Air in Unexpected Places

Abstract

Aircrete is a lightweight building material with a number of remarkable qualities, including high compression strength, buoyancy and thermal insulation. Perhaps most strikingly, its lack of sand aggregate makes it energy efficient compared to concrete. While aircrete is regularly sold by various construction companies, DIY enthusiasts and technicians around the world are cultivating more home-brew, open-source methods. This article follows James, an American ex-security contractor and mining engineer, as he attempts to convert his own embodied legacies of imperial extraction into a pro-social business venture by designing aircrete machines and mixes for urban Africa. His adventures in aircrete typify an energy future in which an array of intriguing experiments and technologies intersect with a broader entrepreneurial effort to capture Africa’s growing consumer markets.

Building concrete futures: materiality and urban lives in West Africa

“…The Fact Sahel+ is another active network: it aims to bring together African and European builders, architects, artists and students to explore more sustainable ways of building. On Facebook and WhatsApp, several hundred members – overwhelmingly from Africa— send pictures of their construction sites, exchange information on technical solutions to develop a low-carbon sector, participate in online debates about alternatives to concrete, and promote alternative building materials, such as wood, earth, straw and aircrete (a lightweight building material with high compression strength, buoyancy and thermal insulation) (Degani 2020). At present, initiatives appear to be dispersed and limited to a few individuals, but the emergence of these networks and exchange platforms could quickly change the situation and give visibility to ecological alternatives (Figure 4).…”