Ninaquispe presenting at NAMC

CDG Designer Liliana Ninaquispe, MS Arch, will be a conference presenter at the 11th North American Masonry Conference (NAMC) this coming June. NAMC is a forum for the exchange of information related to the design, building and maintenance of masonry structures.

Application of totora panels to insulate walls of adobe houses.

Liliana will be presenting results of her research into the use of totora as a sustainable material for the insulation of adobe houses in Puno, Peru. Adobe is traditionally used for the construction of houses in the Andean region, but recent weather changes bringing wintertime temperatures as low as -16 degrees Fahrenheit exceed the material’s insulating properties and affect the health and welfare of sizable populations in the region.

Liliana’s research, based on two years of field study in Puno’s rural communities (often located above 12,000 feet of altitude), along with testing conducted at the University of Minnesota, focuses on the potential of totora, a plant material that grows natively in the Andean region of Peru, for insulating the adobe houses.

Preliminary results show that a weave of totora has an r-value that is approximately 800% higher than the r-value of adobe alone. This weave can be used as sustainable insulation for adobe walls by applying it to new or existing houses as an external layer covered with mud. Application of this insulating layer has the potential to greatly improve the thermal performance of adobe houses and the quality of life for people living in high altitude rural communities.