Model "eco-city" could soon rise in Senegal

By Anton Ferreira


WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The West African nation of Senegal could
soon be the site of a bold experiment in solving the housing problems of the
world's poor -- a model town built of sand that harnesses the sun and wind
for energy.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters he wants to build the town
of about 20,000 houses using a construction method developed by
Iranian-American architect Nader Khalili known as "Superadobe."

In its simplest form, it consists of building circular, beehive-shaped houses
with sand-filled tubes placed one on top of the other with strands of barbed
wire between the layers to provide a Velcro-like grip.

The walls gradually curve inward at the top to form a self-supporting, domed
roof that needs no timber for support -- an important factor in countries
afflicted by deforestation. The tubes in which the sand is packed are usually
made of woven polyester, but hessian bags can also be used.

Wade, in an interview from Dakar last week, said he heard of Khalili's work
when Senegal was looking for ways to help thousands of people made homeless
by severe flooding in the northern provinces earlier this year.

"I called him, I invited him to Senegal to talk with him. ... So I will
provide him with land, he will choose the place, maybe in Dakar, maybe in a
suburb of Dakar, and I am ready to experiment with this system," the
president said.

"I am interested in building a new city with this method."

Wade, a champion of African development, said better housing was a pressing
issue for Senegal, particularly after the floods in January.

SENEGAL SEEKS LOW-COST SOLUTION

"My problem was how to build, at low cost, houses for the people. ... The
fundamental idea was, it should be possible to build a house better than our
traditional house, that can be modernized, at a very low cost."

He said one of the attractions of the Khalili system was that it was so
simple, people could build their own homes, providing their own labor, and
the building materials were close at hand.

"In terms of architecture, I think this type of building will be well adapted
to the climate," Wade said, saying the thickness of the walls -- about two
feet (60 cm) -- would help insulate residents against heat and cold.

"This type of construction is adaptable to our traditional construction, the
African hut," he said.

Wade said Senegal would approach international donors like the World Bank or
the European Union for help in funding the project.

The project so far is little more than an idea, so no estimates can be placed
on what it would cost. The infrastructure of roads, water and sewage would be
the most expensive component, but Khalili believes the houses themselves
would cost about 50 percent less than houses of a similar standard built by
any other method.

For Khalili, who visited Senegal last month with his partner and fellow
architect Iliona Outram and his brother Nasser Khalili, an infrastructure
specialist, building a model city in Senegal would be a giant step toward
attaining a long-standing dream.

"As far as I'm concerned, truly the whole treasure is sitting right there:
the land is there, the water is there, the people are extremely nice, very
peaceful and cooperative," he said.

"It's a very important project, really it can be a breakthrough."

Khalili and Outram teach the Superadobe system at their Calearth Institute in
Hesperia, California (www.calearth.org), and are using the method to build a
museum for the city.

Because they are in an earthquake zone, the buildings have been subjected to
stringent state building code tests -- which they passed with flying colors.

Their strength and stability derives largely from their domed construction,
much like the shape of a chicken egg allows the thin shell to withstand
relatively high forces.

Because a Superadobe house has no conventional roof, there's nothing to be
ripped off in a hurricane; the solidity of the structure means it will remain
standing in a flood.

Many people who have trained at Calearth have gone on to build their own
Superadobe homes, in the United States and abroad, but Khalili has no idea
how many.

"Now and then people send us photographs of what they have built," he said.

A SUSTAINABLE TOWN

Despite great interest expressed in its work by development professionals at
the United Nations and elsewhere, Calearth has yet to be given the
opportunity to put its ideas for low-cost, secure, comfortable shelter into
practice on a large scale. The Senegal project would be the first of its
kind.

Khalili said Calearth had trained several apprentices who would be eager to
go to Senegal to help local people get started.

"The way I see it, the sun that exists in Senegal is perfect to do solar
energy for a sustainable town and of course you could use natural energy like
wind for cooling as well, and they use the earth to build just about all the
structures," he said.

"The technology to create a sustainable town exists today fully."

Khalili's Superadobe homes borrow heavily from traditional Middle Eastern
architecture, incorporating for example wind funnels extending above roof
level that catch breezes and bring cooling air down into the living area.

Khalili said he and his team had visited the flood-ravaged north during their
trip and had been moved by the plight of the victims.

"The solution seems so close at hand: just some knowledge of how to dig what
is under their feet, how to add some bags and barbed wire and tie it all
together, how a sensible design can save them from the next flood, storm or
natural disaster," he said.

22:01 03-12-02

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