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This paper investigates the case study of Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer’s church of St. Hedwig in the Polish region of Silesia. The building, a popular pilgrimage church, is known in the history of art and architecture as a Late Baroque jewel with a curious design and famous frescoes. While the shape of the building and its vault has led to different interpretations in the past, its geometry has not yet been analysed on a reliable basis. Moreover, the construction of the brick vault has not yet been subject to scientific research. In order to investigate these aspects, a 3D laser scan of the vault’s extrados and intrados was utilised as the primary source. The 3D model generated from the scan not only enabled the detailed description of structural ribs, brick patterns and construction details on the extrados, but also made a geometrical analysis using reverse geometric engineering possible. The results show a geometric design of the vault surfaces as well as double-curved arches based on simple plane circle segments. This clear geometric definition of the vault is associated with a remarkable simplicity of construction method and centering. In the context of other vault designs by members of the Dientzenhofer professional circle of master builders and architects, the vault of St. Hedwig can be seen as both a continuation and an improvement in terms of geometric design and construction details.
Need to develop affordable housing is necessary because of the numerous homeless people living in the developing countries; the present work is an attempt to alleviate the housing problem facing populations of these countries. In the current investigations, a study programme illustrating the effect of various sisal, cement, cement-sisal and cassava proportions to the compressive strength, flexural strength, dry block density and porosity of compressed earth blocks (CEB) is outlined. A constant volume manual press has been used to fabricate earth blocks, at a fairly uniform pressure. The relationship of strength, block densities and porosity to reinforcement levels has been determined. A considerable increase in strength with increasing sisal fibres, cassava powder, cement as well as cement-fibre content within certain limits is observed. Results show that sisal fibre content outside these stated limits are detrimental to the strength characteristics of compressed soil blocks. The critical sisal fibre volume for soil-sisal mix has been established. Compression and flexural strength at optimal fibre content are comparable to those of soil blocks stabilized by the already well studied conventional binders as cement; besides, these results are not recorded in literature yet. Dry block densities and porosity reflect closely on the fibre, cement, cement-fibre and cassava content. Light optical microscopy (LOM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis have been used to verify the block morphology. Compressed earth blocks manufactured from a limited addition of cassava powder to the soil, show improved strength. Indeed the ideal strength is above one recommended by various CEB standards. Past researchers have not documented any research related to cassava as a building material. Water vapour transmission properties of the earth blocks have been determined; values show that the earth blocks may provide better indoor air quality than conventional building materials like concrete. A simple method by which strength of earth blocks could be determined in the absence of laboratory facilities in the rural villages of Kenya and related regions has also been developed. Use of traditional hydraulic stabilizers like cement can significantly improve the strength of compressed blocks. These additives are, however, costly; a negative factor especially for the poor rural communities of the developing nations. This research has shown that the commercial binders can be replaced by cheap material, thus, sisal vegetable fibres and cassava powder. Besides, a new building material, thus compressed earth blocks stabilised with cassava powder has been developed. It should however, be mentioned that the roof construction should be done in such way that rain does not directly pound the compressed earth blocks when applied for building of walls.