Hey John,
Actually what we discovered during the preparation phase of the workshop, was that some families already build their own ovens. However, they build it on-top of their roofs, which meant that each oven belonged to only one family; a private oven.
Moreover, building the same oven was an annual task due to the damage the rain water causes to it. Lastly, although the community fulfilled their need for such ovens (by building them), they didn’t have the proper know-how, which resulted in poorly-structured, temporally-standing ovens with poor efficiency.
However, when we found out all that we were thrilled, firstly, because we properly understood the community’s needs to some extent; and secondly, because what we were going to do wouldn’t be regarded as an outsider intervention, which was essential for the continuation of the oven after we leave.
Our prototype, was firstly, an urban installment, which ensured that more than one family could use it, secondly, was well-structured, insulated from below, sheltered from above, and respected some laws of fluid mechanics which increased its efficiency.
It’s been roughly two years since the completion of the oven, and till this day it’s working efficiently.