Week 8 · Defesa e Sustentabilidade: Apresentação do Projeto / Defense & Sustainability: Project Presentation

Final capstone: technical defense and community pitch for your structure.

Learning Objectives

• Defender projeto em dois contextos: técnico e comunitário
• Integrar aprendizado de semanas 1-7 em narrativa coerente
• Planejar pós-curso: como o projeto se sustenta, como conhecimento se propaga
• Certificação: comprovativo de participação e competências

Concepts

Technical Defense

You present to engineers, architects, and technical reviewers: your design logic, structural calculations, material testing results, load predictions, and performance data from the community prototype. Can your design withstand the stated loads? Is the schedule realistic? Are costs justified?

Community Pitch

You present to your neighbors, local government, and potential volunteers: why this project matters, what it will provide, how the community benefits, how to participate. Non-technical language. Authentic enthusiasm.

Sustainability Plan

Beyond the build: how is the structure maintained? How is knowledge passed to the next generation? How can this model scale in your region? How do you continue learning?

Certification & Onward

Completion of AXLE · Biosynthetic Building certifies you as having: tested earth materials to engineering standards, designed a load-bearing structure, led a community build process, and defended a project. You are now a knowledge-holder and teacher. The course does not end — it propagates.

Lab Work (90-min session)

• Prepare two presentations: (1) technical defense (slides + handouts with calculations), (2) community pitch (story, visuals, call to action).
• Rehearse with peers. Get feedback. Refine.
• Capstone review exercise (10 questions spanning weeks 1-8): (a) explain GTCT in your own words; (b) why did your test samples succeed/fail?; (c) how does your structure resist wind?; (d) what is the critical load for your roof?; (e) why earth building is sustainable; etc. Answer in writing or verbally.
• Reflection essay (500 words, PT or EN): what did you learn? How has your thinking about building, materials, and community changed? What surprised you? How will you apply this?
• Plan next steps: when will you begin construction? What will your first phase be? Who is your core team?

Resources

Reading:

Principia Orthogona Vol VI · All chapters (review and synthesis)

Videos:

Reflection Questions

• What moment in the course changed your perspective most?
• How will you teach others what you've learned?
• What do you want to build next?

Final Exercise Set · Capstone Review (10 questions)

1. Explain the GTCT framework (Compression, Threshold, Fold, Unfolding) using your structure as an example.
2. Describe why termite architecture is more durable than concrete. What materials are involved?
3. Calculate: if your roof is 6m × 4m and must support 150 kg/m² (water + maintenance), what is the total load on each support?
4. Explain the difference between compression failure and buckling failure. Which is your structure more likely to experience and why?
5. Why is water management critical in earth building? How does your design address it?
6. Sketch the load path in your structure: how does weight from the roof travel to the ground?
7. Compare three roof options you considered: cost, durability, environmental impact, and why you chose your design.
8. Explain Murray's Law and how it appears in your structural design.
9. Reflect: how does your project embody indigenous knowledge, and how does it advance that knowledge with modern understanding?
10. Sustainability: describe how your structure will be maintained, used, and adapted over 50 years.

→ Challenge Week 8