Speaker 1: At ten to five. It is now time for our
Speaker 1: Green Tip of the Week, which is brought to you
Speaker 1: by Volvo. It's safe to be brave. With Volvo, each
Speaker 1: week will highlight someone or something impacting the way we
Speaker 1: can be greener, cleaner, smarter, healthier and eco friendly. Today
Speaker 1: we are focusing on some building design technique that is
Speaker 1: a very interesting one, indeed, building affordable rural homes with
Speaker 1: bricks made of cow dung. My guest is norkulunga kry
Speaker 1: An interior designer, part time lecturer and a researcher with
Speaker 1: a growing focus on sustainable design, innovation nor Coolongo. Welcome.
Speaker 1: Is great to have you with us on seven oh
Speaker 1: two drive. How did you come to this idea of
Speaker 1: making bricks from cow dung? My understanding is cow dung
Speaker 1: has always been used, for example in the floors of
Speaker 1: Ron Darvil's, but is bricks a brand new thing.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Uncle John and all the seventy two lesseners.
Speaker 2: I'm it just my pleasure to be here to share
Speaker 2: the space with you guys today.
Speaker 3: So the inspiration.
Speaker 2: Behind the corowdown break came from my observation with regards
Speaker 2: to the housing crisis that is currently happening in South Africa,
Speaker 2: which is quite evident through the marshrooming of informal settlement,
Speaker 2: and it was a communication that affordability is quite a
Speaker 2: consistent challenge in our society. Of course, it is a
Speaker 2: material that is actually used mostly in rural areas and
Speaker 2: on floors. But then I then decided to say, because
Speaker 2: it is such material that has actually been used, so
Speaker 2: why not re imagine it and actually use it to
Speaker 2: create coow down breaks to be able to address the issue.
Speaker 2: Is that the housing issues that you're currently facing. Hence
Speaker 2: I chose that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so how far have you How far have
Speaker 1: you got with this? I mean, is there a question
Speaker 1: of designing molds, is it in some way modifying the
Speaker 1: cowd down with any kind of additives? What are the
Speaker 1: key problems that you need to solve?
Speaker 2: Well, it's still on the concept research phase, but it
Speaker 2: is quite far because I managed to indeed do a brick,
Speaker 2: but now I was testing it through different sizes. So
Speaker 2: I started with our standard brick science and then because
Speaker 2: I wanted to create a block brick which will be
Speaker 2: much effective in terms of building because if it's smaller breaks,
Speaker 2: it means that you will need a lot of quantities.
Speaker 2: So I then decided to do a block brake. So
Speaker 2: one of the challenges was I did not want to
Speaker 2: create a block break that is a standard look and feel,
Speaker 2: So I then created a block break that had an
Speaker 2: interlocking system to it, and that came with its challenges
Speaker 2: because in the interlocking part it broke so and it
Speaker 2: was quite a lot.
Speaker 3: It was quite a challenge.
Speaker 2: But because I'm still investigating it and researching it further,
Speaker 2: I'm working on a new look that is more effective.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really interesting. How did you come to this?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you had a problem in mind that
Speaker 1: you wanted to solve, and not no longer. You've given
Speaker 1: us a sense that the growth of informal settlements, the people,
Speaker 1: the way people are actually battling to find sustainable and
Speaker 1: crucially effective material for building shelter for themselves. But is
Speaker 1: this a rural experience that's part of your life or
Speaker 1: part of your family history that led you in the
Speaker 1: direction of this.
Speaker 3: Not necessarily.
Speaker 2: I am just one person that is so interested in
Speaker 2: indigenous African building practices, and for so long I've been
Speaker 2: asking myself, because we've been using certain methods of building,
Speaker 2: why aren't these African indigenous African building practices.
Speaker 3: Being included in the modern times.
Speaker 2: Why aren't we then involving the people that have knowledge
Speaker 2: on this type of building practices to be a part
Speaker 2: of the change and to be a part of the solution.
Speaker 2: Hence I then said, I need to do this in
Speaker 2: order for me to start conversations.
Speaker 3: And at the same time, it is an opportunity for.
Speaker 2: Job creation because it we will do is that it
Speaker 2: will involve communities and communities will be part of the solution.
Speaker 3: At the same time, we will be skill.
Speaker 2: We will be upping or uplifting the skills of the
Speaker 2: youth and of people around communities and then we bring
Speaker 2: them a lot to create these solutions.
Speaker 1: Well, do keep us in touch with how you go
Speaker 1: Twana University of Technology with this design innovation that you're trying.
Speaker 1: If there's anyone else out there, by the way, who's
Speaker 1: listening to what no Kulonga, no Kulunga cry has to
Speaker 1: say about this, by all means, do give us a
Speaker 1: call on a double one AA three oh seven oh
Speaker 1: two and we'll make sure that we connect you and
Speaker 1: it's something we'll follow with a great deal of interest. Nokulunga.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for giving us your time on seven
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Speaker 1: in again next week Tuesday for another green Tip of
Speaker 1: the Week, brought to you by Volvo.