Brick production

Brief summary of the production of bricks in Ifakara, Tanzania. Within a 5 km range of the plots of the Summer Schools 2014-2016, bricks are produced with manual labour and local materials. The easy proces and availability of the few material needed, enables everybody to collect and produce their own bricks.

Photos by: Sarah Staub, Simon Urech & Tieme Zwartbol

collecting clay at a minimum depth of half a meter below ground

filling the wooden mould with clay

air drying the stacked bricks for 2-3 weeks to reduce the mosture level

building a compact brick tower with ventilation at the bottom and vertical voids to create air circulation

discarded rice hulls are used as fuel to bake the bricks

the structure is covered in rice hulls and set to fire

then letting it smoulder for a few days

finally the ashes can be removed and the brick is ready for use

A few notes to this art of production:

– by taking the clay 1:1 from the soil there is a variety in its consistency and therefore the quality of the final product

– the wooden mould and its manual filling influences the performance

– due to the rice hulls and the form of the structure, the temperature varies greatly throughout the structure. this influences the quality and appearance of the bricks