A school community is not just a building. It’s the various individuals and groups who are invested in the welfare and vitality of the school, for example, the neighborhoods and municipalities.

In partnership with GoDaddy Pro, Acronis Cyber Foundation started reconstructing the near-collapse school in Barbara, Sierra Leone, in July 2021. The new school will benefit the agricultural community by offering access to education.

What are Interlocking Bricks?

The construction process and masonry can be tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. Our school in Sierra Leone came up with using interlocking bricks to overcome these issues.

Interlocking bricks are the enhanced form of conventional clay bricks. Interlocking bricks are compressed and stabilized earth bricks which contributes to the strength of the structure. Each brick is constructively designed to lock itself to the other bricks around with minimal use of mortar. The self-locking is achieved using a shear-key and lock mechanism.

How are Interlocking Bricks made?

Interlocking bricks are cement, sand and stone dust mixed in appropriate proportions. Once the required mix is prepared, it is compressed to form bricks with desirable interlocking patterns. The compression is achieved by using a hydraulic compression system. The bricks are then cured for seven days.

Benefits of using Interlocking Bricks for the school

Our Sierra Leone school community made 30,000 pieces of interlocking bricks on-site for the school construction, with the help and supervision of a Civil Engineer and a student from HTWK Leipzig Startseite.

These highly compacted bricks are less heat-intensive and provide a cooler interior in the all-year-round tropical climate. It also enables the school community to participate in the construction easily as these bricks require fewer skills to lay. Since there is little use of mortar in the construction process, there is a significant cost saving from buying lesser raw materials and transportation.

We look forward to the completion of this school in June 2022! More information about this school initiative project can be found here.