Guantánamo, August 8 (RHC-Granma)-- Nearly 30 Guantánamo builders, bricklayers, architects and engineers, are being trained in the roofing of homes using ceramic brick vaults without formwork, a practice that once extended should accelerate the completion of hundreds of dwellings in this province.

The experience is being developed in the framework of the initiatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in support of the recovery from the effects caused by Hurricane Matthew, and is being conveyed by the architect Ramón Aguirre Morales, director of the Institute of the Mexican Bóvedas and Regional Technologies (IBOMEX), an expert in this type of solution.

According to the architect, the domes are raised with bricks smaller and lighter than those traditionally used in the province in other constructions.  That smaller size and weight favors the building of the arches, and the support of a brick with another.  This type of roof does not require formwork, or steel or concrete, which makes it very economical with respect to other constructions.

According to Aguirre Morales, ceramic brick vaulted ceilings have been used successfully for more than 200 years in Mexican states such as Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos and Guerreros.  In several of these areas, he pointed out, seismic activity is frequent, and the vaults have not collapsed since they are strong and safe constructions.