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Wasserstellen: von Regenwasser gespeist • Watering places: fed by rainwater Lokal gefertigt: komprimierte, luftgetrocknete Ziegel • Locally made: compressed, air-dried bricks

of these villages for expectant mothers. The pregnant women are here to be looked
after securely, comfortably and respectfully. The Kasungu Maternity Waiting Village
offers 36 beds for this purpose. The women come here as of the 36th week of their
pregnancy. Four pregnant women share a bedroom. Three bedrooms in turn form a
cluster which has two flush toilets and a septic tank, two showers and a laundry
room. Rainwater is collected for these water-operated facilities. There are also pit
latrines. The mothers and those accompanying them – female family members – like
to use the courtyards between the houses and the covered outdoor spaces as out-
door meeting points. Training courses also take place here. After all, the wait can
be long. A shared kitchen is used for everyday activities since the pregnant women
and those travelling with them cook their own meals.

Local materials, local craftsmen
Grundriss • Ground floor
The whole concept is based on a modular construction system of wedge-shaped,
buttressed columns (see illustration). Two columns each can be assembled to form
a wall unit with a window, door or shelves. Alcoves for beds, washbasins, niches
for seating benches, fireplaces, passages as well as benches can thus be formed.
The system can be easily adapted to the respective setting. So-called Compressed
Stabilized Earth Blocks, CSEB for short, are used for this. These bricks consist of a
local mixture of soil which is compressed with a manual press and simply air-dried
afterwards. Hence the bricks are not fired. That is because this would require large
amounts of wood and deforestation is an environmental problem in Malawi. In
addition, the building material has a climatic function: During the day, the bricks
store heat in order to emit it during the cold nights since temperature fluctuations
are extreme in Malawi. Then there are severely dry and also rainy seasons. This is
also the reason for the butterfly roofs resting on concrete ring beams. The far-pro-
jecting timber constructions are to protect the women from the rain and the sun.
They also serve to collect the rain for the village facilities operated by water. And
they protect the unfired bricks. Local materials and Malawian craftsmen are to guar-
antee that the prototype will establish itself in other parts of the country as well.
90 local craftsmen were working on this project. Masons learned how
to make the bricks and construct the modules while carpenters practiced reading
technical drawings while building the roof structures. 130 Maternity Waiting
Villages are to be built in Malawi. Employees from MASS Design Group are current-
ly on site to conduct a quality survey. This is to show how the prototype stands the
test in everyday life. System der Stützen • System of the columns

AIT 11.2016 • 137