The AVD Intensive course is a combination of our two, one-week programs on AVD Theory and AVD Masonry. It is a “sweetened-condensed” and simplified course combining theory and practice; not all of the sessions of the two week course can be taught in one week. This course covers the structural design of vaulted masonry along with integrated principles of construction, and includes hands-on sessions on the construction of arches, vaults and domes. The course focuses on the use of Compressed Stabilised Earth Block (CSEB) as a building material and vault construction methods developed by AVEI (e.g. the Free-spanning technique).

Eligibility: Recommended only for engineers, architects or students. Otherwise strong skills in mathematics and geometry are required.

Duration: Six day course; Classes from 8:30am to 6:15pm.
(As it is named, this course is really intensive!)

What to Bring: Laptop with AutoCAD is highly recommended. Otherwise, participants will be provided with drawing materials.

Course content:

The first four days are spent learning structural basics and performing stability studies of vaults/ dome sections (carried out as personal work, with instructor´s supervision and feedback). This part of the course is more theoretical with lectures, presentations, case studies and practical exercises:
- Diversity and typologies of arches, vaults and domes
- Basic structural principles of arches and vaults
- Evaluation of the stability of domes
- Neutralisation of the thrust
- Various details about AVD (acoustic formulas)
- Catenary method (theory only)
- Funicular method (theory and practice)
- Optimisation method (theory and practice)
- Case studies

The two remaining days are practical, hands-on sessions in which trainees study constructive principles and build various types of arches, vaults and domes:
- Masonry pattern for an optimised arch
- Construction principles, building techniques, binder quality
- Building various types and spans of arches on centrings
- Building various types of vaults and domes without centring