Cultivating Alternative Possibilities

This blog chronicles the progress of Design Studio 4's workshop in Beit Iksa, West Bank, Palestine which ran in January 2013. DS4 is an MArchD studio running at the Oxford School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

Cultivating Alternative Possibilities: 

A collective day for designing, making and interacting to bring life back to the historic centre of Beit Iksa

Introduction

Building on Riwaq’s approach to protect and bring life back to historic centres, the aim of this workshop is to offer a space for further exploration with alternative building materials, techniques and design initiatives, all of which are hoped to offer creative possibilities while rethinking historic centres in Palestine. The different elements that we will be introducing within the workshop – through designing and making – are meant to explore affordable principles that can further enhance the living conditions. Ones which are responsive to the Palestinian identity, context, economic, social and political conditions. Above all, they very much build on the creative local skills that the residents of Beit Iksa has. Consequently, 3 key themes will be initially addressed in the workshop; Water, Birds, and Earth/Stone. The elements are meant to shed a light on Palestine’s natural resources, with their opportunities and threats. We will try to collectively explore how could one protect and celebrate them through design. With the joint collaboration between Riwaq, NG Architects, Beit Iksa community and Beit Iksa Village Council and with the involvement of students of architecture from Oxford Brookes University, we will be working on building temporary elements and devices in different public spaces for the use of the local residents of Beit Iksa. These include a rammed-earth wall along with other hybrid materials. A water filtration device that can be used for domestic purposes to clean water. A ‘bird shading’ structure along with an energy producing bike that will convert physical movement into lighting and sound elements for the historic centre.

Group One - Rammed Earth Team

As a way to find alternatives to build with stone, and in order to address the excessive

use of quarries and their damage to landscape and environment, rammed earth can be an

alternative structural solution in Palestine. On one hand, it is available on site and therefore

is economically viable. On the other hand, it is an organic material that can be easily

treated and dealt with. The team will therefore be involved in the design, preparation and

building of fragments of a rammed earth wall, which will be part of a temporary public

space. The process involves preparing the form work, the mixture with its different elements

to be injected within it, as well as the ramming process itself.

Group Two - Gabion Wall/Stone Team

As an integral part of the rammed earth wall, the group will also work on the making and installation of gabion walls. This will set the base for a low-cost foundation for the rammed earth wall. The aim is to explore new methods of construction that make use of existing small stones and rubble that are not necessarily possible to utilize otherwise.

Group Three - Water Filtration Team

The water filtration team will explore some simple and affordable measures to filter grey water to be utilized for domestic purposes. Along with community awareness activities the team will try to put together a domestic devise with principles that can assist locals in cleaning water under the current scarce water conditions.

Group Four - Birds Team

The birds team will explore the sky as a space for possibilities while celebrating Palestine’s unique nature – which is known to be one of the busiest corridors for bird migration in the whole world. The team will be creating simple structures to attract birds working along with the children from the local community. The shed will create a key stitching points that connects the historic centre together. Furthermore, the shed will also be directly connected to a bike which will generate electricity from kinetic energy produced in partnership with the local residents.

This workshop is a joint venture between Riwaq, NGArchitects, Oxford Brookes University: School of Architecture, Beit Iksa Village Council & the local residents of Beit Iksa.

Beit Iksa: Bicycle Generator

1. Designing and Prototyping in Oxford

The concept behind the bike device was to attract further attention to the site and the bird device that would be paired with it. The aim was to create a simple generator that would not need too many components.

Above are the plans and elevations for a potential answer to the concept. The design however does not make the most out of the bird device and is too much like a shed without the ease of using an existing shed frame. The design still needed work but it was a good starting point for discussions.

To develop the circuit for the bike after initial research I started with small motors and worked my way up. The key behind it is turning a magnetic motor in reverse, this in turn creates electricity. With the small motors it is important to turn the motors fast enough to create enough volts to power the lights. Lights had been chosen as they can run without the need to complicate the circuit with resistors, capacitors and diodes. The same decision was made not to charge or use a battery as this also complicates the circuit. This is a motor that I took out of a mains powered mini blender. Due to the cost of motors it is important to find devices that you can recycle the motors from instead of buying new ones.

The stand has then been made from 12mm box steel 2mm thick then running 8mm bolts through to avoid the need of welding. An 8mm threaded rod has then been passed through the back wheel of the bike so that it can be bolted in place to avoid any movement and ensure the construction is sound and the frame stable. The frame of the bike stand is a key component for the creation of a bike generator. It is important that the wheel is held off the ground so that it can turn freely while also being held securely in place. There are a number of rear wheel bike stands for sale on the internet but as they range from £100 and upwards and are not even ideal for the device, a frame needed to be designed.

Due to my purchase of a children’s bike over that of an adult one, the wheel is held higher off the ground than need be, however this ensures that the frame can be used for larger bikes as well depending on what can be sourced on site. Overall though the frame is solid and holds the bike stable and wheel in place while I, a 6 foot 3 ex-rugby player, truly puts it to the test before anyone else can use it.

The main aspects of the project is to ensure that the children on site come and are made aware of the bird device concept, however the use of a bike that generates electricity also makes the children aware of both their energy usage as well as a different form of energy production.

The choice to keep the circuit simple and use lights is ideal and works very well as there is no battery keeping the lights on, if you pedal they light up, if you don’t they don’t. This maximises the effect of the device. When the area is dark, the device really comes into its own, the LED lights shine bright when pedalling and the device works very successfully. Now that the bike had been made and constructed in England it was time to re-create it in Palestine.

2. Building in Beit Iksa

Once on site we found that none of the items had been sourced and this would need to be done during the week by ourselves. With the only item sourced by the contractor, being box steel, the time allowed for the bike and other projects was reduced. This in turn, meant that we would need to find the nearest we could to each item rather than what we knew would work. The first stage was to source a bike with little or no money being spent as the majority of this had gone on the other projects including additional funds raised from our own pockets. This was easier said than done but we were told by a villager that they had a bike we could use. After waiting an hour or so the bike arrived and was in great condition except from the fact that the chain was corroded and would not turn and the bike had no wheels. We needed to move on quickly and source a different bike. We put this to one side and sourced as many of the other items as we could, making compromises everywhere from using a fan motor with a rod made by the man selling the motor to heavy duty elastic rather than a drive belt. The next issue we encountered was that the contractor had bought solid 10mm box steel rather than hollow 12mm box steel, not only did this mean we did not have the tools to drill into the steel for the bolts to run through, but in actual fact the bolts would not even fit through any hole we could make as they were too big.

When these things happen on site it is key to just move on and find a way to make the device work, so we made the decision to use some timber from the ramming earth stores and create a frame out of 2 by 4’s. Eventually the bike stand was constructed, it looked more rustic than first designed but it worked and supported the bike. The next job was to try and connect the motor to the bike. At this point the realisation was that we would be surrounded by locals as we had been constantly watched and helped by 10 or more boys from the start but when it comes to doing the more intricate circuit stuff this could start to become an issue.

The plan of the motor was simple; the man that sold us the motor had given us the pieces to create the rod as well as cutting the threaded rod down to size for us. We had the plan, we knew how the motor had to work so we could continue with the building and start putting all the pieces together. As suspected even though we moved into the private courtyard of the hookah bar, we were soon surrounded by locals trying to help.

In actual fact though some of the locals were electricians and were trying to help so ended up being useful. The problem that we had was that no matter how we positioned the motor the lights would not light up. We tested the motor and the lights from the mains and nothing had blown so there was no reason for it. After attaching a voltmeter to the motor and finding that it was creating electricity but the lights were still not even flickering we had to call it a day as the exhibition was about to start.

Even though I had managed to make a totally different frame, use children’s safety scissors as both wire clippers and strippers, hold the motor in place even with an elastic drive belt that had far too much tension in it, fix the bike with string as the gear cables did not have enough tension and source the required pieces myself without the help of the contractor, the bike would not work and would not light up. It was a very challenging experience. Although the final result was not as successful as we hoped, the whole process became a learning curve for me and all the locals who were willing to help. 

- Chris Green

Beit Iksa: Rammed Earth Structures

Over the course of the four and a half days of building, the Stone group set the ambitious target of building two significant structures from rammed earth. The first was a 2500mm long bench which sits near the entrance to a popular café. The second was a 1800mm wall to enclose the new terrace that would be formed on the site. The wall was designed to sit on an above ground gabion foundation so, in order to give time for this to be completed, the bench was constructed first. The second advantage of doing this was that everyone could practice the techniques used in rammed earth at a smaller scale before tackling the larger wall.

The first important task was completed on the first afternoon in Beit Iksa: locating the appropriate soil. Rowland, the rammed earth expert, sourced three types of soil within the town.

 

1. The layers of earth in Beit Iksa showing topsoil, yellow clay, grey clay, 

and red clay in descending order.

 

2. The Grey, Red, and Yellow soils condensed into testers.

The standard proportions for rammed earth construction are 10% Clay, 40% Sand/Silt, and 50% Gravel. These should sound familiar to the proportions in concrete apart from the addition of clay instead of cement and that the elements should be mixed dry. From testing them we found that the grey soil was close enough to the appropriate proportions to be left unchanged. The yellow and red soils had significant clay but lacked some sand and needed a lot of gravel. The remaining sand and all the gravel were acquired from a fourth location. The soils were collected from around Beit Iksa separately and brought to site where they were left to dry in the sun.

Construction began on the formwork while we waiting for the earth to dry. Once it was completed the timbers could be used for the entire project so it was important to get it right the first time.

 

3. The contractor brought timber to site that was then organized into 

standard lengths and thicknesses.

4. Soldiers were formed by drilling two planks together with a breaker in between. 

This breaker creates space for bars to be inserted.

5. The stone foundation is laid within the first layer of formwork.

6. A detail of the formwork showing the use of the breaker and bar that can be loosened or tightened when appropriate.

 

7. The soldiers and end-stops being placed. 

The top bracing rest above the formwork and can be lifted as construction ascends.

 

8. A detail from inside the formwork showing all soldiers and bracing. 

The orange sleeves had two functions; 

1) So that the threaded bar could be removed easily after construction and 

2) So that formwork could be tightened to the exact 400mm width of the bench.

With the formwork completed and the clay dried, the mixing began. Because the grey soil was deemed to be the correct proportions it was used for the bench almost unchanged. Lime was the only significant additive and was used in the first and final layers to give added damp protection.

9. Mixing the lime at a proportion of 1:20.

 

10. Once mixed the earth is placed in the formwork starting at the sides and corners to ensure complete coverage. The orange stick is a marking with a nail at 150mm. 

The box is filled to this height before ramming.

11. The labour intensive ramming process reduces the 150mm of earth to 100mm.

Ramming begins at the edges and moves into the centre to stop bulging.

 

12.  Once it reaches the appropriate height the formwork is removed 

and the bench is almost complete.

 

13. The same process is repeated for the wall with the formwork 

constructed around the finished gabion.

14. A detail showing how the formwork boards overlap each other on the corners.

15. The clay was mixed with the gravelly soil at a proportion of 1:1. 

Each batch was made to the amount of two wheelbarrow loads. 

This meant that we could alternate between yellow and red clay as we progressed. 

In this photo Ny and James mix in the background, while Alex shovels the completed 

mixture into a bucket. Emma works by the bucket stopping unwanted material

 from entering construction. Due to the large amount of little, large rocks, and greenery, 

it was important to have someone at the bucket for ‘quality control’.

16. The process was the same as the bench. People swapped between the roles of 

mixer, quality control, mover, and rammer throughout the days to add variety.

17. Once the formwork was filled the bottom planks were 

moved up to allow ramming to continue.

18.  The wall nears completion. 

The alternating yellow and red clays becomes very clear.

19.  The final step is to cap the two structures in reclaimed Palestinian stone.

 

20.  The new bench sits discreetly outside the entrance to the café.

21.  The enclosing wall being enjoyed by locals and students alike.

 - Rory O'Brien

Beit Iksa: Gabion foundation

Throughout the first term the stone group had been considering alternative methods of construction using the building resources available to the village of Beit Iksa.  Checkpoints and Israeli forces make the regular transfer and purchase of materials such as cement very complex and so it was important to find exiting elements, which could be reused or re-formed into a usable construction material. One of the most prominent is Stone, taking the form of abandoned rubble strewn throughout the historic centre and other neglected parts of the village it was immediately apparent that this was readily available.

Gabions are commonly found in rough exterior large scale landscaping and often seen as unsightly. However if the stone quality is controlled the finish can be quite beautiful and the layering of stone within the metal cage makes it exceptionally strong. Therefore the Gabion was to be used as the foundations for the rammed earth to be constructed directly on top. This prevents any water gaining access into the earth wall – preventing any possible structural weaknesses.

1) We began with some thorough stone collection and cleaning – square flat-sided stones were perfect for stacking and corners. A rich variety of beautiful textures were crucial to provide the controlled aesthetic required.

2) Site set out –planning the location of the gabion and wall in relation to the main road – Oxford Street.

3) Cesar did a beautiful job in constructing the cage off site in his workshop.

4) Once in position the stacking begins – small flat stones are used at the edge, larger stones and other shapes used to fill in the centre of the gabions.

5) As you see we had no shortage of helpers.

6) Bracing was essential to prevent the cage and stones from bowing under the weight of the earth to be rammed on top.

7) Children scribed messages onto the stones within the Gabion to bring individuality and ownership to the proposal.

8) Topping off the cage to make a solid flat surface for the earth ramming to begin. The cage was slightly overfilled to ensure that if stones were to move during the ramming process there would be no issues with the structural integrity of the gabion.

9) Once the lid is secure – the gabion is ready for the construction of the rammed earth formwork!

- James Le Ball

Beit Iksa: Water Device

Background

Beit Iksa village, like much of the West Bank region, faces a number of inequities and challenges in its access to and use of water. Compared to much of the region it receives a relatively large degree of rainfall and has many springs. However, this water resource is unable to be utilised effectively, due to restricted extraction, lowering water tables and pollution. As a result, villagers must rely upon water bought from Israeli water companies, which for many is unaffordable. In order to relieve some of these pressures we proposed two interventions: a device that enables households to recycle previously used water for various different domestic purposes; and a public awareness exercise that taught people of water quality and ways in which to combat wasteful habits.

Water Device

With our time on site reduced by two days, we realised that we would have to work quickly to complete our device on schedule. After an initial analysis of the installation site, we took account of the materials that had been arranged prior to arrival and, through discussion with the tutors, were able to source a number of items through RIWAQ and a local contractor to be delivered to site. There were, however, a number of items still to be sourced and so the team split into two groups. One group was charged with sourcing the remaining items from within Ramallah and the other with laying out the template for the plywood frame.

An iterative process of design and construction was developed in which the original design intentions informed, and were informed by, the availability of materials, components and the somewhat sporadic availability of facilities and tools. The team discussed whether the device should be stationary within the site or mobile to travel around the village. In the end it was decided that a stationary device was best suited to the concept of an ‘event’ in which a singular public space within the village is regenerated in order to attract the local community. With the help of the local carpenter (a true life-saver) we were able to layout and construct the frame and the base, which was designed to contain rubble from site to provide weight and stability. We bolted the frame together and suspended the ‘filter arm’ from the top using elastic.

The Water Team laying out the filter arm with the Carpenter

Fitting the filter arm to the main frame

Base filled with rubble from around the site

We then suspended the four vessels from the arm, using a drill bit heated upon the cafe’s stove to burn holes in the lids and sides with which to attach the PVC tubing. Within one of the vessels we layered large gravel, finer gravel and then sharp sand, to create a bio-sand filter, and one with polyester padding and granular activated carbon to create a carbon filter. Initially we tried using sand from site and charcoal used in shisha pipes within the village cafe, however neither provided the filtration required.

Testing the filters using contaminated water from the site

The first wet run - a success!

The original design intention was to filter contaminated water from around the village to grow herbs, however it was felt that this did not utilise the filtering process to its greatest effect, and so it was decided that the device would provide water for washing hands and dishes to create a greater impact. From around the village we were able to find an unused steel bucket and electrical cabling with which to suspend it. The intention was to bore a hole into the bottom of the bucket such that contaminated water would flow (pump assisted) into the first vessel, become filtered and then used to wash hands, creating a closed circuit. However, we were unable to create sufficient pressure, either via the volume of water within the wash bucket, or through the hand pump to move the water. As such, it was decided that contaminated water could be extracted from a bottle via the first hand pump, filtered, and then pumped into the bucket for washing hands.

The device up and running in its final location.

Many of the residents had offered assistance in building the device yet, unlike the rammed earth or gabion, it was difficult to provide instructions as we ourselves were, to a certain extent, still making decisions. Until that point residents were intrigued yet somewhat skeptical of the device with one stating “I will believe it when I see it”. However, the first ‘wet-run’ provided far better results than we had hoped for in terms of water quality improvement, which was reflected in local residents’ response. Most were impressed by the change in quality from such simple materials, and a number of the younger residents lined up to wash their hands. In all, and despite its compromises, the device can be considered a success.

Local children trying out the device with Miriam Ozanne

Miriam washing her hands in the filtered water

Water Awareness Game

We were able to print the Water Booklet in both English and Arabic, including: why water is important, how water can be reused, the differences between, and how to make a bio-sand filter and activated carbon filter.  This document was made so people could understand and build the filter themselves if needs be. The café and a local family hold the 2 water booklets printed out including 2 packs of water cards to play fun interactive water games. The card game was a definite success. We played these games with groups of women in the home to include them in this water awareness event (as they had yet to come to the event site). Another reason we targeted women was because it was felt that they had the greatest degree of control over all of the domestic water in the home.

Playing cards explaining water quality and usage amounts

The first game explained the water quantity in litres of water used per day. They seemed shocked as the large amounts were highlighted (using 250, and up to 470, litres of water a day). The second game established an understanding of the terms grey water and black water.  The third game questioned the understanding: a ‘washing face’ card was the card laid out in the middle and we prompted the women as to how else this grey water could be used. They were unclear to start but soon realised it could be used for many more grey water activities. As the women became more confident and clear, our task was complete, the awareness strategies were a success. Some women asked questions, “How do we build the water filter?” which is when I decided the family should own one of the water booklets.  We hope some ladies will have built their own filter for less dependence of water especially in the summer months.

We were unable, however, to provide a management guide for the operation or maintenance of the device, however it appears that the local school will be taking ownership and using it as an educational tool. In this sense it is hoped that the device will leave some legacy and help towards understanding of the water issues and opportunities within Beit Iksa and the West Bank.

- Thomas Smith & Nyomi Rowsell