Preface

"Appropriate Building Materials" was first published in 1981 and quickly established itself as one of the most important source books in the field of building materials for the Third World. Up to this date, this book is in very high demand and used from various groups such as: engineers, architects, planners, practitioners, government officials as well as do-it-yourself makers etc. SKAT receives still many letters, comments and also enquiries. Relevant journals reviewed the book and since then, almost any publication about appropriate building materials refers to it and/or includes it in the bibliography.

Since 1981 the development of the appropriate building materials sector has undergone a swift development and soon up-dating was necessary. Therefore, in 1988 a revision was made and the second edition published. The book also became available in Spanish under the title "Construyendo co Materiales de Bajo Costo" as a co-publication SKAT-CETAL (Chile). Now a new translation of the previous Spanish version is on the way.

In 1993 a new print became necessary. This opportunity has been made use of by a mini revision (third revised edition) to add certain information such as Micro Concrete Roofing (MCR), new equipment and machine designs as well as new addresses.

Only a mini revision was made, because the content of the second edition is still very much up to date with the prevailing situation in the field of appropriate building materials .

In order to maximize the dissemination of the information contained, this book is being published jointly by SKAT, IT Publications (Great Britain) and GATE (Federal Republic of Germany)

SKAT
Swiss Centre for Development Cooperation in Technology and Management

St.Gallen, August 1993

This catalogue has three main parts:

Part one: FUNDAMENTAL INFORMATION

This part contains general information about the raw materials, processing and use of BUILDING MATERIALS, design guidelines for BUILDING ELEMENTS and practical hints on PROTECTIVE MEASURES

Part two: EXAMPLES

This part is a CATALOGUE of traditional and experimental applications of BUILDING MATERIALS for each category of BUILDING ELEMENTS

Part three: ANNEXES

This part is designed to facilitate the practical implementation of the technologies in this catalogue

Information can be found in various different ways, as shown by the questions overleaf: