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Alastair Armstrong
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- South Africa
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Alastair Armstrong's Groups
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Colour Theories in Africa
67 members
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Beautifully Sustainable…
76 members
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Green Collaborative
224 members
Alastair Armstrong's Discussions
Latest Advances in Solar Power...
Replied Jul. 2, 2009
Latest Advances in Solar Power...
Replied Jun. 30, 2009
Alastair Armstrong's Page
Latest Activity
InSynch Sustainable Technologies (Pty) Ltd have been appointed as the Green Building Consultants to the "David Rattray Foundation".
InSynch will assist in 'Greening' the foundation's various local based community projects in and around the Rorke's…
Hi Izelque
No, most definatley a sub-surface flow is the way to go: you don't want a mozzie build up or potential standing and exposed water due to smells etc.
The constructed Wetlands can certainly work well with both black and greywater. For bla…
Investigating colour theories and beliefs throughout Africa to gain insight for the use of colour in design.
Profile Information
- Built Industry Sector:
- Contracting services
- Profession:
- Green Building & Renewable Energy Consulting & Implementation
- Primary Work Focus:
- Natural Building & Solar Power Profesional
- About Me / Us:
- Electrical Engineer and Experienced Natural Builder:
- Director of InSynch Sustainable Technologies (Pty) - Green Building Consulting & Advisory.
- MD of EarthWorX Construction - specialist contractors using Rammed Earth, Straw Bale Building & Natural Finishes (www.earth-worx.co.za).
- MD of SunSync Solar - Solar Power Specialists (www.sunsync.co.za).
- Company Name:
- EarthWorx Construction & SunSync Solar
- Contact Number:
- 0766688877
- Website:
- http://www.earth-worx.co.za
Alastair Armstrong's Photos
Alastair Armstrong's Blog
RAMMED EARTH for the "David Rattray Foundation"
InSynch Sustainable Technologies (Pty) Ltd have been appointed as the Green Building Consultants to the "David Rattray Foundation".
InSynch will assist in 'Greening' the foundation's various local based community projects i… Continue
Posted on October 30, 2009 at 7:50am —
Green Home Design & Retro-Fit Course
Hi All Once Again..
Join us on a information packed 'Green Home Design and Retro-Fit Course'.
Date: Saturday, 24 October.
Follow this link to view the details:
http://www.designmind.co.za/events/gree… Continue
Posted on October 6, 2009 at 5:40pm —
RAMMED EARTH - Project Progress Photos
EarthWorx Construction have now completed the ramming of the earthen walls.
See: the pictures of the walls in progress.
All that is left to do for us is to remove the soffits under the rammed earth beams, some wall… Continue
Posted on April 23, 2009 at 3:59pm — 2 Comments
RAMMED EARTH - It’s all in “The Art of Fine Formwork”. True Short Story – March 09.
The finished product will endure and shine the power and beauty of Rammed Earth forever - whilst the formwork is long forgotten. Mixing and ramming of material is quick and easy.
But, what can take a day to place, can take 3 to build, as we have just discovered.… Continue
Posted on April 15, 2009 at 2:15pm —
RAMMED EARTH BEAM - Done!!!
EarthWorx Construction have completed the Rammed Earth Beams on our challenging project in Northriding, Johannesburg.
We apologise for our slow rate of posts to the blog/DesignMind, what can we say... we are very busy building!
But, we will post the photos of the beam tomorrow, along with a few comments on Rammed Earth Form-Work written by Eugene Higginson. Eugene is EarthWorx's site supervisor and one of our natural building… Continue
We apologise for our slow rate of posts to the blog/DesignMind, what can we say... we are very busy building!
But, we will post the photos of the beam tomorrow, along with a few comments on Rammed Earth Form-Work written by Eugene Higginson. Eugene is EarthWorx's site supervisor and one of our natural building… Continue
Posted on April 10, 2009 at 7:03am —
Comment Wall (15 comments)
- At 2:50pm on October 11, 2009,
Louw Roets said…
- hi Alastair,
How business on your side?
Sorry for only getting back to you now.I went and had a long thought about our previous discussion on how our businesses can work together or benefit from each other. The only way that I can think of, for now at least, is if we put links on both our websites to each others websites. Our products are both natural and rather unique, if I might say so myself. This way we might generate more hits on our sites and push it to the top of the search engines and get better exposure.
Let me know what you think.
Totsiens
- At 4:18pm on October 9, 2009,
Morongwi Legae said… - hi Dude
that teaming up thing sounds like an excellent idea. will come see what you are busy with. :-)
- At 12:47pm on October 9, 2009,
Gavin Tonks said… - Hi Alastair I am in 4 ways area
- At 11:59am on October 9, 2009,
Andre Van Der Merwe said… - Yes, am paddling.
Lowevld Croc coming up next weekend 17 and 18 October 2009.
Race will be a 2 day race, starting from Kwena dam, to Weltevreden bridge.
33km.
Second day will be 20km.
Great rapids
- At 7:33pm on July 18, 2009,
Vicki Mustard said… - Hi Alistair
You have completed some beautiful and inspiring work. Ive checked out your Earthworx web page and may want to contact you in the future for a green development Im starting to work on.
I was catching up on the Green Collaborative group previous posts and was very interested in your mention of the Agricultural Union self- build biogas decomposer guide for R100. Do you have the web link by any chance? Ive tried, but battled to find it.
Also, Im reading up all I can on rammed earth at the moment, Im excited by the design flexibility it offers in comparison with strawbale or cob as they have need for minimal roof overhangs.
Can you point me in the direction of any books/ reading material/ details or courses (im in the Cape)?
This is quite a lot to ask you, sorry! BUT you have knowledge in areas I'm really interested in!
Thank you!
Vicki
- At 5:17pm on July 14, 2009,
Abre Crafford said… - sorry no luck yet - as mentioned a dependable self driven trainable contractor may be a fairly rare animal to find !
Will keep on asking around - maybe you should look at other green sites for people looking for work - at least you're then talking to like minded parties?
LOVE the walls you're showing above - maybe I need to do one at house or office just for the educational value!
- At 10:56am on July 6, 2009,
Louw Roets said…
- Hi Alastair
How is your projects coming along and the business?
havent been on Designmind in ages. I suffered a bit of a blow to my business, tried to open a showroom in Cape Town and the whole thing back fired. working in Taiwan at the moment to get some capital together and get the business going again.
Do you think there's anyway of our businesses can benefit from each other?
Do you work out a price per sqm when you build or does it depend on the technique you use? Considering a greenhouse when I get back to SA.
regards,
Louw
ps: "sorry to fall with the door into the house"
- At 4:11pm on May 7, 2009,
Alastair Armstrong said…
- Edward
You know if you are looking at doing a dome with a natural building technique..
We have a choice of two: Adobe and/or Cob.
Adobe is Cob in brick form. Cob is a fine combination of soil, clay, water and straw.
To build an Adobe dome we would just use conventional brick techniques - simple!
Cob, once dry.. is self supporting and monolithic, thus is ideal for domes.
We are well experienced in Cob & Adobe construction, if you need to engage further.
Regards
Alastair
- At 3:52pm on May 7, 2009,
Alastair Armstrong said…
- Hi Edward
You know rammed earth is all about the form work. So I suppose anything is possible if you can put the form work together. Having said that, I believe doing a rammed earth dome would be pushing the envelope.
- - - - - -
Rammed Earth's performance in Rain:
Well many large parts of the Great Wall of China were built with Rammed Earth, and those parts remain perfectly intact today. How many storms they have weathered... who knows?
But technically.. from our experience, the walls can and do weather slightly at first but then kinda settle in. This weathering usually enhances the natural beauty of the walls. This initial weathering of the walls is well documented in the books and white papers we have on the subject.
Our current project, the walls are stabilised with 10% portland cement, and I must tell you I have not seen any evidence of weathering, and I don't expect to see any.
In Short.. Rain is not an issue at all with correctly constructed Rammed Earth walls.
I hope this helps.
Alastair
- At 10:11am on May 7, 2009,
Edward Peinke said… - Hi there Alastair,
First of all.. really great stuff you got going here!
Could you tell me off the top of your head, would it be possible to do a dome like structure in a rammed earth application? and how well does it perform to rain?
Best regards,
Edward Peinke
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