The Guard House serves as a prototype, testing the feasibility of various construction techniques, for future affordable housing applications. Situated on a larger experimental housing development for Rwanda Village Enterprises, one of the main goals for this project was to experiment with earth-based material constructions that can be easily replicated within the village of Rwinkwavu and the surrounding areas. Foundations are made of reinforced, stabilized rammed earth. The compacted earth floor is sealed with local soybean oil. Exterior walls utilize compressed earth block, and the inner circular wall is earth bag, finished with an earth-based plaster. In addition to the assembly, residents of the village directly engaged in the production of earth blocks and earth bags to construct the walls. These building technologies proved to be reliable for minimizing construction cost, and providing jobs for local, unskilled laborers. Drawing on local precedents for its vernacular form, a ferrocement roof was also introduced as a low-cost building technique that uses readily available materials. Local timber was used for the roof framing, while the formwork for the ferrocement roof was made from old bed sheets and chicken wire. The inherent strength of the catenary shape allowed the roof the be built with 50% less framing than a typical corrugated metal roof and 70% less than a typical clay tile roof.  The Guard House preceded our Affordable Earth Housing project.