Thatch Covering

Bi0n II

May 3

Presenting António Gandano, the thatch expert.

Week 5 began with a 2 day thatch course with Antonio Gandano. Whilst he showed the thatching process to the people doing the course, those not involved in the course continued producing and mounting the tertiary nerves.

By the end of the week we had finished producing the last nerves and were about three lines of fifteen up the roof with the thatch and had used about one third of the material.

Realizing we had used too much thatch in the first 4 lines of the roof, we started to open the bundles and spread the thatch further. By the end of the week we had finished mounting the nerves and tying permanent knots, and we had used about two thirds of the material while reaching about a third of the way up the structure (about 5 lines).

With a reduced group we continued using the thatch until it was all finished. By the end of the week we had used all of the material and had arrived about two thirds of the way up.

Despite not finishing with the students, it was an extremely enriching experience for all involved. It really is a wonderful material to use, with cane or other types of structures, and we look forward to creating more of this very special kind of project.

Thanks to all who participated. Tt could not have been achieved without the enormous and unending enthusiasm shown by the entire group.