Buayan - Part 2

Articles Tagged with: Buayan

13 October, 2014

The Bio-Cultural Heritage building in Kg Buayan gets a toilet

In August we were joined again by the Dissolva group from Japan. They had helped at the beginning of construction of the Bio-Cultural Heritage building, and returned this year to help with some additions. Nurfilzah Jamjam writes about their stay in Kg Buayan.

The group is called Dissolva. It is an abbreviation of Diverse and Sustainable Solution-Seeking Voluntary Action. Coming far away from Japan, this group share their love and passion for sustainable living, while also helping out a good cause- voluntary in Buayan. Remember the Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre? Yes, that one.

While in Buayan, they helped building a toilet, plastering a bio-crete wall and weaving a bamboo window/wall panel. Having no experience in building work, these kind of tasks are not as easy as we (architecture background people) might think it is. Collecting gravel and sand from the river, carrying it across the hanging bridge, digging a 1.7 metre deep hole for septic tank, stripping bamboo and cleaning them for weaving are just a few of the jobs they sweated over.

But overall it is a great fun! The group also got experience of collecting veggies, going fishing and preparing dinner and lunch, Dusun style- yeah, everyday!

It is astounding (at least for me) to see how people coming from different region and different cultures share and spend their time learning about each other. Of course there’s an awkward moment, a confused look and the ‘aaaa’ and ‘what’ situation, but it’s funny in a beautiful way. You know by then that languages aren’t really a barrier to communication.

So that how me and the group spent our ten days in Buayan. It was a vacation where we learnt, we built and tried to make a difference to create a sustainable world. Yeah, i know. It’s baby steps!

Oh, and their names are Futa, Kitaro, Chieko, Mariko, Yu, Tsukuru, Hiro, Saya, Cathy, Marina, Rieka, Kurumi, Demu, Kataken, Ko, Fuyuko, Ben and their best lecturer Dr. Shinobu Majima. Cheers.

14 April, 2014

Ulu Papar Sustainable Livelihoods Programme

Cover photo by Chai Ming Yang
Download this Sustainable Livelihoods Concept Paper

Ulu Papar is a community of several villages not far from Kota Kinabalu, the State Capital of Sabah. In one of the villages, Kampung Buayan, Arkitrek have been building the Ulu Papar Bio-cultural Heritage Centre. Ulu Papar was until recently only accessible by foot and this isolation has preserved a traditional culture based on shifting rice cultivation. As the influence of urbanisation and industrial agriculture begin to penetrate the region, the question is: how will the locals adapt their livelihoods in a way that upholds their identity and culture?

Community Research What (what we’ve achieved so far)

A Global Diversity Foundation (GDF) programme of participatory research and interactive training has allowed the Ulu Papar community to document and evaluate their indigenous knowlege and cultural heritage. This self awareness and the skills learned are intended to support sustainable livelihoods based on traditional knowledge. Now, at the conclusion of this programme, there is a need to switch from direct training to indirect support and partnerships that will allow the community to develop these livelihoods under their own initiative.

Bio-cultural Heritage Centre (Kick-starting Sustainable Livelihoods)

The first stage in the Sustainable Livelihoods process has been kick-started by the design and construction of a Bio-cultural Heritage Centre, which was designed, project managed and funded by Arkitrek, with additional funding raised by GDF.

Of MYR60,000 spent on construction to date, approximately MYR28,000 went directly to community members for transport and construction services, with an additional MYR17,000 in direct income from homestay services provided for international volunteers working on the project. During the construction process Arkitrek trained community members to adapt their traditional skills and materials to contemporary building design. These skills provide opportunity for sustainable future livelihoods.

To date, Arkitrek has also contributed pro-bono design and construction management services to the value of MYR40,000 to the Bio-Cultural Centre project.

How Can Arkitrek Continue to Help?

First, we need to raise funds to complete the Bio-cultural Centre and recruit volunteers to work alongside local craftsmen to get the job done. Remember that this is not just a building, but also a training programme in sustainable building techniques and a source of income for local craftsmen and homestays.

Secondly, we can provide additional pro-bono design services through our Arkitrek Camp design/build programme. These programmes help to train the next generation of socially responsible designers. We are looking for funds so that we can provide scholarships to outstanding Malaysian students.

Thirdly, we have developed a masterclass programme for Ulu Papar craftsmen to pass on their traditional skills and contemporary green-building expertise to eco-warriors, do-it-youself enthusiasts, scholars and designers.

All of these activities provide an opportunity to trek through the beautiful Crocker Range National Park and to experience the natural wonders of Ulu Papar, guided by the people who know it best: the locals.

Legacy (Savvy locals proud of their heritage)

The hard skills and knowledge gained from GDF and Arkitrek programmes have equipped the Ulu Papar community to deliver a range of goods and services, whose focus on natural and cultural heritage is increasingly in demand by urban society.
To get involved in our Sustainable Livelihoods Programme for Ulu Papar, please contact us.
Download this Sustainable Livelihoods Concept Paper

6 January, 2014

Ulu Papar Earthbag Masterclass

Applications for this masterclass are now closed

This masterclass will teach you how to work with natural building materials: earth and bamboo to create solid sculptural walls and beautiful light-filled breezy buildings. You will have the option to take a bamboo weaving home with you. The masterclass will take place in Kampung Buayan: in the Ulu Papar region of Sabah in the heart of the Crocker Range national park.

This is a fantastic opportunity for anybody interested in sustainable materials, design and the Dusun culture.

Dates

22nd February – 1st March 2014

Cost

The cost of MYR1,200 includes masterclass, transfers and full-board accommodation in Kg. Buayan. All profits go to construction of the Bio-cultural Heritage Centre. Not included are travel to Kota Kinabalu, accommodation in Kota Kinabalu and insurance.

Introduction

Earthbags create beautiful sculptural walls by ramming natural earth into gunny-sacks. Learn how the system works by building earthbag walls for a new Bio-cultural heritage centre, currently under construction in Kg. Buayan.

Earth building can be hard work, so we are mixing this masterclass up with some less strenuous bamboo weaving. Arkitrek has been producing beautiful and functional woven building panels since 2010. Learning from rural artisans, you will select, harvest and process bamboo and other forest products into patterned woven panels.

Background to the programme

The last 10 years has been a time of great change for the Ulu Papar, with restrictions on traditional use of the forest and recent proposals for the Kaiduan Dam, which would flood the homes of everyone in the valley. The Bio-cultural Centre will act as a space for community research into areas of cultural and environmental importance to the peoples of Ulu Papar, strengthening their culture and livelihoods.

9 December, 2013

Buayan Work Week

Text and photos by Thomas Henderson-Schwartz

Tom, who has been living in Kg. Buayan for the last 7 months, reports on the successful ‘Buayan Work Week.’ 6 young volunteers from across Malaysia made a huge impact on the progress of the community building there.

The last month has been an exciting time for the Buayan project with significant progress on the construction. The past week, to further speed up the process, I had the pleasure of hosting 6 volunteers from around Malaysia; Vivian; Li Ie; Gordon Goh; Nur Ajwad; Julia Qistina and Ming Yang; who were interested all in gaining some experience.

We let the kampung men continue with the roof whilst we concentrated on the walls. We are testing a new type of Biocrete, using rice husk and lime as an infill material. The first job was to make the stud walls, using steel C-sections and fibre-cement board. We then mixed the lime and rice husk (in a ratio of 1 part lime to 4 parts rice husk) to infill into the stud walls. The resulting mixture has the appearance of soggy cereal. It compacted very nicely into the stud walls and thankfully we had no leaks. The next day I came back to the initial section that we had poured to see if it worked. The aim of the rice-crete infill is to act as a dehumidifier, much like an air conditioning system. To my great pleasure lying against the wall you could feel a significant drop in temperature.

We also continued to treat the bamboo for the floor, which has now been laid almost in it’s entirety. The work week team also made formwork for the fire place and poured the concrete. Plastering on the outdoor amphitheatre was another task that everyone got involved with. The local guys have almost finished the roof meaning that we now have a watertight building with floors, walls and roof – quite a great improvement.

But all work and no play makes Buayan a dull place so we took a lunchtime to learn how to fish with the local boys. We weren’t particularly successful but everyone enjoyed the swim. We also had a very enjoyable evening eating a freshly hunted wild boar (for the non-muslims). I have been keen to go hunting with the local guys and have finally convinced them to take me so I may have a little story about that in the coming weeks.

I have also now been joined by Nadhira on a permanent basis who will see the building through to completion which we expect to be around the end of January. A great thank you to the whole work week team who were incredibly enthusiastic and good humoured throughout their stay. The next blog will hopefully be of the finished building. Until then, Merry Christmas.

“[We] not only learn about architecture, we also built relationships with one another.”

– Vivian Yap, Kuala Lumpur. A-Levels student in Methodist College Kuala Lumpur

“The best moment is when we worked together to shovel and mix the ‘biocrete’. I had never heard of biocrete before and it is interesting to see that a mixture of lime, rice husk and water can be used to substitute the normal concrete [infill] we use.”

– Lau Li Ie, Kuala Lumpur. IB student in Cempaka International Ladies College

“[To] be open minded; there are many solutions to a problem, [to] be innovative and creative, and design in respect to local culture and tradition”

– Gordon Goh, Sabah. Landscape Architecture student in University of Tasmania, Australia (in reference to his experience and lessons learnt after being back-to-basics)

“I’m really proud with my accomplishments throughout this program because most of the activities were new for me”

– Nur Ajwad, Kuala Lumpur. IB student in Cempaka International Ladies College.

“YES, YES, YES! I think everyone will definitely enjoy this program even if it is not related to your career/studies”

– Julia Qistina, Kuala Lumpur. IB student in Cempaka International Ladies College.

“Yes, I love it. I WILL BE BACK”

– Chai Ming Yang, Johor. Architecture graduate of Taylor’s University.

23 September, 2013

Buayan Blog

by Thomas Henderson-schwartz
Kampung Buayan Bio-Cultural Heritage Centre

The Brief

The Bio-cultural Centre will serve as a place for Buayan and surrounding communities to gather, perform, practice, learn and share their local culture with each other and with visitors. Our team of design students from Edinburgh, UK are designing and building to benefit the Ulu Papar community and create an icon to represent their accumulation of bio-cultural research.

The Team

Lewis Kelly (previous Arkitrek Intern) and I contacted Arkitrek to set up a team of Edinburgh students for a Design and Build. The project offered in Kampung Buayan seemed like an exciting challenge. After a minimal amount of advertising we had over 40 applications from a variety of students from different academic fields. A series of interviews allowed us to narrow down to a final team of 15 people including architecture, engineering and fashion students. Meet them here:

The Fund-raising and Research

Throughout the university semester (alongside our degrees) we managed to raise a total of £6800 towards the cost of building through a variety of events. These included hosting ceilidh’s (Scottish dances), an architectural quiz, a blind date event and sponsored events such as swims, bike rides and half marathons. Most lucrative was selling cheese toasties outside clubs late at night.

We also researched local construction techniques, having a workshop with bamboo expert – bamboo Jack – who taught us how to join bamboo. Another experiment included building an earthbag wall in Marie’s garden, which withstood her dad’s tractor crashing into it!

The Trek

Kampung Buayan is located in the heart of the Crocker Range at the centre of the historic Salt Trail. This was to be the start of our trip, trekking through the jungle, braving raging rivers and hungry leeches.

The Design

We started the design by a series of group workshops. The highly enjoyable “What If” exercise allowed us to imagine the great extremes of what we could come up with. “What If” the building: was made of rice, had see-through sewage pipe, could only be accessed by rope swing etc.. A meeting with community members gave us a great insight into the expectations. We came up with about 4 completely different designs initially which were whittled down to the final design. We then presented this to the villagers after church, nervously hoping that they would like what we had come up with. Thankfully they loved the design and we were given clearance to start construction.

The Construction

The inaccessibility of Kampung Buayan means that the cost of transporting materials in was well beyond our budget. Therefore we had to collect as much as possible from site and surrounding area. A monstrous initial task was collecting aggregate by hand from the river! The timber required was milled by chainsaw by the local men of the village. At the end of our 6 weeks we had designed and built the entirety of the super-structure alongside some fun details, including the bamboo peep wall, earthbag formed concrete amphitheatre and a floating bamboo staircase.

I’m going back into Kampung Buayan this week and will hopefully finish off the construction as soon as possible. Updates to follow….

Further reading on the Global Diversity Foundation site

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