Tin Can Wall - Alternative Methods

Alternative Methods

The other tin can wall method that will be briefly described is a system developed by a German artist named Michael Hönes. He has led community rebuilding efforts in Lesotho, Africa using tin cans to create housing and opportunities for Aids orphans and foster mothers. Known as the TCV (a.k.a. Tin-Can Villages) project, Hönes has created buildings using tin cans, masonite, paint, and wire. The roof is made out of corrugated metal shingles. In this method the cans are stacked vertically, one on top of the other in rows that are placed side by side and secured with wire. They are left exposed and are arranged in a decorative manner. The structures require no foundation, and are said to be able to withstand the Lesotho storms.

A site for the first village in Maseru has been secured and the funding has been sourced. What is lacking is building permits (as of July 2004). The TCV organization, headed by Hönes, has been prefabricating tin can walls so that when the permits pass about one building a week can be constructed.

So far the TCV organization’s efforts have been concentrated on storehouses, offices, a large weaving workshop for the women of the Elelloang Basali Weavers group in Teyateyaneng, and a solar-powered restaurant that cooks with solar ovens. Michael Hönes also focuses on tin can furniture and has created a stove out of tin cans that uses one-third less wood than what the poor people of the area commonly use, thereby diminishing the firewood crisis in Lesotho.