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Publications in Scientific Journals:

A. Rieger-Jandl:
"From the Armature Tent to Earth-Built Structures. The Afar in North-East Ethiopia between Nomadism and Sedentarism";
Journal of Comparative Cultural Studies in Architecture (JCCS-a), 6 (2012), 34 - 45.



English abstract:
The Afar are a nomadic people living in the north-eastern part of Ethiopia. As pastoralists they have developed simple forms of armature tents which are optimized for their nomadic way of life and the harsh environmental circumstances in this hot and arid climate. The Afar armature tent is made out of tree branches or roots, which are readily available in the area. It can easily be erected, broken down, and fixed on camelīs back for transportation. Due to changing political, economic and environmental circumstances more and more Afar are getting settled, especially along the main trading routes. The new settlements consist of permanent structures built out of wooden pole walls plastered with clay (chikka-technique) - a highly unsustainable building technology in an arid region with scarce vegetation where every tree is extremely valuable. Thus alternatives to the Afarīs way of building with wood are urgently needed. The only building material sufficiently available in the region is earth in the form of mud and clay. Since building with earth has not been suitable for the nomadic lifestyle there is little indigenous knowledge about the possibilities and the many advantages of this material for building high quality structures. However, as the way of life is on the verge of changing, the transition to a more sustainable building technology for permanent dwellings seems appropriate.

In the course of a studio design project at the architecture faculty at the University of Technology in Vienna/Austria, a prototype for a school building made out of earth has been developed. It should demonstrate that innovative earth building technologies, appropriate for the specific climatic, cultural and economic conditions in the Afar-region, can be a cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable alternative to wood-intensive structures to meet the rapidly growing demand for permanent buildings.

Keywords:
Ethiopia, Afar-region, traditional armature tents, nomadism, new sedentarism, mobile architecture, new permanent settlements, innovative earth building technologies

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.