Tadelakt dome | West Africa

lime kiln | The Gambia

Tadalakt test panels | West Africa

This project,  an  experimental exterior tadelakt, was undertaken in January 2011 by Ben in Sandele, an eco resort in the Gambia, West Africa. The managers of Sandele, two Brits, Geri and Maurice, have a genuine and powerful drive for environmental and social projects, and have designed and built the resort accordingly (back in 2003, Jessica had a hand in the design of the resort and its buildings). Geri and Maurice host volunteers from around the world and facilitate experimental projects such as this one. They have also used pioneering techniques in the buildings in the resort – they  imported an compressed earth block (CEB) press from Auroville, in India. Ben’s project was to build and test a small scale lime kiln, using resources from Practical Action , to see if lime could be made more efficiently. The second and more ambitious part of the project was to make tadelakt plaster from the lime produced from the kiln to waterproof the fabulous earth domes of the guest houses using more natural materials. The result was a report originally written for the NZ Earth Building Association magazine. The Australian Owner Builder Magazine subsequently published it also.

Download the full  article here: 181 EB update

An updated longer version with a bit more of the technical information has also been printed by the Building Limes Forum for their 2015 journal.