This project is a collaboration between students in the Practivistas Dominicana Program and the rural community of Las Malvinas in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The community center in Las Malvinas currently functions as a space for the community to hold meetings and workshops; however, the lack of a durable shade and rain-proof structure along the outside of the building has prevented the community from being able to use the space when weather conditions are too hot or too rainy.

Background[edit | edit source]

This project is in the community of Las Malvinas in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. They have requested that a rain/shade structure be built by Practivistas Dominicana at their local community center (Estacion Ecological Comunitario) between May-July 2014. Three of the students working on the project are from Cal Poly Humboldt in California and one student from Universidad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After a community meeting was held, it was determined that the structure should be able to protect from rain as well as sun so the community could hold meetings, classes and workshops in comfort. Community members voiced their opinions that aesthetics, durability, and locality of materials were some of their main concerns in regards to the construction of the structure.

Problem Statement[edit | edit source]

The objective of this project is to design and construct a durable shade and rain-proof structure for the community center in Las Malvinas using local materials at a low cost. The end product must improve the utilization of the outside space surrounding the community center.

Criteria[edit | edit source]

This section includes all possible aspects thought up by the group members for this project as well as the community members of Las Malvinas and the directors of Practivistas Dominicana. These criteria were chosen to evaluate the project based on protection, locality, and durability. These criteria will help us to determine how much time, money, and effort should be invested in each aspect of the system based on its importance to the community of Las Malvinas.

Criteria	Constraints	Weight (0-10)
Costs	must be under $400 USD	8
Aesthetics	must be pleasing to the eye and look professional and natural	7
Durability	must be able to withstand the test of time, light vandalism and misuse, and fire	9
Weather	must be able to withstand hurricanes, caribbean rain storms, and caribbean sun exposure	10
Protection	must be able to protect occupants from rain and sun	10
Locality/Maintainability	must be made from local and accessible materials and be easily and cheaply repaired	7

Literature Review[edit | edit source]

See Literature Review for information relevant to this project.

Final Design[edit | edit source]

Our final shade structure was made out of a mix of different materials. The vertical structural posts and the truss system were made out of bamboo. The left side of the structure seen below was reinforced with wood 2x4s and the roofing was made out of corrugated zinc. The materials were fixed together using wire and nylon rope. On the right side, the bamboo trusses were reinforced with a wood 2x4 going across the top. The billboard canvas was wrapped around a 2x4 on each end and fixed to the roof using nails and staples. The ends of the 2x4 that went across the edge of the bamboo were lashed using wire. The billboard canvases were fixed to each other using vinyl glue.

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  Fig 1: Shade design angle 1

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  Fig 1a: Shade design angle 2

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  Fig 1b: Shade design angle 3

Timeline[edit | edit source]

This is the final timeline for when things should be done.

Objectives	Proposed Date	Completion Date	Responsible
Choose Project	June 6th	June 6th	Team
Literature Review	June 7th	June 7th	Team
Harvest bamboo, design discussion, community meeting	June 8th	June 8th	Team
Harvest bamboo	June 10th	June 10th	Team
Harvest bamboo, purchase materials	June 12th	June 12th	Team
Demolition, dig post hole, purchase recycled billboards	June 14th	June 14th	Team
Budget, timeline, final design, purchase materials	June 15th	June 15th	Team
Prep bamboo for posts, finish demolition	June 17th	June 17th	Team
Install posts, begin construction	June 19th	June 19th	Team
Construction	June 21st	June 21st	Team
Construction	June 22nd	June 22nd	Team
Construction	June 24th	June 24th	Team
Construction	June 26th	June 26th	Team
Construction	June 28th	June 28th	Team
Construction	June 29th	June 29th	Team
Finish and clean up	July 1st	July 2nd	Team
Presentation	July 3rd	July 3rd	Team

Cost[edit | edit source]

This is the final cost for the completed shade structure in Las Malvinas. Initially, a budget of approximately US$400 was set, but as the project developed, and the true desires of the client were determined, a larger area was to be covered and the structure also needed to protect against rainfall, therefore the final cost was slightly higher than initially thought.

Quantity	Material	Source	Cost (RD$)	Cost (US$)	Total (RD$)	Total (US$)
1	Rope	Ferreteria Americana	400.00	10.00	400.00	10.00
7	Wire	Ferreteria Americana/Sauzo	40.00	1.00	280.00	7.00
14	Corrugated Zinc Sheets	Ferreteria Sauzo	255.00	6.40	3,570.00	89.25
10	2x4s	Ferreteria Suazo	400.00	10.00	4,000.00	100.00
4	Recycled Billboards	Santo Domingo	333.00	8.33	1,332.00	33.30
20	1x4s	Ferreteria Suazo	170.00	4.25	3,400.00	85.00
1	Tools	Super Mercado Nacional	2,183.00	54.58	2,183.00	54.58
1	Tools	Ferreteria Americana	2,000.00	50.00	2,000.00	50.00
6	Donated Zinc Sheets	Eddie	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
1	Donated Steel Beam	Eddie	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Total Cost (RD$)						$17,165.00
Total Cost (US$)						$429.13

How We[edit | edit source]

See a step-by-step process of how this structure was built and how to recreate a similar structure below:

Before building with bamboo, it is advised to research techniques and recommendations for appropriate season for harvesting as well as methods of harvesting and drying. (For our project we used bamboo that was still partially green which is not desirable but was necessary based on time and resource constraints).

Maintenance[edit | edit source]

To make the maintenance of our project easier, various materials were left that could be used to keep the structural integrity sound. The vinyl glue used on to attach the billboard canvas together, rope, wire, and other tools were left at the Las Malvinas community center so repairs can be made in the event of degradation. The bamboo will need to be carefully monitored since it was used when it was still green and not coated with some kind of pest-resistant chemicals.

Schedule[edit | edit source]

Weekly[edit | edit source]

• Check bamboo to ensure there is no cracking
• Check bamboo to ensure it is not being attacked by pests
• Monitor integrity of rope on lashed areas
• Check to billboard to make sure it is still attached correctly

Monthly[edit | edit source]

• Check integrity of cement on the bottoms of the bamboo structure
• Check billboard canvas, reapply vinyl glue as needed
• Re-lash any areas that have been degraded by weather, if needed

Yearly[edit | edit source]

• Replace degraded zinc panels
• Replace any weak spots in the structure with appropriate material

Every 2 Years[edit | edit source]

• Replace billboard canvas if necessary.

Conclusions[edit | edit source]

Testing results[edit | edit source]

The finished shade structure consisted 2x4s lashed to bamboo poles which were filled with concrete and rebar and then sunk into holes in the ground filled with concrete. On one side of the fogon corrugated zinc panels were installed, and on the other side of the fogon the team built a bamboo truss. The team installed billboard vinyl panels over the bamboo truss by nailing down the vinyl to the zinc roof, and at the other end of the panel the team lashed onto the bamboo posts. On the side of the fogon with the billboard vinyl, it will be necessary to install more bamboo support beams underneath the vinyl to ensure its security and flatness.

Lessons learned[edit | edit source]

If the project had not been time sensitive, we would have used properly cured bamboo for the beams. In addition, we discovered that our first batch of concrete that we used to sink the posts into the ground was at an incorrect ratio of sand to concrete and so we surrounded the posts with chicken wire and made more concrete into a cone shape for better support of the beams.

Next steps[edit | edit source]

1. Testing the bamboo for moisture content while watching its durability and strength to determine whether the drying time was sufficient or whether it was an issue in maintaining the integrity of the structure over time.
   
2. Adding more bamboo support beams under the billboard so the vinyl will lay more flat.
   
3. Checking the vinyl to ensure there has not been tears in the panels.

Team[edit | edit source]

The Las Malvinas community center shade team from the Summer 2014 program consisted of:

• Baron Creager (Cal Poly Humboldt) - bmc83@humboldt.edu
• Caitlin Faber (Cal Poly Humboldt) - cjf336@humboldt.edu
• Caelidh Liddell (Cal Poly Humboldt) - crl307@humboldt.edu
• Marjorie Casado (UNIBE) - marjocalara@gmail.com

References[edit | edit source]

See Literature Review