In Tunisia, green construction is still in its infancy

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No bag of cement and not a steel rod. On the school site of Dorra Ismaïl and Mehdi Dellagi, in Aouina, a suburb of Tunis, all the load-bearing walls are made of compressed raw earth bricks (BTC), made in a factory in northern Tunisia from sifted, moistened earth. and strongly compressed.

A material much more suited to the climate and the local environment than the usual concrete blocks, explain the architects to the ten or so students, teachers and professionals who came this Saturday to train, in situ, in eco-construction.

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In a country where water stress, droughts and heat waves are getting worse year after year under the effect of climate change, the stakes are high. According to the National Agency for Energy Management (ANME), the building sector risks becoming one of the leading energy consumers in Tunisia by 2030. A trend that is all the more worrying architects and engineers that the alternatives to concrete are still little known.

Dorra Ismaïl, professor at the School of Architecture in Tunis, has often observed this with her students. “They are looking for information on more eco-responsible construction methods, but there is a lack of data on the subject”, she explains. It is to compensate for this absence and to offer solutions to interested parties that the architect created, with his companion, Mehdi Dellagi, the platform ebniecolo. Training that costs between 50 and 100 dinars (15 to 30 euros) for students and double that for professionals.

Natural lime rather than cement

On the Aouina school site, “the idea is to have materials and a construction system that consume little energyemphasizes Dorra Ismaïl. Then, we will complete with a power supply based on solar panels. Rainwater will be collected in a cistern, then distributed in the different rooms by a device that we also design ourselves”.

On their construction sites, the couple of architects primarily use natural lime rather than cement. Waste from marble and stone quarries is also used for floor coverings. To build the way “as environmentally friendly as possible” emphasizes the teacher, “You have to take into account all the technical aspects of the site, the environment and biodiversity, not just use less polluting materials”.

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