Bavra Village School: Domed vault made from layers of cone-tile stacked to form arches, and laid together to form a spherical vault

1962

Construction System, Vaulted Roof & Ceiling

Fabrication of roof truncated cylindrical tiles and development of the vaulted roof ribs for the construction of the school roof. The guna-type roof ribs are made by cone-shaped tiles, each one about a foot long and 4" to 5" in diameter with a slight taper, fabricated by the village potter. These tiles, set into each other, nose to tail, and a long line of them, form a curve. These curves form the arched ribs, out of which the domes were made, and then plastered on the outer surface. The tiles in the lowest arch were filled with mud, to give it compressive strength.

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, Village bricklayers

Content of

Project

Village School in Bavra 1962

Bavra, near Mehmedabad, Gujarat, India

Educational, Realized , Construction completed in 1962

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander with Janet Johnson

Contractor:

Christoper Alexander and the villagers with the help of two bricklayers

Sponsor:

Government of Gujarat, Village Development Planning

Project stages:

No drawings were produced Users involved in the construction Innovative construction methods

Four- room school for the village, made by four arched walls and a ribbed vaulted roof, and built by Christopher Alexander and the villagers, at the minimum available budget of less than $1000.

Contents

Photographs

Bavra Village School - Domed vault made from layers of cone-tile stacked to form arches, and laid together to form a spherical vault: Photographs 01/01/1962

Construction Process

Photographer:

Christopher Alexander/C.E.S., Bavra, State of Gujarat, India

Source:

Digital, Print

Characteristics:

7 7/8"x7 7/8", B&W

Three images depicting the school roof under construction: 1. Brick arches are completed and dome formwork in process; 2. Dome formwork being placed; and 3. Dome ribs being formed by placing the guna tiles. They were exhibited at the Locus Manifesto-exposition ...

References

Scientific Research

Innovative Construction Systems, Techniques and Materials

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Construction Innovation

One of the main topics of research, included in every building project, was to identify, early on in the design process, the material and techniques of construction. This would re-establish building as an art, and allow rapid shaping and adaptation, ...

Books

The Nature of Order - An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe. Book Three - A Vision of a Living World 2005

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Publisher:

The Center for Environmental Structure Publishing, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

No of pages:

697 pp

“A Vision of a Living World”, the third volume of “The Nature of Order” series, presents, for the first time, a full spectrum of Alexander’s and CES built and unbuilt works. The book describes hundreds of buildings, plans, neighborhoods, drawings, ...

Book Chapters

Chapter 16. Continuous Invention of New Materials and Techniques, 4 / An Innovation for Village Construction - Stacked Tile Vaults

Publication,

Book title:

The Nature of Order – An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe.
Book Three – A Vision of a Living World

Pages:

526-527

Articles

Sketches of a New Architecture 01/01/1984

Publication, Book Contribution

Authors:

Christopher Alexander

Published in:

Architecture in an Age of Skepticism: A Practitioners' Anthology, pp. 8-27

Editor:

Denys Lasdun

Publisher:

Heinemann, London, U.K.

Visual & Audio Materials

Locus Manifesto-exposition: CES presented the construction innovation on the use of cone-tiles for building a domed vault, as applied in the village school in Bavra, India. 30/05/2014

Public Event, Visual, Exhibition Board

Created by:

Lily Alexander, Artemis Anninou, Maggie Moore, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Three boards in Science Cabinet #1, illustrating the basic construction steps for the making of the domed vault, made from layers of cone-tile stacked to form arches, by the villagers.