Three Little Pigs

Three little pigs...still remember the story how they chose materials to build strong houses to protect themselves from the wolf?

I was chatting with my neighbour who just came back from her visit to China. She was very delighted as she had a chance to visit her late parents house in Yunan. It was amazing that the over century house was still in good condition despite being left vacant when her parents migrated to Malaya then.

Interested with her story, I asked on the construction material. And the answer is simply mud...

Coincidently, the Star, 3 October 2009 also highlighted on building mud house to be creative, fun and eco-friendly. The project had been taken by Nomad Adventure located in Nomad's Earth Camp in Kampung Chulek, Gopeng, Perak.

The Nomad's director, Chan Yuen-Li, completed her research on alternative building materials that was cheap, locally source and environment friendly. Apparently she concluded that mud was the best option. Mud buildings dated back 6000 years to Mesopotamia.

Does it really practical and applicable to Malaysia tropical climate? Our country's traditional building methods lift the house off the ground to keep ground water away from the floor as well as allow the cross ventilation of the house from beneath for better cooling and drying during the monsoon months.

Kevin Low of Small Projects, the architect graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, concluded that mud houses were only suitable for dry and cool tropics.

In this case, we have to relate to the three little pigs story. The one built with bricks definitely appeared to be the strongest compared to the one with straws and woods.