Lock-brick system technology is an ecological building material innovation

Abstract

The rapid development of housing requires the support of building materials technology innovation. The problem is that the cost of building materials produced not affordable by people in rural areas or for the lower-middle-class people. The buildings in the city are magnificent, but in contrary, in the village many houses still consist of bamboo-wall and leaf-roof. Some tried to build their houses using bricks, but they could not finish the building construction due to limited budget for purchasing material. It encourages for development of an environmentally friendly, safe and cheap building material: lock-brick. Villagers could make this material by themself since the raw materials are soils plus a little cement with a ratio between 1:8-10. First, this technology was piloted for simple house building, then for dormitories building and household-scale rainwater management, consisting of rainwater reservoir and runoff catchment ditches. Then, this system implemented for retaining-walls construction and currently also being tested for campus parking area. The trials results are good, and the construction costs are also much cheaper. It could reduce by 50%. Once again, the construction is very environmentally friendly, so can be said that this lock-brick system is an ecological building material innovation.