Semesterproject meeting #1
Date: 2009.03.23
Participants: Prof. Gaese, sp, vh, ro, sn, km
Protocol written by: km
Download as [pdf]
Prof. Gaese:
Due to shortage of time it would be advisable to focus on a specific topic.
Some topics are suggested (by Prof. Gaese) and discussed:
- As a general remark it is agreed that the application of Traditional Knowledge (TK) should be done in combination with modern technologies. Also one should ask to which extend TK could be supported and improved by modern technology.
- The irrigation and water transport canals in the Altoplano of peru are mentioned as an example for TK, which can still be used today. However water is extremely scarse in this region, thus one could think of ways to improve this system.
- Water-wheels: Ancient roman water-pumping system still found in Syria today. The kinetic energy of a flowing river is used to pump water to a higher position from where it can be used for gravity run irrigation.
- Egypt: Village construction by the World Food Program. Building TK in combination with more modern materials was used to construct a village. Domes with air circulation systems act as natural air conditioning.
note: The former ITT lecturer Prof. Grimme is an expert on this and could assist with this. Mrs. Schmelzer can help with the email adress.
It is then discussed if a general focus on buildings can be agreed upon to limit the range of topics a bit
- Some remarks concerning buildings are made, concerning roof gardens (sn), Social aspects: burial customs in Nigeria (ro) and air circulation in combination with water precipitation (km).
- The possibility to implement many things in reality is questioned though, and everyone is urged to focus on practical things (sn).
- The following discurse made it clear that things like economic feasibility, availability of building materials and social/cultural aspects have to be taken into account
Prof. Gaese introduces other ideas:
- Storage of agricultural products as one of the big problems in wet tropical countries could be a focus area. This topic includes protection against fungi and insects/rodents and other ways to improve storage (as 40% of the worlds harvest is lost). Storage is also important to buffer price variations.
- Traditional ways of storage could also be improved by modern means (ventilation, wetness monitoring etc) -> Topic is generally accepted as a very interesting one, but concerned are voiced that it should be only a part of the project (Sven, Krischan) and not "take over" the project completely. There is also the question rised if one should focus on smaller individual storage solutions.
- Prof. Gaese then mentions the "gate" publications by the GTZ where many projects including TK systems are presented.-> A selection of these is being looked at later. As an example a "Göpel" is mentioned that can be used for many things and be improved by using old truck differentials.
- Prof. Gaese then mentions a project by the University of Hohenheim: Solar drying techniques, with different levels of technical complexity -> Road drying->canal drying->tunnel drying with ventialtion etc
A call to come to an conclusion is then put forward (km):
- Loose focus on a individual building, or a bigger community center or maybe even a small collection of houses should be the focus of the sandbox case study.
- As possible topics of special interest storage, air cooling, roof gardens are mentiond.
- It is also agreed upon that the focus should be on a urban or peri-urban setting and once a selection of sub topics is made there has to be a choice which city could be used for the practical implementation (f.e. Lagos or Mexico city).
Everyone agrees on this
Focus is then put management issues:
- Date of next unoffical meeting where preliminary results can be exchanged (no possible date outside of the normal hours was found). But it is agreed that we try to find some time before or after the GIS classes this week.
- sp mentions that both him and ms will not be there during the next official meeting since they will be still in Berlin.
- It is also mentioned again (by sp) that a time schedule has to be made, with mile stones etc. until the next meeting (-> a draft probably by km)
ToDo
- SN then gives a short introduction to the Zotero literature exchange Firefox plugin to ro and vh.
- everyone has a look at the "gate" publications Prof. Gaese brought with him. -> A selection is made which might be helpful (f.e. roof-top rainwater storage)
