Dome structure to serve as schoolbuilding (BusinessWorld)

Published in the July 14, 2005 issue of BusinessWorld

Property & Infrastructure

BY JENNEE GRACE U. RUBRICO, Senior Reporter

Dome structure to serve as schoolbuilding

In a few days, dome-like structures will rise in Barangay Mati, Surigao City.
Constructed from rice sacks filled with soil and piled on top of each other to form a dome and fastened with barbed wires and supported by bagasse, will become schoolbuildings for 150 grade school students.
The project proponents said these buildings will be earthquake-proof, fireproof, and waterproof. Room temperature will be 25% cooler than outside temperature and will be able to support an electrical system.
The buildings are being built under the supervision of My Shelter Foundation executive director Illac Diaz in collaboration with nongovernmental organization Abakada and Surigao Rep. Robert Barbers.
The project is 80% complete and will be finished in 10 more days.
Mr. Diaz told BusinessWorld yesterday that the Surigao project is "groundbreaking" as it would be a cheaper and better way of constructing schoolbuildings.
"No one has tried to crack how to build classrooms which are better, cheaper, and safer," he said, adding that the classrooms will have an aggregate floor area of 110 square meters.
Mr. Diaz noted that the classrooms cost P150,000 each, much cheaper than the P350,000 for conventional classrooms built by the Department of Public Works and Highways and approved by the Department of Education.
And since the classrooms can be built in 25 days, the classroom shortage of schools can be addressed at a faster pace, he added.
Mr. Diaz said the classrooms "can withstand up to 27,000 pounds of cumulative pressure," adding that international agencies, including the United Nations Development Program, have certified as to the structural soundness of the scheme.
Mr. Diaz noted that because the structures use soil as basic material, it would be easy to source, unlike other projects which will have to ship in materials.

He added that since the construction of the structures are being done by the resident, the cost would be
The Surigao project is the third of such development for My Shelter Foundation. It earlier built schoolbuildings in Escalante City, Negros Occidental. Mr. Diaz said that the foundation also has a project in the typhoon-stricken Infanta, Quezon.
He said the technology used in building the earthen structures would become more and more applicable given expectations that more typhoons will be hitting the country. This, coupled with the government’s lack of funds, would make rebuilding villages and communities, easier, he added.
The technology, Mr. Diaz said, came from Iranian architect Nader Khalili, and the foundation will try to improve on it by building machines that could make the filling of the rice sacks faster.
"Right now, everything is being done by hand," he said. He also said the foundation is making the technology available to others through tie-ups with nongovernmental organizations.