A Little Tourism

In spite of the crazy schedule at CSR I'm still managing to squeeze in a bit of tourism on my one day a week of free time. Sunday before last we went to Pondicherry to look around a bit. Pondicherry is a former French colony. I didn't actually get to see much beyond the market (Amazing textiles / Saris in the nicer shops) and this: An old colonial era church. Amazing masonry. As I was with some of the other students from the Arches Vaults and Domes class. No-one could resist talking about what an engineering accomplishment the church is. The church was realized in brick and stone with pure compression architecture. No steel or concrete. (It didn't exist when the church was built!) Very impressive.



This week we are studying the actual manufacture of earth blocks. As part of the process, we will be learning how to analyze soil and tweak/stabilize it as required. Part of the class was a fantastic slide show on earth archetecture around the world. I'd seen some of the images before but it was much better with Satprem narrating. He has an amazing about of knowledge in the area of earth architecture. I wish I could share some of the images. I'm going to find out if he's got a CD I can take home with me.

I'm starting to accumulate photos faster than I can post them. Next post I should have to good stuff for ya though. Stay Tuned!