery groups; the second
building is, typically, used as a health facility or a similar public function.
The trainers follow a ‘Woodless Construction trainer’s guide’ and the trainees get the ‘Practical
Guide’ handbook, which serves as an
‘aide mémoire’ for builders, in local
languages and illustrated with drawings
and photos so that illiterate builders are
not disadvantaged.
The second stage in novice training is
that the trainees go home,
accompanied by their assistant trainer
for each group of four trainees, and
each novice builder constructs his own
woodless house – helped in turn by his
three colleagues - which typically is a
domed round or rectangular house of
about 11m² or a vaulted structure.
Some builders decide to reroof an
existing house, taking out the rotten
wood and making it ‘woodless’. DW
Figure 4: Small round houses are very popular and easy to
build.
covers the costs of the assistant trainer,
gives a small food stipend to the
trainees, and provides them with two
fired clay gutters (made by local women potters) and a door and a window. This stage is very
important for each builder, as the house gives a total experience of building, and serves as well as an
example of his skills to his community. And the builders pay for all the labour and materials, a major
commitment to learning. They also get a certificate, the offer of additional training and ongoing
technical support.
Advanced training
Depending on the level of interest
and motivation of individual
builders, DW offers additional
training options, to perfect skills,
learn about maintenance and
renders, and to learn how to both
design and draw woodless
construction houses and make
cost estimates.
The experience of teaching often
illiterate builders to draw
woodless construction buildings
is interesting: woodless
construction is inherently three
dimensional in its conception,
one has to consider how the roofs
sit on their supporting structure
Figure 5: Teaching builders about laying out.
of masonry walls and arches, and
to avoid openings cutting into the
roof structure above them. One might think that trained architects would master this easily, but
practice has shown that the builders, used to building vaults and domes, master the three
dimensional concept faster than architects do, and within two or three days are drawing their own
plans.
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