Fun with Mud

Fun with Mud
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho.

This is the last “construction” thing I will show for at least the next few posts (it just seemed to make sense to put a few posts that built on each other [no pun intended]).

These are an architectural staple of afghan construction (especially in the more rural areas), mud bricks. I was reading a Wikipedia article for “adobe” and it mentioned how strong adobe is; on the one hand I question that because of all the dilapidated adobe structures I have seen here (though admittedly at least some of their decay has been helped along by war) but having handled these bricks and felt some of the structures I am amazed at how solid they actually feel. When I was a kid I made a ton of things (forts with red-clay stucco) holes/tunnels etc and I don’t ever remember any of them feeling nearly as solid as the mud-based structures/materials here. Anyway, they have wooden forms here and they seem to make raised “tubs” (earth raised on four sides) where they pour water and dirt, mix, then pack the mud into the wooden forms. I haven’t seen the procedure myself but wikipedia goes into some detail that probably holds true for most parts of the world.