這份論文的主要目的，是研究塞內甘比亞和馬利一帶的當地建材在面臨新建材使用之下的式微。而驅使我研究的動機，是對塞內甘比亞地區所使用的建材抱持高度興趣。發想始於現今在塞內甘比亞地區，並沒有如埃及或衣索比亞一帶的古老建物可矗立於當地並歷經世紀之久。在研究過程中，發現原因歸咎於古時候該地所使用建材的問題。舉例來說，茅草搭建的屋頂歷經世代後，逐漸毀損；磚牆也因為接觸水分或濕氣而變得脆弱。 研究中針對塞內甘比亞地區所使用之新舊建材，就過去及現代對建材使用方式之不同，探討其優缺，接著系統性合併優勢並省去劣勢部份，進而促使一種新方法/系統——也就是此次研究之重點的誕生。此項提供塞內甘比亞地區建造施工之新方法/系統即是夯土混凝土(R.E.C)。 現今對於環境友善之建材的使用有高度需求，而這些當地建材價格便宜且數量充足。與目前塞內甘比亞地區所使用之現今建材相比，此種當地材料的使用已被證明可降低成本。長遠來看，這種高效能建材的使用將大幅降低成本花費，因此對社會上相對貧困的階層來說蓋房子就容易許多。以下是此次研究之總結： 1. 永續性：該系統使用之建材供應來源穩定並有保障，且從大自然中提取並不會對環境造成問題。 2. 經濟性：夯土混凝土(R.E.C)所使用之本地建材材料非常便宜，降低建築成本。 3. 可重複使用：夯土混凝土(R.E.C)所使用之本地建材材料可以被回收且重複使用。 The purpose of this study is to develop indigenous local materials that were being used as building materials in the Senegambia and Mali region but now facing out due to the use of preferred modern materials. Interest in the indigenous materials used for building construction in Senegambia is the driving force behind this study. This whole thing started when I asked myself why many old buildings that date for centuries are absent in the Senegambia region unlike other places like Egypt and Ethiopia for example. The search for this answer lead into the discovery of some problems of the building materials used in the olden days of this region. The thatch for instance used in roofing decays with time while the adobe walls are weakened when comes in contact with moisture/water. A study of the processes involved in both the modern and old methods of building construction in Senegambia concerning the materials used on both eras is done to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of both methods. This would then be followed by systematically merging the strengths of both methods and eliminating their weaknesses, hence a new method would emerge and that would be the proposed method/system of this study. This new system of building construction for Senegambia is known as Rammed Earth Concrete (R.E.C). It is eminent that building materials that are friendly and harmless to the environment are highly needed in this modern era. Moreover, these indigenous building materials are cheaply and freely available in abundance. Their use in today’s construction system would prove to be a cost cutting mechanism when compared with the materials being used currently for building construction purposes in Senegambia. Therefore, their efficient use in today’s modern time would go a long way in cutting down building construction costs, thereby making it easier for poor members of the society to easily build houses for themselves. Below is a summary of the findings of this study. 1. Sustainability Continuous supply of the building construction materials for the proposed system is guaranteed since they’re freely abundant and their extraction from nature does not cause problems to the environment. Economic 2. The indigenous materials to be used for the R.E.C system are very cheap and would keep construction costs low. 3. Reusability The building construction materials to be used for the R.E.C system can be recycled and reused over and over.
