I spent the past two weeks on a service trip with Habitat for Humanity in Thailand where I, along with 9 other people, built a house for a family in need. I was quite impressed with the building method that many Habitat affiliates in southeast Asia have adopted. This method uses an interlocking brick that is pressed from materials found naturally, in most cases. I was reminded of Nam-ho's fascination with Lego blocks during the time I spent building there because these bricks are essentially the same idea.

You'll notice the two protuding circles on top. These fit neatly into two recessed circles on the bottom of the brick. This allows for a clean, level method of stacking the bricks without a great deal of need for leveling and repositioning. These bricks also create a much quicker method of building because there is no need to mortar every row, as I'm used to in my past experiences with brick building. Usable bricks! The holes in the bricks allow you to pour cement in a much larger stack (8-10 rows). Then, rebar is typically added to the corners for extra structural support. Additionally, like most other bricks, the surface on the exterior is already "finished" and doesn't require painting. This saves the homeowner a great deal of money.

The bricks have been a life-saver (literally) to many people in this region of the world. Not only have they helped Habitat build and rebuild houses more quickly and efficiently, but they've been able to employ out of work farmers, fishermen, and other laborers who have been out of work due to the recent natural disasters. By employing these folks at the brick making centers, they are able to start retaining some income and, in turn, are producing more bricks for Habitat to use in the home building process.

So, I strayed a bit from the usual topics that are posted here, but I felt compelled to share my experiences with usable design in an arena other than the web.