5 ms·

Like with many things, it's a mixed bag. It's easy to say "well, the damage is done and all we can do now is take what we've got and look to the future", but if

Like with many things, it's a mixed bag. It's easy to say "well, the damage is done and all we can do now is take what we've got and look to the future", but if you look closer you can see that the damage is still ongoing and the need for decolonisation is still high. Take architecture, for example. Traditionally pretty much every ethnic group I know of built with mud brick and thatch. During the colonial era - and afterwards, till today really - such building techniques were derided as backwards savagery. Of course the European way of using concrete was "better" and "modern", even though it's a terrible building material for a hot, humid climate. A mud house can keep quite cool in 35°C plus weather with just vents. A concrete house on the other hand traps so much heat at even lower temperatures that we end up needing fans and air conditioners to be comfortable indoors, which of course drives up individuals' carbon footprints and electricity bills. The ghost of colonialism still lingers decades later in a whole lot of little things like that. So yes, we may be headed towards a net positive future but in my opinion the way to get there requires even further divesting from the colonial era and its ways of thinking (re: the architecture example, there are new schools of builders who explicitly aim to incorporate precolonial building wisdom in their work).

WalterBright 6y ago
You've piqued my curiosity. Technically, why does a mud house keep the interior cooler? Is it the material, or the design?
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Mud is porous (as long as you don't glaze it) and it has a pretty good R value. So it's the material more than the design, though anything approximating a sphere will do better than something with straight walls due to the maximum enclosed space within the minimum size skin. That also helps when you want to heat it. (Least heat transfer area to the outside.)
  - WalterBright 6y ago
    Why would being porous help, unless the mud is damp and there's some evaporative cooling going on? I know in the American southwest adobe construction is popular, but that's about sheer thermal mass moderating the effects of the heat. Small windows also help.
    - jbotz 6y ago
      There always is some evaporative cooling going on. At night the cooling causes condensation, and the dry clay absorbs this moisture, then during the day sun and wind dry it out again causing evaporative cooling. How big this effect is varies in different climates, but from personal experience (I've helped build some adobe houses, and have friends who live in them) I can say that it's not negligible. Another benefit is that in humid climates (like mine) the interior of an adobe house tends to be significantly less damp; enough so that we can see the difference with the salt in the salt shaker... around here in brick/cement houses it always clumps very quickly, in adobe homes it remains lose and powdery (salt starts to clump when humidity is above 75%).
    - jacquesm 6y ago
      Yes, it is evaporative cooling. That's why I mentioned the pores. The mud wets and then later the moisture evaporates drawing energy from the surrounding clay. Phase change can get you below zero easily, it certainly works as a poor man's AC. It is incredible how much energy phase change requires compared to just raising the temperature of the medium.
- twalla 6y ago
  I believe the thermal mass for mud and adobe is higher than cinder block or stick frame buildings so the structure gets cooled in the night and remains cool throughout the day with the added benefit of providing some additional warmth in the night.
- JulianMorrison 6y ago
  Mud houses in traditional cob and adobe designs tend to be built thick, partly in order to be sturdy, but also because the sheer mass of the walls acts like a heat capacitor that can be used to either absorb cool night temperatures and smooth the temperature extremes, or warmed with a constant low level fire for colder climes.
- projektfu 6y ago
  Ground coupling is another factor. I learned a lot visiting the Eco-Village Training Center in Tennessee in 101F (39C) heat. The cob house was as comfortable as the air-conditioned cabin.
JulianMorrison 6y ago
People in America and Britain are working with mud in quite sophisticated ways, only it's called "cob" and "adobe" and "rammed earth" and isn't stigmatised as "mud huts".
- danans 6y ago
  You're talking about the cutting edge of experimental building techniques, not the common building techniques used in the US and UK.
  - SenoraRaton 6y ago
    Hahahaha, centuries old techniques are now "cutting edge".
    - danans 6y ago
      Yes, they are. You'll find that rammed earth [1] and cob buildings are used only at the cutting edge of expensive high design ecological buildings. Industrial building materials nearly wiped traditional methods of home building off the face of the developed world. We are in many ways rediscovering older methods and techniques of building, especially in materials. Also Consider SuperAdobe [2], which uses nothing but dirt onsite and plastic bags. 1. https://www.dwell.com/article/modern-rammed-earth-homes-723d2c94 https://www.dwell.com/article/modern-rammed-earth-homes-723d... 2. https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe
      - JulianMorrison 6y ago
        I'd argue that cob in particular spans across the range from build-it-yourself Womble homes to fancy schmancy eco-bourgeois. And that it's mainly access to land and planning permission that's blocking the former (or causing them to be bulldozed by busybodies). It genuinely is one of the rare few building materials that can be prepared from materials on site and put up by amateurs.
  - JulianMorrison 6y ago
pasabagi 6y ago
I grew up in a house built out of 'wattle and daub', with a thatch roof. I wouldn't have called it a mud hut, but it was definitely a mud cottage. That is also the typical house of rural people in England in the colonial era. Seems to me that the typical comparison between european architecture and 'mud huts' is based on a lack of knowledge about european building processes.
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  Consider that maybe I am well aware of what, for example, the company Adobe's name is referring to. So it seems to me that your comment is based on a dire lack of knowledge about how colonialism works. The British straight-up imposed town planning laws that banned using mud to build new houses so that they could build the concrete towns and cities they envisioned - I know precisely what I am talking about.
  - pasabagi 6y ago
    I'd genuinely like to see a reference. I don't know of any concrete-heavy building styles before the development of reinforced concrete in the late 19th century. It would have also been pretty cutting edge until maybe halfway through the 20th century.
    - filleduchaos 6y ago
      Out of curiosity, when exactly do you think the colonial era I am talking about was? The Middle Ages? > It would have also been pretty cutting edge until maybe halfway through the 20th century. Nah, there have been houses built using concrete blocks since fairly early in the 19th. Using cement in house construction was hardly cutting edge in the 1920s - 1930s.
      - pasabagi 6y ago
        >concrete blocks since fairly early in the 19th That's the thing. I don't think that's the case. I think they are a 1900's-earliest, 1930's mainstream kind of thing. So by the time they became mainstream, the UK was already beginning the second world war, which would mark the end of the time when they were really rich or powerful enough to be an imperial state.
thu2111 6y ago
I believe there may be reasons for use of concrete in Africa that aren't related to colonialism.
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  Yes I agree, it is obviously complete coincidence that the British imposed town planning laws that banned the use of the building materials that actually worked for our climate.
  - thu2111 6y ago
    Are you being serious? How exactly do you build modern roads, skyscrapers, dams or really anything large scale and industrial out of mud bricks?
    - filleduchaos 6y ago
      Are you being serious? How exactly do you read a comment mentioning fans, air conditioners, staying comfortable indoors, and individuals' electric bills and be so one-track-minded as to think I was talking about roads and not, perhaps, residential buildings?

WalterBright 6y ago

You've piqued my curiosity. Technically, why does a mud house keep the interior cooler? Is it the material, or the design?

jacquesm 6y ago
Mud is porous (as long as you don't glaze it) and it has a pretty good R value. So it's the material more than the design, though anything approximating a sphere will do better than something with straight walls due to the maximum enclosed space within the minimum size skin. That also helps when you want to heat it. (Least heat transfer area to the outside.)
- WalterBright 6y ago
  Why would being porous help, unless the mud is damp and there's some evaporative cooling going on? I know in the American southwest adobe construction is popular, but that's about sheer thermal mass moderating the effects of the heat. Small windows also help.
  - jbotz 6y ago
    There always is some evaporative cooling going on. At night the cooling causes condensation, and the dry clay absorbs this moisture, then during the day sun and wind dry it out again causing evaporative cooling. How big this effect is varies in different climates, but from personal experience (I've helped build some adobe houses, and have friends who live in them) I can say that it's not negligible. Another benefit is that in humid climates (like mine) the interior of an adobe house tends to be significantly less damp; enough so that we can see the difference with the salt in the salt shaker... around here in brick/cement houses it always clumps very quickly, in adobe homes it remains lose and powdery (salt starts to clump when humidity is above 75%).
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    Yes, it is evaporative cooling. That's why I mentioned the pores. The mud wets and then later the moisture evaporates drawing energy from the surrounding clay. Phase change can get you below zero easily, it certainly works as a poor man's AC. It is incredible how much energy phase change requires compared to just raising the temperature of the medium.
twalla 6y ago
I believe the thermal mass for mud and adobe is higher than cinder block or stick frame buildings so the structure gets cooled in the night and remains cool throughout the day with the added benefit of providing some additional warmth in the night.
JulianMorrison 6y ago
Mud houses in traditional cob and adobe designs tend to be built thick, partly in order to be sturdy, but also because the sheer mass of the walls acts like a heat capacitor that can be used to either absorb cool night temperatures and smooth the temperature extremes, or warmed with a constant low level fire for colder climes.
projektfu 6y ago
Ground coupling is another factor. I learned a lot visiting the Eco-Village Training Center in Tennessee in 101F (39C) heat. The cob house was as comfortable as the air-conditioned cabin.

JulianMorrison 6y ago

People in America and Britain are working with mud in quite sophisticated ways, only it's called "cob" and "adobe" and "rammed earth" and isn't stigmatised as "mud huts".

danans 6y ago
You're talking about the cutting edge of experimental building techniques, not the common building techniques used in the US and UK.
- SenoraRaton 6y ago
  Hahahaha, centuries old techniques are now "cutting edge".
  - danans 6y ago
    Yes, they are. You'll find that rammed earth [1] and cob buildings are used only at the cutting edge of expensive high design ecological buildings. Industrial building materials nearly wiped traditional methods of home building off the face of the developed world. We are in many ways rediscovering older methods and techniques of building, especially in materials. Also Consider SuperAdobe [2], which uses nothing but dirt onsite and plastic bags. 1. https://www.dwell.com/article/modern-rammed-earth-homes-723d2c94 https://www.dwell.com/article/modern-rammed-earth-homes-723d... 2. https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe https://www.calearth.org/intro-superadobe
    - JulianMorrison 6y ago
      I'd argue that cob in particular spans across the range from build-it-yourself Womble homes to fancy schmancy eco-bourgeois. And that it's mainly access to land and planning permission that's blocking the former (or causing them to be bulldozed by busybodies). It genuinely is one of the rare few building materials that can be prepared from materials on site and put up by amateurs.
- JulianMorrison 6y ago

pasabagi 6y ago

I grew up in a house built out of 'wattle and daub', with a thatch roof. I wouldn't have called it a mud hut, but it was definitely a mud cottage. That is also the typical house of rural people in England in the colonial era. Seems to me that the typical comparison between european architecture and 'mud huts' is based on a lack of knowledge about european building processes.

filleduchaos 6y ago
Consider that maybe I am well aware of what, for example, the company Adobe's name is referring to. So it seems to me that your comment is based on a dire lack of knowledge about how colonialism works. The British straight-up imposed town planning laws that banned using mud to build new houses so that they could build the concrete towns and cities they envisioned - I know precisely what I am talking about.
- pasabagi 6y ago
  I'd genuinely like to see a reference. I don't know of any concrete-heavy building styles before the development of reinforced concrete in the late 19th century. It would have also been pretty cutting edge until maybe halfway through the 20th century.
  - filleduchaos 6y ago
    Out of curiosity, when exactly do you think the colonial era I am talking about was? The Middle Ages? > It would have also been pretty cutting edge until maybe halfway through the 20th century. Nah, there have been houses built using concrete blocks since fairly early in the 19th. Using cement in house construction was hardly cutting edge in the 1920s - 1930s.
    - pasabagi 6y ago
      >concrete blocks since fairly early in the 19th That's the thing. I don't think that's the case. I think they are a 1900's-earliest, 1930's mainstream kind of thing. So by the time they became mainstream, the UK was already beginning the second world war, which would mark the end of the time when they were really rich or powerful enough to be an imperial state.

thu2111 6y ago

I believe there may be reasons for use of concrete in Africa that aren't related to colonialism.

filleduchaos 6y ago
Yes I agree, it is obviously complete coincidence that the British imposed town planning laws that banned the use of the building materials that actually worked for our climate.
- thu2111 6y ago
  Are you being serious? How exactly do you build modern roads, skyscrapers, dams or really anything large scale and industrial out of mud bricks?
  - filleduchaos 6y ago
    Are you being serious? How exactly do you read a comment mentioning fans, air conditioners, staying comfortable indoors, and individuals' electric bills and be so one-track-minded as to think I was talking about roads and not, perhaps, residential buildings?