Friday, February 14, 2014

Getting active online, recap from Valentine's Day meeting



A month has passed since the time we have met for the first time as a team.  We have had enough time to get going slightly wrong direction in our project research and getting back to the track.



On today’s meeting we have decided that after every meeting one of us will make a blog post, so that this info channel is alive. Today it is me, Sasha, talking to you.  Hello!

Here are few more arrangements we agreed on:
One. All the guys should email Sasha their photo and 1 paragraph personal intro to be publically released with the following posts
Two. This weeks biggest task is compiling the project document. Since the delivery deadline is Monday 9am, contribution to Project Document should be done by Sunday evening (Sunday 18.00 Vesa is going to polish the text). Tasks were shared on Monday and I may guide you in the situation if you still need some help. We would send a draft in a night and fix the final version on Monday meeting.
Three.  Next team meeting is on Monday 10 am in Design Factory.

Current project planning has the following key moments:
One. Our main focus this year is “Phase 1” of the Rock Village settlement, when one family is going to be living in the area. We would be looking for hints on establishing a sustainable agriculture in the area.
Two. Idea of working on biogas plant, that initially was coined as a core focus was neglected by the team as not suitable. Motivation for this is the fact that biogas plant is proved to be not efficient in the households with under 50 heads of cattle. Therefore on initial phase of Rock Village development there is no need for such a system.
Three. Composting of agricultural waste and simple water treatment solutions may become focus for now.  
Four. Key communication figures in out process are Nassib and Maria from Al Amal Institute.

There were few more background facts discussed that worth attention:
One. The situation with the water supply to the area is organized for now. Area authorities are going to draw the pipe from a new local well to the RV that will sustain the needs of the first development phases. However, some bureaucracy and poor finance is not making it easy and there are a lot of delays.

As well, the village that has gotten the well is going to put down the rain water harvesting system that was functioning previously.

This raises the question, could some simple water harvesting system be integrated into the building of Rock Village? Do we have any statistics about the rain in the area of the future settlement? (That far we only know it is pretty irregular. Nearby desert climate (dry winds) is effecting the climate in a RV area, therefore the situation might be quite unpredictable).

Two. Here are some questions that keep coming during or meetings:

Which seasons would Rock Village plan to be farming and what are the conditions?  (This will influence the numbers that go into irrigation need estimations)
Aino: Agriculture wasn’t planned yet. But this can be a good start.
Ville: Does the soil loose nutreans?
Aino: Yes, and permaculture is called to answer this?
Sasha: Seems like reasonable questions might help Rock Village better than stiff answers?
What is the family consumption routine? What are the general numbers for water consumption(liters per day)?  
Aino: One shower per day is a common case. (How many liters?) Water is heated by the sun (throughout the year).

Has someone studied the irrigation needs for crops? (Axel?)

Draft of the agenda for Monday meeting :-

.Finalize and sent off the PROJECT DOCUMENT
.Talk of the trip to Lebanon, that was earlier scheduled for March
- Time should be agreed.
- Insurance should be made. According to Tapiola Lebanon is an area of the high war risk.
- Plan of working and collecting material should be done
- Preparatory work should be planned.
.Following blog post should be compiled during the meeting.
.The names of the projects should be laid out. Currently we talk of both Aalto and Rock Village project as “projects”.
.Set up communication model with Nassib.




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