Auroville Earth Institute, training courses, workshops on Vaults, Arches, Domes(VAD), stabilized rammed earth walls, compressed earth blocks, vaulted structures, compressed stabilised earth blocks, rammed earth.

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TRAINING COURSES

Training Outcome with Photos

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Trainees are coming from all over the world for getting theoretical and practical knowledge on earth architecture and other appropriate building technologies. They enjoy working with their hands for building various things. Please note that when the information below does mention the location of the training course, it means that the training course was in Auroville.

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2010 JUNE 28^th to JULY 3^rd – ONE WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
21 trainees from 3 countries (17 Indians, 1 French, 1 Spanish, 2 Egyptians)

Preparation for plinth beam

Casting of plinth beam

Identification of soils

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2010 JUNE 14^th to 26^th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS and DOMES
35 trainees from 4 countries (31 Indians, 1 Mexican, 1 Italian, 2 Egyptian)

First week: studying the stability of arches and vaults

Second week: building a cloister dome

Building a conical dome

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2010 APRIL 5^th to 17^th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
28 trainees from 7 countries (21 Indians, 2 Ghanians, 1 Portuguese, 1 Iraqi, 1 Italian, 1 Iranian, 1 British)

Casting plinth beam

Production of CSEB with the Auram Press 3000

Group photo of April’s 2010 batch

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2010 FEBRUARY 8^th to 20^th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
11 trainees from 5 countries (4 Indians, 1 German, 1 Palestine, 2 Israeli, 3 American)

Production of CSEB with the Auram Press 3000

Building a dome

Group photo of February’s 2010 batch

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2010 JANUARY 25^th to 30^th – ONE WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
26 trainees from 5 countries (21 Indians, 1 French, 2 Israeli, 1 Turkish, 1 American)

Building a pointed dome

Testing and balancing on a dome

Checking the stability study

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2010 JANUARY 18^th to 23^rd – ONE WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
19 trainees from 4 countries (15 Indians, 1 French, 1 Israel, 2 American)

Personal work on stability study, drawn by hand

Personal work on stability study with computers

Checking the stability study

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OCT 5^th to 8^th – FOUR DAYS COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
22 trainees from 3 countries (20 Indians, 1 Israeli, 1 Netherlands)

This course was conducted on request of the Council of Architecture, Kerala Chapter, as they wished to promote this technology in Kerala.

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2009 SEPTEMBER 14^th to 26^th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
39 trainees from 9 countries (28 Indians, 2 French, 2 American, 1 German, 2 Spanish, 1 Bangladeshi, 1 Nigerian, 1 Jordanian, 1 New Zealand)

First week = Personal work on stability study, drawn by hand

Second week = Building arches, vault and domes

Distributing certificates and training course materials

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2009 AUG 31^st to SEPT 12^th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
25 trainees from 8 countries (17 Indians, 2 French, 1 American, 1 Nigerian, 1 German, 1 Spanish, 1 Bangladeshi, 1 Jordanian)

Building a composite column2

Stabilised rammed earth walls

Group photo of September’s 2009 batch

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2009 AUGUST 7th to 15th – EIGHT DAYS COURSE ON PRODUCTION OF CSEB
At Kathmandu, Nepal
29 trainees from Nepal (Department of Education and Institute of Engineering)

Satprem Maïni, director of the Auroville Earth Institute, was invited to Nepal at Kathmandu in August 2009 to conduct a training course on the production of CSEB for engineers of the Department of Education and the Institute of Technology. This project was a follow up of the school built last year in 20 days at Jantanagar / Nepal, and it was done in the framework of the project by the Department of Education to build 50,000 classrooms in the next 5 years. The training course, which was conducted in the premises of the Institute of Engineering, was financed by Danida, the Danish Action Aid in collaboration with MS Nepal.

3 days of theoretical lectures

Production of CSEB with the Auram Press 3000

Group photo of Kathmandu batch

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2009 JULY 31st to AUGUST 4th – FIVE DAYS INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION OF CSEB
At Karatu, Tanzania
12 trainees from Karatu

This training for the production of blocks was the first step of a technology transfer to the NGO Bricks for Life in Tanzania. Satprem Maïni, director of the Auroville Earth Institute conducted a training course on the production of CSEB. This training course was sponsored by the project “Bricks for Life” created and financed by Mr. Alberto Navarro, a Spanish citizen, resident in USA. This training course happened in the premises of Ganako School and the first blocks produced will be used for building the library of the school that Satprem designed and which will be built in December 2008.

Introduction to soil identification

Production of CSEB with the Auram Press 3000

Initial stacking of CSEB, just after production

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2009 JUNE 29th to JULY 4th – ONE WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
28 trainees from 5 countries (19 Indians, 1 Austrian, 5 French, 2 Spanish, 1 Philippine)

Group photo of July’s 2009 batch

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2009 JUNE 15th to 27th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
27 trainees from 4 countries (24 Indians, 1 French, 1 Austrian, 1 American)

Personal work on stability study, drawn by hand	Personal work on stability study with computers	Checking the stability study
Building a pointed dome and doing round openings	Building a pointed dome	Completing the pointed dome with round openings
Building a squinche dome with openings	Building a squinche dome	Completed squinche dome with openings
Building a conical dome	Testing a conical dome	Group photo of June’s 2009 batch

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2009 FEBRUARY 9th to 21st – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
33 trainees from 7 countries (10 Indians, 3 French, 3 Dutch, 1 Spanish, 2 Germans, 12 Nepalese, 1 Portuguese, 1 Italian)

Building a T wall with earthquake resistant features

Explanations for the earthquake resistant features

Group photo of February’s 2009 batch

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2009 JANUARY 19th to 24th – ONE WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
23 trainees from 6 countries (17 Indians, 1 Austrian, 2 Israeli, 1 French, 1 Australian, 1 Ukrainian)

One and a half day of theoretical lectures

Session on soil testing with the press

Group photo of January’s 2009 batch

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2008 SEPTEMBER 1st to 13th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
23 trainees from 6 countries (15 Indians, 3 French, 1 Belgian, 1 Swiss, 1 Portuguese, 1 Ethiopian, 1 South African)

Theoretical lecture on stability notions	Personal work on stability study, drawn by hand	Personal work on stability study with computers
Equilateral arch	Testing equilateral arch by trainees	Testing equilateral arch by Satprem: breaking after dynamic thrust

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2008 JUNE 30th to JULY 5th – ONE WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
32 trainees from 5 countries (24 Indians, 2 Americans, 1 New Zealander, 3 Spanish, 2 Bangladeshis)

Session on bond pattern with the block 240

Session on stabilised rammed earth walls

Group photo of July batch

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2008 JUNE 16th to 28th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
(37 trainees: 15 Indians, 4 French, 1 New Zealander, 13 American, 1 Spanish, 2 Bangladeshis, 1 Taiwanese)

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Video clip of the AVD course – June 2008

One week theory = Two days of intensive lectures	One week theory = Four days personal work: Stability study	Four days personal work: Stability study
Four days personal work: Stability study	Stability study with the Catenary method	Stability study with the Catenary method
Second week = Building arches	Second week = Building arches	Testing arches
Segmental arch	Fernando building a groined dome	Conical dome

Pointed dome

Group photo

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2007 SEPTEMBER 17th to 29th – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
24 trainees from 7 countries (17 Indians, 1 American, 1 Israeli, 1 Spanish, 1 Nigerian, 1 Russian, 1 French and 1 Aurovilian)

One week production = Making blocks	One week production = Testing blocks	One week masonry = Exercise on bond pattern
One week masonry = Building a composite plinth	One week masonry = Building domes	One week masonry = Group photo
One week masonry = Doing composite column		One week masonry = Vladimir, artist from Russia

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2007 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
26 Trainees from 5 countries (13 Indians, 10 French, 1 Belgian, 1 American and 1 Japanese)
Trainees expressed during this training course more creativity than the other times and it had been a pleasure to guide them.

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Video clip of the AVD course – September 2007

One week theory = First, two days of intensive lectures	One week theory = Second, four days of personal work	One week practice = Building arches
One week practice = Building arches	Bucket arch completed	Building a conical vault
Testing a pointed arch	Testing a special arch	Testing a semicircular arch
Hemispherical dome with holes	Hemispherical dome with holes completed	Building a conical dome
A special hemispherical dome	A half pointed dome	Team of September course, 26 people from 5 countries

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2007 JULY – ONE WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
26 Trainees from 8 countries (18 Indians, 2 South Africans, 1 Venezuelan, 1 American, 1 German, 1 Moroccan, 1 French and 1 Australian)

Stabilised rammed earth walls

Group photo of July course 2007 on CSEB

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2007 JUNE 18th to 23rd – TRAINING COURSE ON PRODUCTION OF CSEB
At Tabo Village, Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
9 Indian trainees from various villages of the valley
Mr. T. Ayyappan, trainer and supervisor of the Auroville Earth Institute trained this team.

Production of CSEB at Tabo Village, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh

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2007 MAY 21st to 2nd June – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
At Villefontaine, Les Grands Ateliers, France for CRATerre
~ 20 Trainees from various schools and skills.
Satprem Maïni was invited by CRATerre / ENSAG, like every year to conduct a special course on building arches, vaults and domes during the event Les Grains d’Isère, at Villefontaine in France.

Course at Villefontaine, France – Building arches

Course at Villefontaine, France – Building domes

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2007 MARCH 18th to 30th – TWO-WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION OF CSEB
At Bishoftu near Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia
10 Trainees from the Ethiopian Earth Construction Technology Institute
This training for the production of blocks was the first step of a technology transfer to the Ethiopian Institute for earth construction technology. These blocks will be used for building a demonstration house which should be the starting point of a development in Ethiopia with CSEB and the technologies developed by the Auroville Earth Institute.

Block making at Bishoftu

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2007 MARCH 5th to 17th – TWO-WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
12 Trainees from 9 countries (3 Tanzanians, 2 Australians, 1 Zambian, 1 Indian, 1 American, 1 German, 1 Turkish, 1 Canadian and 1 Belgian)

Production of CSEB

Course of March 2007 on CSEB Production

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2007 FEBRUARY 5th to 17th – TWO-WEEK ON THE JOB TRAINING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A HOUSE
At Simunye near Johannesburg, South Africa
4 masons and 6 labourers from AnyWay Solution
This cost effective house was built in 12 days with these trainees. The blocks were produced in advance by AnyWay Solution with an Auram press 3000 and the trainees were guided by Satprem Maïni and Adriana Durán, who assisted Satprem very efficiently for this training.

Building a house in 12 days with trainees

House built with trainees in 12 days

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2007 JANUARY 22nd to 28th – ONE-WEEK INTENSIVE COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
28 Trainees from 14 countries (6 Indians, 5 Americans, 4 English, 3 Italians, 1 German, 1 Portuguese, 1 Spanish, 1 Australian, 1 Japanese, 1 Dutch, 1 Kazakhstani, 1 Israeli, 1 Canadian and 1 Colombian)

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2006 DECEMBER – TWO-WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
23 Trainees from 6 countries (12 Indians, 1 Bangladeshi, 1 German, 4 Cameroonians, 3 French and 2 English)

Building a groined dome	Groined dome completed
Building a cloister dome	Building a conical dome

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2006 SEPTEMBER – TWO DAYS AWARENESS PROGRAMME ON EARTH ARCHITECTURE
32 Indian trainees from S.N.D.T College Interior design Dept., Mumbai

Block production during the awareness programme

Rammed earth wall during the awareness programme

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2006 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
18 Trainees from 7 countries (10 Indians, 1 Australian, 1 South African, 1 Philippine, 1 New Zealander, 3 Americans and 1 Egyptian)

Maintenance of the press 3000

Block making

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2006 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
16 Trainees from 6 countries (10 Indians, 1 Australian, 1 South African, 1 Philippine, 2 Americans and 1 Egyptian)

Building a conical vault

Completed conical vault

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2006 AUGUST – TRAINING COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB AND AWARENESS PROGRAMME
At Mane Village, Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
17 Indian trainees from the village

Awareness programme to villagers at Mane village

Block production at Mane village

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2006 JUNE – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
25 Trainees from 7 countries (19 Indians, 2 Americans, 1 French, 1 Canadian, 1 German and 1 Israeli)

Stability study of vaults	Study with catenary method	Building a particular vault
Special vault completed	Pointed arch	Building arches

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2006 JANUARY – ONE WEEK COURSE ON FERROCEMENT
10 Trainees from Sri Lanka

Casting a ferrocement channel

Casting a ferrocement door

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2005 JULY – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB FOR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE
22 Trainees from 2 countries (20 Indians and 2 Sri Lankan)

Building a plinth beam

Casting a plinth beam

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2005 JUNE – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
34 Trainees from 6 countries (27 Indians, 2 French, 2 Gambian, 1 Korean, 1 Peruvian, and 1 Irish)

Playing on a corbelled arch

Playing on a segmental arch

Corbelled catenary arch

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2004 SEPTEMBER– TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
15 Trainees from 5 countries (10 Indians, 2 Germans, 1 Israeli, 1 Korean and 1 Australian)

Testing a pointed arch

Testing a segmental dome

Testing a catenary arch

Playing with a catenary arch

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2004 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON PRODUCTION AND USE OF CSEB
6 Trainees from 5 countries (2 Indians, 1 German, 1 Israeli, 1 French and 1 Korean)

Building a composite column

Ramming a stabilised rammed earth foundation

Building a basement with CSEB

Building a composite column

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2003 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
39 Trainees from 4 countries (35 Indians, 1 Ghanaian, 1 German, and 2 Italians)

Playing with a segmental arch

Building a conical vault on site

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2002 SEPTEMBER – TWO WEEK COURSE ON ARCHES, VAULTS AND DOMES
31 Trainees from 2 countries (30 Indians and 1 Spanish)

Testing a segmental arch

Building a pointed octagonal dome on site

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Contact: Mr. Satprem Maïni,
Architect - Director Auroville Earth Institute
BASIN Network - Partner for South Asia
UNESCO Chair Earth Architecture - Representative for Asia

Auroville Earth Institute,
Auroshilpam, Auroville 605 101 - T.N. India
Tel.: +91 (0) 413 - 262 3064 / 262 3330 Fax: +91 (0) 413 - 262 2886
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