Anatomy of a Project (Vol. 5.2) - Materials and Design Elements

Let’s look at the materials we’re using here in Nicaragua to reproduce the inkawasi design.  One of the reasons this particular stove works so well as a community development project is that all of the materials can be found relatively easily and cheaply within the community.  The materials used in our project are:

Cement

Sand

Anatomy of a Project (Vol. 5.1) - The Stove Design

This fifth volume in our epic journey chronicling the economical stove project is about the stove design itself, as well as a bit about the construction process and the logistics that go into it.  There’s a lot of ground to cover, so I’ve decided to split the content into sections like I did with volume 3, The Key Players.  Read valiantly on!

The design we’re using in the economical stove project is promoted by the Peace Corps, and it's called the “inkawasi stove” after the Incahuasi district of Peru where the first project using the design was implemented in 2004.

If you’ll pardon me for a moment, I’m going to nerd-out linguistically and explain that Incahuasi is the Spanish spelling of the Quechua word Inkawasi.  Quechua is the most widely spoken indigenous language in South America, and was the language of the Incas.  In Quechua, inkawasi literally means “Inca’s house,” so it seems fitting that the stoves are now appearing in people’s houses all over Central and South America.

I like that the inkawasi stove is identified with such a uniquely American name in the sense that the word originated in a pre-Colombian American society and can therefore still be associated with its American indigenous roots in an age like today where nearly all of Central and South America has been compelled to define and measure itself against European and North American standards…but I digress.  I guess that can be the topic of a different post.

Front view

Side view

Top view

Coming up, we’ll take a closer look at the parts of the inkawasi stove. I’ll be sure to point out along the way how this excellent design helps to alleviate the issues of smoke in the home and high firewood consumption, thereby significantly reducing the health, safety, economic, and environmental consequences that we looked at in volume four, The Problemática.

And don’t miss the next installment of volume five, Materials and Design Elements, because you’ll get to feast your eyes on some hand-drawn illustrations made by yours truly!

    • (Vol. 1) – Intro to Economical Stoves
    • (Vol. 2) – Community Development…The Goal
    • (Vol. 3.1) – The Key Players
           (Vol. 3.2) - The Designers/Facilitators
           (Vol. 3.3) - The Community
    • (Vol. 4) – The Problemática
    • (Vol. 5.1) – The Stove Design ***
           (Vol. 5.2) - Materials and Design Elements

           (Vol. 5.3) - The Stovetops

           (Vol. 5.4) - The Table

           (Vol. 5.5) - The Stove Itself

           (Vol. 5.6) - The Chimney

    • (Vol. 6) – Community Workshops
    • (Vol. 7) – The Budget and Funding
    • (Vol. 8) – Designing for Sustainability