Mohammed Bin Abubakar, explains nursery to writer, Glenn Meyers. Photo: Oteng Foster

As gardeners go, Mohammed Bin Abubakar holds a unique position. He has built a forest where once there were only rushed rocks and the unsightly remnants of an old gold mine.

He serves as the reclamation coordinator at Newmont Mining Corporation’s Brong Ahafo Gold Mine in Ghana which started production a few years ago. One Newmont employee, Gloria Dwummah-Adu, says Abubakar has made a beautiful forest out of this mining wasteland and that many should follow this model.

Fondly, she refers to this 75-acre site as “Bin’s garden.” Now birds sing and the shade from the rapidly growing forest is a welcome relief to all who enter these woods.

Abubakar’s reclamation work began some time ago when Australian-based Normandy Mining employed him. When Normandy was sold to Newmont in 2002, he began working for Newmont Ghana Gold, Ltd. This is a green, well-designed forest that invites exploration.

Newmont Ghana employee, Gloria Dwummah-Adu in the reclaimed forest. Photo: Oteng Foster

“Wow! This is awesome!” exclaims MS. Dwummah-Adu.

Abubakar discusses how he built the forest. “We were tasked to establish a plantation to convince the locals that surface mining by the company will not destroy their land. And before that we established this nursery that you see here.”

He and his team then applied the knowledge they acquired from his training to reclaim the wasteland. They started with a nursery, which is now being used for other mining reclamation projects. Abubakar says that when they established this nursery, they decided to bring back the original trees, which used to be on the land.

To build this forest, Newmont, led by Abubakar, approached the chief of the town, asking that his village provide an area where the reclamation team could demonstrate its capabilities of reclaiming land. “And fortunately, there was some land – about 75 acres – he gave it to us free of charge to demonstrate to the people that if our company says we are going to reclaim the land it will be true,” says Abubakar. “Lo and behold, we established this forest which you see here.”

Many a mining operation should take a look at how this former mining site has undergone reclamation.

TSC Global's hypar roof is located next to the light ril tracks, just south of downtown Denver

Evidence of new buildings featuring an innovative and cost-effective roof can now be seen in a growing number of African nations, including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan, as part of a Roofs for the World initiative.

This roof is called a Thin Shell Composite Hyperbolic Paraboloid, or TSC Hypar, thus the name, TSC Global, which proclaims  the building methodology using this roof has the potential for revolutionizing roofing and construction in the most impoverished and remote parts of the globe. TSC Global executive director, Brad Wells, says that compared to the corrugated steel roof structures seen everywhere in the developing world, TSC roof construction requires a minimum in cut lumber, demands no power machinery for construction, and leaves almost no carbon footprint. In addition, buildings featuring these roofs are significantly quieter in rain and windstorms, and can be earthquake resistant.

Denver-based TSC Global was created to build, promote and fully develop this construction method, with the belief that there is real potential to dramatically enhance the overall quality and affordability of structures used by millions if not billions of people worldwide. It is now focusing on a potential rebuilding program for Haiti.

Photos: Brad Wells, TSC Global

A TSC roof is constructed as follows: an acrylic cement composite is applied to an arched hyperbolic paraboloid shaped cloth that has been stretched across a four-sided pyramid framework using wood or bamboo. When the acrylic and cement composite cures, the product is a far superior roofing alternative to corrugated metal and other roofs, contends Wells.

Even with a final thickness of approximately one centimeter, a TSC Hypar roof is strong enough to hold heavy weights. Hypar structures have been built for decades but the most closely observed demo structure was built in 1996 by habitat pioneer, George Nez, who has worked on United Nations and USAID emergency relief projects. The TSC website reports Mr. Nez’s structure has endured Colorado winds, freezes and thaws of as much as three feet of. In warmer climates, these roofs should last many decades.

Importantly, a venting and circulation system has been added to the hypar roof in hot climates, allowing air and cooking exhaust to escape. The top vent and cap is an important and simple modification, says Mr. Nez. Adding a ceiling and sealing off the attic space will also enhance cooling.

A TSC roof, reinforced with embedded chicken wire mesh demonstrates resilience to failure or collapse, says the TSC website, adding that the lightweight roof can decrease chances of injury or worse in earthquake scenarios, even in the most severe earthquake. Recent work in overall building design by Colorado School of Mines structural engineering professor, Panos Kiousis, suggests that simple wall-embedded cross-braced panels secured to a ring beam, with adequate fastening of roofs to posts, should create an earthquake resistant building, still at low costs.

TSC structures can be constructed easily in the most remote settings with no transport of large building materials or equipment. Wells says his target populations include refugee and post-disaster projects, urban “shantytown” replacement, and general commercial and residential building construction. He adds that a further goal for his organization is to offer training and micro-finance networks.

Photo of Chang's Hong Kong apartment Source: Marcel Lam

Architect Gary Chang has implemented some stunning solutions for small-space living in his Hong Kong apartment. To get a first-hand glimpse of Mr. Chang’s take on how spaciousness in a small space might look and feel, look at this You Tube video clip: story from Hong Kong.

This compact living space represents an inspiring case study for anybody considering the challenges of living in inner city areas with limited space. From the standpoints of density and functional practicality, this Chang design offers great potential. Consider that Chang’s apartment contains not just one room, but 24 rooms in one.

For instance, his living room wall can be slid back to reveal a storage and changing area, something Chang refers to as his spa. Behind the spa is a bathroom that receives natural light from the apartment’s single exterior window. When the bathroom is not in use, the space converts to a guest bedroom, using a pull-down Murphy bed. The entire place makes a showcase in modular functionality that, as shown here on this Reuter’s story will continually surprise visitors.

Virginia Gardner, writing for The New York Times Home & Garden, described Chang’s magic: “He grabbed a handle near the wall-mounted television, pulling a section of the wall itself toward the center of the room. Behind it, a small countertop with two burners, a sink and a spice rack appeared. Opposite the countertop, on the back of the now-displaced wall, he lowered a hinged worktop made of a lightweight laminate of honeycombed aluminum. Suddenly, he was standing in a kitchen.”

Of interest, Chang grew up in this apartment with his parents, three sisters, and a tenant. The unit contained three very small bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and dining area. Chang says he has renovated the apartment four times since buying it from his parents 20 years ago. Call it a work in progress – a fabulous one.

“Nature Communications differs in being multidisciplinary,” reports the Nature announcement. “It aims not to compete with the established Nature journals, but to publish rigorous and comprehensive papers that represent advances of significance to specialists within each field. In addition, it welcomes submissions in fields that are not represented by a dedicated Nature research journal — for example, developmental biology, plant science, microbiology, ecology and evolution, palaeontology, astronomy and high-energy physics. ”

Using nanotube wires for hybrid fuel cells has renewed promise Source: Nature Communications

One current article discusses hybrid nanotubes as a part of miniaturizing fuel cells for biological applications.

“Now Gao and coworkers show that electrodes made with porous microfibers composed of oriented carbon nanotubes are capable of delivering fast mass transport of the reagents and greatly enhanced currents,” the magazine reports.

Many readers may find much of these works from Nature to be highly academic in nature — even heady sometimes — but such information provides a solid barometer for scientific research and development trends.