In September 2014 and January 2015, Biotecture Planet Earth, in collaboration with Earthship Biotecture, did two construction phases in Malawi to build an Earthship Community Center for a remote village in rural Malawi.
The Earthship Community Center is an 8 room building made out of tires, cans and bottles that is resistant to natural disasters, catches and stores rainwater, and provides the community with much needed shelter and space for a bank, a womens’ center, a library, toilets and showers.
After two hits, there was an important amount of technology and knowledge transfer between the crew, volunteers, and 35 local workers who worked on the building and will complete the construction between May and December 2015.
Challenges included the remoteness of the area and the extreme weather conditions – Malawi was facing its worst rainy season in thirty years, creating devastation in the Southern part of the country and heavy rainfall in South-West Mzimba, the area where the project took place.
Biotecture Planet Earth would like to thank:
> The volunteers who joined us on both hits of this life-changing project.
> The donors that made it possible for this project to happen. Thank you for supporting this project from far away.
> Biotecture Planet Earth and Earthship Biotecture crew for their support and sacrifices to see this project go ahead.
> The near 150 local volunteers who helped put this building together and who studied and learned with us.
> Empower, the local organization that helped organize this project from the beginning.
The Community Center that was built was completely self-sufficient and incorporated all Earthship principles: it used thermal mass to keep a cool temperature, it collected its own power from the sun, it treated its own sewage on site, it produced a significant amount of food and most importantly, provided the community with a rain water catchment system which filters and provides drinking water.
The building was completely handed over to the local community and the non-profit organization Empower Projects. As per October 2024, this building is unfortunately not in use anymore.
