The project consists of two rows of two-roomed tenements with twelve and six houses respectively. Each house has a room and a kitchen with a bathroom at the far end corner. The roof structure, a brick barrel-vault built with half-sized bricks (10cm thick) over a lightweight plywood shuttering that acts as a mould, is such that any mason can handle the task. A major advantage of this vaulting system is that the shuttering can be removed within twelve hours as opposed to 21 days ideally needed for reinforced concrete structures. The speed and economies to be gained from such a construction technique are further increased by the possible immediate re-use of the formwork.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture
