Day 21 - Will McCaig

After a well deserved weekend in a town a few miles down the beach, called Hopkins. Monday, for me at least was a slow day and I think most of the group were feeling the effects of a fun weekend. However I did manage to drill the holes in the horizontal beams for the swing mechanisms, which was good as I has spent all of the previous week cutting the joints for the A-frames and they had finally gone in the ground on Friday. So was pleased to have them nearly finished.
Whilst away over the weekend we met a guy called Dylan, who was staying in our hostel in Hopkins. He was cool and after we had explained the project to him, he was keen to get involved. So he turned up today to give us a hand, which was nice.

Day 20 - Eamonn Kelly

Following a successful day yesterday, the remaining two holes of the tyre swing were filled with concrete. For the remainder of the day Jesse, Lindsay and myself continued working on the interactive wall preparing posts for the blackboard, chains and drums. We had enough time in the day to concrete the two posts for the chains section of the wall. While this was taking place George had been cutting beams for the triangular seating platform. A good days work before the weekend break!

Tyre swing now in its foundation

Day 20 - Oliver Goddard

After an evening of contingency design, Emma has suggested if we cannot source timber, then we should look closely at the local materials that we can easily obtain.  Emma highlighted that we have plenty of sand onsite, plenty of clay extracted from our foundations and we can easily obtain used car tyres.  As a result, she suggested that we should look into using Earthship construction techniques to begin creating load-bearing walls.  This would allow us to begin the roof construction instantly after receiving our delayed timbers.

We revised details, sourced a 12lb sledgehammer and borrowed some tyres from the tyre-climb apparatus, mixed clay with sand and began ramming our first tyre.  After an hour of hard fun, the two of us had completed our first rammed earth tyre and began discussing our thoughts.  

Using recycled tyres, local and natural materials, clearing excessive aggregate left over from the school extension, involving the children in the construction process and educating how re-useing resources can provide beautiful construction without ecological disruption are the key positives that we summarised from using this type of construction.  However, our lack of experience with this construction has caused concern with group members who feel reluctant to pursue this approach especially as it labour intensive and temperature and humidity levels are still rising. 

We visited local precedents of natural building techniques who encouraged us to pursue the tyre construction but highlighted the problems of clay and lime rendering with Belize’s climatic conditions.  The local process is more time consuming than that of our previous experiences, which raised great concern with the limited time remaining.

After receiving news from Mayan Lumber that they were receiving pine heartwood poles on Monday, we decided to abandon the use of rammed earth tyre construction, use the pine posts for the uprights and redesign the roof and climbing frames to deal with the 3m poles instead of the 6m sawn timbers that we had used in our initial design.     

Experiment with rammed earth tyres

Day 19 - Eamonn Kelly

Wow what a great day, after a failed attempt yesterday the monster of a tyre swing has been erected. The morning was spent widening the holes significantly to accommodate the supporting legs. Although we came across a pipe in one of the holes it did not stop proceedings as I was determined to get the tyre swing in the ground today. After lunch all 9 of us got involved in positioning the frame with the assistance of the farmer and his tractor. In order to get the correct angle to bolt the legs on, we needed to raise the frame over 2m keeping it horizontal. Once the legs were attached the frame was lowered into position. It was a great feeling to see it positioned and ready for concrete. As time was running late we only managed to concrete one of the holes. At the same time Lindsay and Jesse had prepared the abacus ready for concrete and so the first part of the Interactive wall was put in place. Successful day rewarded with a nice cold Belikin beer after work!

Tyre swing has finally been erected

Day 19 - Ollie Goddard

After deciding to increase the height of the swings, the morning was spent widening the footings whilst additional crew members finished fabricating the frames; the first frames and cross member were installed before lunch.  We began the afternoon by setting the frames into the foundations before all hands moved on to helping raise the tyre swing.     

Emma and I left the site early to visit the timber yard to see if our timber for the climbing frame and stage had been delivered.  We arrived to hear that our order couldn’t be delivered until next Thursday due to the processing machinery malfunctioning and the severe rainfall disrupting road networks.  This has left us feeling gutted as many evenings spent designing and detailing have gone to waste.  We will need to have a serious think about our contingency to how we deliver such an important aspect of the playground to which is one of the only few requests from the teachers.   

Raising the first swing frame

Day 18 - Jessi Smith

We had another early start today and caught the 6:30 bus out to the playground sight. Today was full of progress and a few set backs. The boys were able to put 6 wooden posts into the ground today and secure them with concrete. They were real troopers because making concrete is a back breaking process that takes about 20-30 minutes of constant shoveling per batch. Way to go boys!! The chalkboard  was able to get its first layer of chalkboard paint and many pieces for "noughts and crosses" or "tick-tack-toe" were able to be primed. We had hoped/planned to put the frames for the swings into the ground today, but they ended up being alot more difficult to put together than initially planned. Eamonn was able to finish his beast of a tire swing frame and we made our first attempt to put it into the ground. It took 8 of us to lift it while 1 person documented it. There is a farmer that lives next to the school and he has as been a huge assest to us and to this project. He came over with his tractor and helped lift the tire swing while people tried to get the legs aligned with the holes. We soon realized that the holes we not big enough and it was starting to get very late. We decided to cut out losses and try again tomorrow. We hit a few speed bumps today but tomorrow we will be rested and ready to try again!!!

First attempt at raising the 200kg tyre-swing

Day 17 - David King

Getting soaked in tropical rains

The day began full of promise. An early morning trip to the distributors secured us both a delivery on the wood and the tools needed to have a very productive day. Balance beams were ready to fix to the supports in the ground, the final cuts were to be made in the swings before being ready to assemble and Eamonn's beast of a tyre-swing looked set for a bit of cement also. Once the ones who had stayed behind arrived to meet the 6:30am bus lot, they were already well into the swing of things. Jesse and Lindsay were carving up the 54 pieces of ply for their 'noughts and crosses', after devastatingly working out what 9x6 was. Will had made good inroads in making the joints on the swings; and Eamonn was completing the final countersinks to apply the shorter 8'' bolts to the main body of the tyre-swing. This good progress continued through past lunch, Crab and Liam were able to complete the balance beam and wobble boards whilst Jesse and Lindsay moved on to applying the primer to various parts of the interactive board. However, just as Will and Emma were completing the swing sets and Eamonn had brought his seemingly ten-tonne tyre-swing over to the playground for construction...the first signs of hurricane season struck. From 3pm to 6pm, rain that can only be described as torrential, poured down - with no sign of giving way. This put a bit of a dampner on both progress and the mood (especially of the people who realised it was their turn to ride in the back of the truck). So the day came to an unfortunate end as the loudest thunder I've ever heard sounded that no more was possible to be done today. Yet, with a better forecast and a lot of equipment already prepared in the workshop, a day of vast potential lies ahead tomorrow. 

Day 16 - George Crabtree

Woot! After an amazing weekend break where half the team went to Tikal to see the Mayan ruins and the others to Tobacco Caye to chill the beach we managed to get all the balance beams I designed into the ground. It felt really good to see some of the work I had done come together, along with the other three posts that we got into the ground it felt like the playground was really starting to take shape. Aside from this a lot noise was coming out of the shed at the end of the road, lots of cutting drilling and smashing, I saw some nicely marked up timbers that will make up the swings we are putting up. It all looked very accurate and complicated, made me think i'm definatly better suited to doing all the grunt work.

Day 15 - Emma Donnelly

Locals helping transport the 6m timbers weighing 125kg

After yet another long day and late night last night at the computer modeling, me and Ollie finalized the stage design, worked out the timber lengths required and put the timber order in today. Hurrah!

We had a few missions around town to do before catching the bus. Lindsay drove us round, we collected plywood for the blackboard and to make boxes for the knots and crosses, various bolts for the tyre-swing and picked up some other tools and put in another order for rope (for the tyre-climb) and more of the larger bolts.  It’s a public holiday on Monday, so had a little more to organize today.

Ollie, Lindsay and I made it to school for lunchtime to find the others had put 3 more posts in the ground for the tyre-assault. Eammon was working on the 6m length timber in the farmers workshop, measuring up the lengths and drilling holes for the bolts to attach them. That is one HEAVY piece of equipment. The farmer has kindly offered to help us with his hydraulic arm on his tractor when it comes to raising it, hopefully on Tuesday.

We need to pick up some timbers tomorrow morning (Saturday) as the timber yard will also be closed on Monday, and we really need more timber on-site to allow the pace to pick up and to really see the playground take shape. 

Day 14 - Liam Kelly

Escaping heavy rains in a local workshop 

The rain held off enough today for the timber to be delivered. Half the group traveled to site in the morning to finish the trenches for the stage with the others arriving in the afternoon with the timber. The local farmer, Mr Sanchez has agreed to let us use one of his outbuildings to store our timber, which is great news as it is very close to the site and will provide a sheltered work space when it is raining. This is going to be invaluable as this isn’t any rain this is Belize’s finest tropical rain. In between the showers we got the first of the pine rounds in the ground and we started cutting the tyre-swing in the outbuilding.

Day 13 - Lindsay Harris

Starting the trench for the stage structure

More tyres were needed to complete the tyre assault course so they were sourced today and brought to the site. A small group of us also went on a hunt for bamboo. We found a large crop not too far from the site. It was very sticky and humid but we managed to machete some good size lengths to use as screens on the activity wall and hopefully use some as musical instruments too. For the rest of the afternoon we began digging the two fifteen metre length trenches for the stage. The rain has come but has luckily made the ground softer for digging! 

Day 12 - Will McCaig

Working on the second goal posts

Today we had the first bit of rain and there wasn’t a great deal to do on site.  A small group went up and erected the second goal posts, whilst the rest of the group spent the morning in the hardware store ordering more tools and materials. The afternoon was spent assembling the chains for the swings and finalizing the design for the interactive wall. In the evening the groups went over the design for the stage/shaded area, which has taken longer than we had planned for due to the fact the structure needs to serve a few different purposes and we wanted to make sure we got it right.

Day 11 - Eamonn Kelly

Today we split into two groups, the first group (Will, George, David and myself) got the 7am bus up to the school.  We spent the morning digging holes and positioning the second curve of the tyre run along with arranging balance beams while the second group stayed back and collected materials and tools.  As the school had a half-day we had an early lunch after which the second group arrived at site.

The afternoon was spent constructing temporary workbenches before starting on the assembly of the football goals. Being our first structural element to be erected it took longer than anticipated, however we managed to successfully concrete in the first goal post before the rain came.  We used cement for these constructions but still hope to source local lime for future foundations.

Day 10 - Oliver Goddard

We are now two weeks in and the project is well underway.  Unfortunately due to various school holidays, and being unable to access the site on preferred days, we have not managed to engage with the children in the initial design process.  However, since presenting our ideas in the form of sketch models, the children have been eager to help us and speed up the construction process.  During school hours or evening after-hours, we seem to be surrounded by children willing to help, learn new skills and share their local techniques.  So far, St Augustine’s pupils have helped with digging foundations, clearing stones, removing weeds, cutting grass, tidying rubbish, mixing aggregates and preparing our food.

Now that we have had our designs approved, prepared the site, dug foundations, sourced local materials, and purchased key tools, we look forward to Week 03 where we will begin the true construction process.  We will begin by focusing on the larger of the ‘Adventure’ apparatus.  

Day 09 - Jessi Smith

What another satisfying day working at the school! We caught the 6:30 bus out to the sight in order to get as much work done before the mid day heat came. In the morning, we got all the holes dug to put in goal posts on the football (soccer) field. Also, we were able to start working on the "creative" side of the playground. After walking around and surveying the sight, we realized how untamed and rugged the ground was, full of knee high grass, very thorny weeds, and deep trenches in the ground that ankles could be twisted on. We spent most of the morning pulling out weeds and any unwanted shrubbery. We thought that we were making great time and working at a steady pace until some Standard 3 boys got into trouble and we sent outside to help us. Wow, did they put our work to shame and they did is all in slacks and white t-shirts :) Their help was much appreciated and it was fantastic that they can contribute to the construction of this playground and have a sense of ownership. It was amazing to get to know them a little better as well. In the afternoon, we had a tractor come out to the sight pulling a grass cutting machine behind it. The tractor was able to completely cut the entire sight in the matter of 30 minutes! If we had to hand cut the grass with a machete, it would have taken us days. Once the grass was cut, we could better see the land that we were working with and it seemed much more manageable. Overall, it was a very productive day and we are excited to break ground on the "creative" sight tomorrow!

Day 08 - David King

Day 8 allowed us to finally start constructing the playground. The team awoke at 5am in order to get up to the playground before the sweltering heat. The early start proved profitable as we were able to mark out twenty-one foundations for the structural posts in the adventure side of the playground; and dig around 15 of them to the required depth of 600mm by lunch. A lunch that we were more than ready for, after five hours digging in direct sunlight and temperatures that reached up to 34 degrees centigrade. 

For lunch, the school had pulled out all the stops, providing us with possibly a week's worth of food along with some much needed fluids. Lunchtime not only revealed how hospitable the wonderful staff at the school are, but also how limited the children's current schoolyard is for active play. Indeed, on returning from lunch we found that the children had started playing in the recently dug holes - occupying the majority of them. 

The afternoon session also proved to be fruitful as it allowed us to complete the remainder of the foundations and to provide the children with their first piece of playing equipment. After a great bit of 'wheeling and dealing' by Will & Lindsey, we managed to pick up a truck full of tyres at 50c (13p) a go. With all of the hardware still available to us, we decided to proceed on with the beginnings of the the tyre-run and balance beam towards the entrance of the 'adventure playground'. By 3:30pm as the buses arrived, our final tyre was being placed to which we were swarmed by children to give the apparatus its initial try. Despite being possibly the most basic apparatus in our design, the tyre-run proved an overwhelming success as the less-impressed bus drivers tried to herd the children on to their buses home. One of the children, Dennis (The Menace), even opted to walk home so he could give it a few more runs. 

Day 07 - George Crabtree

So today was the most magical day so far. Got the bus up to the school bright and early to meet the children and present all of our ideas to the principle. There was a little trepidation from the lot of us as we weren't sure if the land we had proposed to build on was available to us. Turns out the principle was overjoyed with our plans as she had expected something far smaller than what we have designed. I haven't admitted this to the rest of the group yet but I actually shed a tear when Oliver was explaining the outdoor stage, she was so gracefully overwhelmed it made all of the long nights, slogging sweaty bus journeys and itchy mosquito bites worth it.

Day 06 - Emma Donnelly

Our final member of the group (Jessi) arrived on Saturday, and the group re-charged their batteries in the jungle yesterday(Sunday), after a pretty intense design week.
This morning's get together started off with everyone presenting their models and drawings to the group and talking through them all.  The playground models are looking great, and we're almost set to go to go back to the school and present  our ideas to the school children and teachers. Very exciting!

The 'creative' group have come up with an interactive wall in which the small children can play with musical instruments as well as games like 'knots and crosses'. There will also be shaded benches and swings in this area with the stage/performace/outdoor classroom space being the final piece to be developed.  A couple of us have been focusing on this today, and its been a tricky process as this space is to provide lots of shading, to be large enough to fit a class of 20 children on for outdoor learning or performing, but also be a piece of apparatus in which all the kids can interact with by climbing and exploring the structure. And of course its to be beautiful too!!... Hopefully this will be something that comes together over the next day or two.

Day 05 – Liam Kelly

Discussing apparatus layout

In the morning we had a very productive design session.  After three days of development the active/ adventure area, it’s apparatus and their arrangement are nearly finalised. Utilising the daisy wheel to underpin the setting out and overall form of the design has led us to produce an interesting and individual play structure.

After a visit to the local timber merchant we have been advised that Manilkara zapota or ‘Sapodilli’ and pine heart wood rounds are the most suitable species to construct the playground. We can now start our cutting list to be sent to the local saw mill. 

Now looking forward to taking the detailing forward and designing a reciprocal roof structure for the centrepiece of the active/adventure area.

Day 04 - Lindsay Harris

Generating ideas through sketch models

The playground has slowly started to take form with a day of model making. The different chosen elements within each zone have been made into small scale models, so as a group we can experiment with the look and layout of the playground, and also with how the elements will flow together.

Coming from an inexperienced builder and non architect, this has really helped me get an insight into how the design will come to together and become a reality.   

Day 03 - Will McCaig

Today the group came together to discuss all the potential elements we would like to include in the playground. This was a great way to get a feel for everyone’s initial ideas. We made a list of all the elements we’d like see and discussed which were most practical in terms of materials, cost, suitability and maintenance. This was affective in creating a core list of playground elements that the group would like to include. We then discussed where best to position these elements within the site, relating to the different activities they encourage. There are two main zones within the site, we decided to make zone A an active/adventure area and zone B a creative/learning area, with the potential for another element to link the two.

We also chose to use daisy wheels to base our designs on to help with the layout and the relation between the different elements.

Daisy wheel geometry

Day 02 - Eamonn Kelly

Site for new playground

The day consisted of a site visit to analyse the site conditions.  We began by finding out the bus timetables and journey times to and from the site, 45 minutes each way (23 miles away).  Once we arrived onsite, we split into groups to measure the site, take photos and mark up locations of drains, trees and other obstacles.  By visiting the site it gave everyone the opportunity to see and experience the conditions in order to begin thinking about design ideas.

We left site around midday and after lunch had a discussion about people’s initial thoughts about the site and conditions.  Later in the afternoon, we drew up a 1:100 site plan and pinned up for all to see for our later discussions.  We concluded by allowing everyone to go away and think about design proposals for discussion tomorrow.

Day 01 - Ollie Goddard

Neglected swings

Day one began with exploring the local area and acclimatising to the 30°C temperature.  We visited five local playgrounds to obtain precedent research, focusing on design ideas, materials and construction techniques.  All playgrounds seem to have similar themes of swings and a shaded performance space of which most have been neglected and fallen into states of disrepair.  This disownment is primarily due to poor sourcing of materials and inappropriate detailing of components that have failed.    

The afternoon was spent visiting a local farm to witness the various uses of timber and bamboo, local plants and the degrading threats imposed by termites.  The day was finished by a trip to the local hardware stores and timber merchants to allow us to begin forming a materials list with our project fund. 

Adventure Playgrounds for Education

The APE Projects 2012 crew has finally arrived in Dangriga, Belize to spend the next 6 weeks designing and hand building an Adventure Playground for Education at St Augustine’s school.  Wherever possible, we will engage with the 162 school children, aged between 3 – 13 years old to deliver a playground that provides a true sense of ownership.  We seek to create beautiful spaces to enable physical, social, sensorial, creative and contemplative play, using locally sourced materials with minimal ecological impact.