The team has been working steady over the past month. Thesis students have only 16 days until graduation and the pressure rises to finish the building in time for the ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for Monday, March 25. With that in mind, there has been a lot of progress over these critical weeks. By the end of week 16 all the primary structural members have been installed. The bamboo roof purlins are placed and the sak-sak roofing material is almost entirely lapped and sewn into place. The Comfort Room ceramic wall is ongoing and the bathroom fixtures have been delivered to the site. The Fine Arts students prepped, painted, and sealed the exterior wall mural in four days total. At the campus tool shop, the bamboo screens and exterior panels have been fabricated and are now delivered to the site ready for installation. The building is almost dried in and interior finishes will be the focus the next two weeks.
Arriving on the site, the sac-sac roof is almost fully installed.
The roof form is derived from the surrounding mountain backdrop. The building is oriented East and West to draw in the coastal and valley breezes.
Foundation workers team up to continue weaving the sac-sac roof into place.
Here you can see how the sac-sac is woven by using rubber string cut from old tires and wooden needles. This is a great way to up-cycle and divert expired tires from the landfill.
The bamboo roof structure is tied to three bamboo roof trusses supported by bamboo columns. All bamboo members are form-cut and nailed together with bamboo pegs that are glued and pounded into place. The members are then secured together by tying native rattan around the bamboo joints. Each joint receives this finishing rattan, which is a traditional way to assemble bamboo structures. The students are forced to practice this many times over, where eventually they become experts in executing this tradition and craft.
Outside, FU workers lap the ridge sac-sac into place.
This worker is nailing the stainless steel ridge flashing to cap off the sak-sak roof.
For most of the day, the priority was to finish the roof so that the interior finishes can be installed the following week. Rick, the fifth year thesis student is using a wood planer to size the wood nailer for the bamboo exterior wall panels and screens.
One of the bamboo exterior panels is getting fitted into it's rightful place on the South Elevation.
At the end of the day, the elementary students assemble to say their pledges and lower the flag for another day. The children are finally able to use their play yard again for this purpose, now that the septic tank and all the excavation in that area is complete. Soon, grass will be seeded and they will have a softer surface to play.
The wall mural provides a colorful and inspirational backdrop to the ending ceremonies. Having this art project complete is an indicator that these are the final weeks and days at the Malaunay, Dungga Daycare site.
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