Things going well on the site!

Our apologies, the site has kept me so busy that there hasn´t been any time to update the blog. Here are some pictures from the site today. The bamboo shadings are almost completed, bottle wall is done, first wooden frames arrived to the site, plastering is on it´s way and some tests for the suspended ceiling have been done. BQC is doing good job just as before!

The bottle building is on!

Ms. Khoy Proktorey or more familiarly Noung is coming from Siem Reap to help us to build a piece of the bottle wall to KKYC. Together with employees from CVS we started preparing for the workshop today by collecting garbage from Kouk Khleang and washing it clean in order to be used inside the wall. Thanks to Kong Kimsour for the photo.

If you`d like to see how the wall is being made, you are most welcome to visit us on the KKYC site on Sunday 9th, Monday 10th or Tuesday 11th of June. For sure we´ll be there on Monday at 12.00. You can also check our whereabouts with Inari: 016 814 323.

Here`s a link to KKYC location in Google Maps.

Visit to the door workshop

During the weekend, Inari visited the workshop where windows and doors for KKYC are being made in Siem Reap. Thanks for Mr. Heang for taking the time to show us the place and to discuss the details. The doors will be made of Koki wood and painted in color to go with the red and blue shades of the two buildings.

Siem Reap bottle school

As we are waiting for the works to start off on the site, Inari visited Siem Reap during the weekend. There our friend Noung took us to see a new school built out of recycled plastic bottles and filled with plastic garbage collected from the neighborhooding villages. The school is built by ngo HUSK, who also built a small health clinic that we wrote aboout a year ago.

Waiting for start of finishing works and sensing the atmosphere in and around

 
It's now been a week that Inari from Komitu has been back in Phnom Penh. We are still negotiating about the prices with our contractor BQC, so the work on the site hasn't started yet. Hopefully still, BQC will start to mobilize their workers on the site already tomorrow in order to get started with the work as soon as possible.

Here is a few pictures from the site today and yesterday. The original site board is still in place by the site entrance.

The work continues on site!

There was today a meeting with Komitu Architects, AE Consultants and the contractor Mr. Heang. There'll be still some discussion about the quotation but most probably the works on site will be started again on Monday 27th and the center would be ready to be taken into use by the end of the Summer.

Inari from Komitu will be staying in Phnom Penh until the end of June. She can be reached with the number +855 16 814 323, please don't hesitate to contact her with any inquiries you might have of the project! 

Finally there's a floor!

Great to see the second floor wooden floor finished beautifully. Thanks for Chuon from KKHRDA for sending the pictures!

Bamboo structures going up

Take a look at our amazing bamboo structures! The building is finally beginning to look like it's supposed to. The bamboos are a refreshing change after all the concrete and earth blocks and soften the appearance of the building nicely.

Great progress on site!

Time flies when we're having fun at the site! So much so that there haven't been as many posts here as could have been. Everything is going well! 

Making of bamboo elements

Bamboo construction is a long process and consists of many different stages. In our case the process has been especially long because of our problems with the schedule and the contractor so I will remind you what has already been done before going to the actual topic. Firstly you have to locate and harvest the bamboos which happens in Bamboo in Takeo Province, Khmer Bamboo in Kroch Chhma and Chinese Bamboo in Tmoa Pum Village. Then the bamboos have to be treated properly against pests etc. which is described in Treating Bamboos and in Bamboo Preparations Continue with Kevin. Thirdly the bamboos have to be sorted and measured which is explained in Measuring Bamboos and oiled carefully with a UV-resistant wood oil to protect them from rain and sun. If you just pile the bamboos up randomly like we did, you have to sort them again before starting the construction: Back to Bamboo Business. And now to making the elements...