So anyway timber comes in 2×4″, 2×6″ etc which is a constant delight.
To cut a long story short, it seemed that unless a sponsor with a high six figure amount appeared on the scene, constructing a boarding school for several hundred students in Liberia was not going to be feasible with the default construction methods. However if we could get costs of building materials down to somewhere between 30-50%, it would be feasible. Together with sustainable architects providing assistance, I started looking at some creative alternatives, especially some of the recent projects using ISO shipping containers (as structural elements, not rooms per se) and the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. These couple of months were spent doing an inventory of creative and lower cost materials.
This is a generic African school building, using conventional concrete and zinc:
As ever, the most important material when costs and local skills are an issue, is Obtanium.