Smart Shelter Foundation

Café du Cycliste continues its work for 1% for the Planet, sharing a percentage of turnover with groups dedicated to the cause of protecting the environment and promoting sustainability. One of these organisations is Smart Shelter Foundation who we discovered while helping to organise the Torino Nice Rally. The sums collected during this epic race – whether they come from sponsors or the generosity of the participants – are donated in full to Smart Shelter Foundation.

Smart Shelter Foundation operates in the poorest countries on the planet, covering more than a billion citizens who live in countries exposed to cataclysms and earthquakes, their credo is to ‘promote and improve natural building techniques, collaborate and share knowledge, everyone deserves a safe house.’

Selected projects include work in Sri Lanka where, after the devastating Tsunami in 2004, Smart Shelter Foundation participated in the reconstruction of 170 new houses in the villages of Kurukkalmadam and Mankadu, on the east coast of the country. In india they built a school with compressed earth blocks that were made on the site and provided jobs in the village. Between 2008 to 2014 Smart Shelter Foundation built 20 earthquake resistant schools and a hostel for blind students in Nepal with the capacity to withstand the frequent earthquakes in of the country. All these buildings have survived the 2015 Earthquakes without any significant damage.

Pic 01: Post-tsunami houses in Kurukkalmadam, Sri Lanka.

More recently CNN cited Smart Shelter for the essential role that the foundation played in the creation of earthquake resistant buildings in Indonesia, guaranteeing the safety of its populations, particularly in the poorest areas.

For Smart Shelter Foundation, the existing regulations and manuals for safe constructions with natural materials are insufficient and unsuitable. Their current focus is on developing improved building guidelines and they collaborate with experts around the world to research and develop unique methods to test, improve and supplement existing knowledge of non-technical building techniques.

Pic 02: Making compressed earth blocks in Vellallapatty, India.

Smart Shelter Foundation works closely with universities around the world, with their researchers and students who collaborate on a wide range of research assignments in architecture, engineering and product design with a focus on natural and local techniques and materials, such as earth, stone and wood, using recycled and upcycled products where they can. The foundation also trains local builders and

Pic 03: Earthquake resistant school after Padang earthquake, Indonesia.

implements safe building principles, such as cyclone and earthquake resistant construction.‘Solutions must be simple and easy to reproduce in order to create a positive snowball effect and lasting change.’ Say Smart Shelter Foundation. This is something Café du Cycliste love about the organisation, which is why we are committed to supporting them.

Pic 04: Current research on improving earthquake resistant schools in Nepal.

The Life Cycle

Cycling as a lifestyle empowers people physically and mentally and allows us to connect with nature – a key force for changing behaviours and reducing carbon emissions.

Alexia Barrier

We spoke to our Caravan ambassador and professional sailor Alexia Barrier about her 4myplanet enterprise and how Café du Cycliste will be contributing to her future projects through 1% for the Planet.

1% – a point of difference

Rome wasn’t built in a day, they say, and the Planet certainly wasn’t either. 1% seems like a minor figure, but we’d like to argue just 1% can make a major difference to the outcome, from here to eternity.

Cyclotrope

Based in Nice, Cyclotrope is first and foremost a Bike-School. It teaches children and adults through collaborative workshops to get back in the saddle, educate how to safely ride in traffic and carry out mechanical repairs.