Bell Tower and Dome

In 2010, Austin Hawkins completed two contrasting projects in Burkina Faso, building on his experience with the Robi Community Centre. He prioritized listening to local needs while being transparent about the experimental nature of the work and its potential to generate community revenue.

During project planning, Hawkins translated technical manuals for the French NGO Association de la Voûte Nubienne (AVN), gaining a deep respect for their “teach-a-man-to-fish” approach. AVN trains masons to build earth brick vaults using local materials, requiring each mason to mentor two apprentices, ensuring the method’s sustainability and evolution within Burkinabe communities.

When AVN president Thomas Grenier proposed building their first third-storey vault, Austin Hawkins provided the design, sourced materials, and oversaw construction for the all-earth tower, eventually intended to house a bell.

Studies of AVNs techniques got Austin considering alternate possibilities. While riding his bike through the bush, he came across the village of Lapara, apparently of Muslim faith and set in a beautiful savannah next to a reservoir. Austin proposed to build a prototype dome, a variation on AVN techniques. Mien Nemedon, chief of Lapara, agreed, given all workers would be paid a fair salary, and that Austin would provide plenty of rice to eat. The dome was just a wild idea - a sculptural piece - and all involved would work together to discover its potential.

The idea was to derive a catenary dome using a bicycle fork welded to a tripod of rebar, two loci welded to the fork, and a loop of string. This device traced an ellipsoid, enabling raw earth bricks to be set regularly, and close enough to a catenary form that they could be thin yet entirely in compression and thus very strong. The dome included 6 entrance portals, symbolizing the 6 major religions of the world, the spiralling dome of bricks above symbolizing their interconnection as the people of the world rise to illumination.