The Finnish Answer to Environmentally affordable housing

Can wood bonded with plastic be an environmentally sustainable long lasting construction material?

The Finnish Construction company UPM says it can. According to their website ' UPM leads the integration of bio and forest industries into a new, sustainable and innovation-driven biofore industry.' The Finnish company has developed a new type of composite material called UPM Profi. UPM uses a mixture of surplus paper and plastic leftovers from production. These leftovers can be found anywhere in the world, which means that the production process can be started anywhere with no high transportation costs. According to the company the material is a perfect combination of wood fibers and plastic. After use the material can be put back into the production process which means that there will hardly be waste materials. All residues are used as raw material for new products. So we know there is hardly any environmental damage in the production process or even after because the building material can be recycled. But it gets even better because ' there is no need for annual staining, varnishing or other labor intensive maintenance.' In other words, the maintenance cost is almost nothing because it does not need any work or materials in order to maintain the product. The material has all the positive characteristics of wood and will not need all the maintenance that wood often needs. The material can be held together by 'cladding'. Cladding is making a connection between the components by pressing the UPM Profi to the carrying material. The advantage is that you do not need any nails, screws or any other connection material.How flexible is the building material?What can you build with wood plastic composite? The original idea to use the building material was for outdoor use in garden decks, patios, terrace areas, marinas and boardwalks. But the company has shown some examples of other things that you can do with it, for example building homes. So far the company has only shown possibilities of what you can do with this composite but the ideas are remarkable. The Japanese architect Shigeru Ban used his architectural abilities on the Milano Salone Internazionale del Mobile exhibition by using UPM Profi, as well as at other expositions. Currently his design is being used as a mobile exhibition room.

So the possibilities seem to be endless. From etiquettes to exhibition rooms to futuristic designs.But how suitable is this material for Enviu's OS-House?We do not know the building costs of a house yet because there has not been any standardization but the material is made of waste material which means that there are not high costs associated with construction. However we do not know how expensive it is to locally build a factory that can make UPM Profi.UPM Profi is flexible and since it has the structure of wood, it will be adjustable to the local design styles. Of course we are only talking about the 'basic construction' but the amazing thing about this material is that furniture and floors can be made of it as well!Another interesting part is that UPM is trying to put as little pressure on the environment as possible. UPM puts high priority on recycled very durable material and low transportation costs.The concept is definitely interesting for Enviu and we will follow this company's developments.

Douwe Wieberdink

TreeHugger.com

Affordable and sustainable housing for urban, low-income areas is much needed all around the world. In order to improve the overall quality of life in these places, architect Vincent van der Meulen together with Enviu, the Dutch organisation behind the Sustainable Dance Club and the Hybrid Tuk Tuk project, have just launched the Open Source House project, a platform where designers, architects and entrepreneurs can share and work together on ideas for people in need. First initiative: an international design competition for young architects and entrepreneurs worldwide to get involved and share ideas. The challenge: design a sustainable house in an expandable way. The winning design will be tested in a pilot project in Ghana.

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Greenbuild 2009 session 1

by Aleida, on November 20th, 2009
Upon returning from Greenbuild 2009, I had to take a few days to reflect upon the event and look over my notes. Like Kevin, I also loved my time on the expo floor, and ended up skipping on a few of the sessions for which I had originally signed up so that I would have more time to meet the exhibitors. However, I still attended six education sessions, all of which I will review.

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Just ship my home!

3 reasons why containers are a housing solution.

Not even five years ago, students from Amsterdam got the opportunity to live in containers. The city of Amsterdam had a major housing problem for students. They had to live in old attics and pay high rent for areas that often lacked basic needs. Amsterdam had to find a solution and fast.The municipality was looking for housing that could be built fast for a relatively low price. The number of individual dwellings had to be high as well because there were many students looking for housing.

The solution they found was shipping containers, developed by the company Tempo Housing. A shipping container has a standard dimension (width 2.4m and long 12m). At the moment millions of shipping containers are not being used in ports, so the company wouldn’t have a problem there. Every unit/container has a surface of 28.8m2, which isn't big but is a good living standard for students. Tempo Housing has various designs for different needs but every container comes with a kitchen, bathroom and living room. Large windows provide sufficient daylight and every container has good insulation to protect it from heat/cold, noise and fire. The ducts and pipes for ventilation, sewage, water and heating/cooling and the wiring for power and data all come together in a central service shaft in the middle of the unit, next to the bathroom. Every few containers, there is one container that connects all these services and leads it to the main network of the city. The containers are very strong and very suitable for stacking.
According to one municipality (Noordwijk), in the Netherlands the price is around €1000 per m2. That is € 28,800 per house. This is including the installation of the containers and the connection to electricity and the sewer system. The housing company requires that the containers be purchased in groups of 50, after which the buyer can rent out the individual units. Maybe the most amazing thing is that they can deliver the final product in 11 weeks. Of course those prices are developed for a Dutch market, so this will vary in other countries.

More information can be found on:http://www.tempohousing.com/

SPACEBLOCK - architectural solution for human poverty

Spaceblock is in search of a flexible housing solution that could be used in several Third World countries. It’s result is a simple prefabricated building system which offers a spatial structure that is based upon an individual prefab module. It offers the possibility to claim this little spot and express its identity. Every person is unique and longing for his own little part in the bigger picture. This is the starting point of each Spaceblock-design.

The flexible system can be used as temporarily (slum)housing and small street enterprises, but even bigger structures can be made. In Chennai, one of India’s mega cities, a shelter for 120 street children is designed with this system. Hopefully this pilot project will be the first in a wide range.
Spaceblock is still in its initial stage and needs to be carried by different people and companies. Maybe you or your company can help!

If you’re interested in being a part of this process, please send an email to marco@space-block.com.

There’s more about this unique project on http://www.space-block.com/.

Open Source House Case Study

Case Study

View more documents from Enviu - Innovators in Sustainability.

Ironic: An eco-housing project depends on waste increase

Although many people may think that the success of Ingrid Vaca's housing method depends on waste increase, we rather think it's the opposite. For the OS-house, the success depends only on a focus change. Granted, an empty bottle lying on the street it's waste. But if it's added to a new life cycle, it will turn out be a useful resource.

For example, during 2008 the world consumed 200 billion liters of bottled water. If we consider an average consume of 1-liter bottles, plus the 25,000 plastic bottles needed to build one single eco-house, the housing industry would be building 8 million new homes per year while getting rid of tonnes of polluting waste.

That's why Ingrid's initiative of turning waste into a resource is absolutely needed. Moreover, from incubation till completion, her method is 100% feasible. And viable initiatives are the ones truly needed to overcome housing problems in developing countries.

For this reason, the OS-house launches the Design Competition in January 2010. Each participant will have to design a modular house that is both affordable and sustainable for its future residents. The best design will build in a pilot project in Ghana, and just as Ingrid's eco-housing idea, that design will change the life of those who really need it.

How to build a sustainable home with 15,456 plastic bottles

In the little town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, empty plastic bottles lying on the streets are being collected and used as house bricks. Ingrid Vaca Diez is a hands-on Bolivian woman who reuses plastic and glass bottles to build sustainable and affordable homes. Her enthusiasm and creativity already changed the reality of life of many families.

Although for us it's impossible to figure out how could Ingrid – a lawyer – come up with a ground breaking eco-housing solution. For her, it was obvious. She created recycled-affordable bricks by filling empty bottles with a variety of materials, eg, cement, mud, animal feces, sugar mixed with straw and sand. Simply put. And once Ingrid realized that her method was feasible, she decided to target this housing alternative to large families living in extreme poverty. The very first house became reality in 2007; it's a 120m2 building made of 15,456 plastic bottles.

After succeeding in her first two eco-housing attempts, Ingrid's method brought kindred souls together, and nowadays they are almost done with the third house; with many more to come.

In short, Ingrid's eco-housing method not only builds homes to those in true need but also turns human waste into a resource. In other words, Ingrid's straightforward innovation confirms that affordability and sustainability can live under the same roof.

Researching in Ghana (III)

"It's absolutely necessary to have Ghanians' participation and collaboration during all the stages of the project"- Samson Nibi.

For 4 weeks Samson did a lot of research, had a couple of appointments and gave various seminars to more than 500 students. For the Open Source House project this trip was very important. Samson gathered some relevant information about the needs of the prospective home owners. He also found two organizations to commit to the implementing action once the designs are ready.

Everybody gets excited
More than 500 hundred students attended the seminars, this shows how great their interest is in this project. As well as the students the government showed great interest in this project. Because of all the enthusiastic reactions Samson received he is convinced that Open Source House is going the be a great success.

The market is open for os-house!

Samson Nibi:
Getting back I was very tired but satisfied. I traveled thousands of kilometers to meet with people in the housing sector, at local, regional and national level. From the lowest to the highest level of government representation they were enthusiastic about os-house and received us with arms wide open. Even the prospective architects at the universities are looking forward to have some influence in the way the housing market will develop in the future. And I must add, sustainable housing is a hot topic.


Research in Ghana (II)
Research in Ghana (I)

Researching in Ghana (II)

On September the 1,^st 2009 Samson Nibi landed in Ghana to officially start the research period. First key strategic contacts have already been done.

During this first week, our researcher Samson Nibi will set his team up. A team formed by four local research assistants that will help Samson cover norther, southern and coastal regions of Ghana to identify growing urban areas and OS House's target group. For this purpose Samson will contact the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Institute of Professional Studies to choose the best hands-on mentality candidates to collaborate in this vital task for the Opens Source House.
Once the Open Source new research crew is ready to start, a strategy will be created to define activities, content, timing, and what's expected out of each assistant.

Researching in Ghana (I)

Werner Sobek, Worldwide Architectural Reference

Werner Sobek is our Green-Innovative Reference of the week. On the WSI web site anyone can read his thoughts and visions. "How shall we work and live in the future?"- outloud he asks. For him, "the answer requires an unconditional anticipation of what the future holds in store - a method with occasionally may lead us in the wrong direction but which is the only way in terms of being intellectually justifiable". Triple Zero® (zero energy consumption, zero emissions and zero waste) is also part of Sobek's contribution to sustainable architecture. It defines the demands a building must fulfil to satisfy aspirations regarding environmental sustainability.

Sobek's most recognized claim, the R-series, are friendly environmental prefab building solutions. These modern modular homes were built with recyclable materials. But were also designed environmental responsible and adaptable to fit specific contexts without loosing sight of user's comfort.

The R128, R129 and H16 are more than the result of Sobek's architectural vision, but also a feasible solution to face housing and environmental challenges. For a better appretiation and understanding of his work visit http://www.wernersobek.com/

Research in Ghana (I)

Open Source House will conduct an extensive research to lay the foundation for the pilot project in Ghana. With the help of 4 local assistants, our researcher Samson Nibi will cover north, middle and coastal regions of Ghana for a three folded purpose:

1. Locating and establishing strong network partners
2. Involving local authorities, land experts, builders and students
3. Attract high level government participation

In selected districts Samson Nibi will engage government functionaries of all levels in workshops for policy and implementation. Samson: "The goal is to create the necesary government support for business ventures of this nature".

In previous attempts to develop and improve housing, the vast majority have failed because local involvement was not considered. Enviu and OS House will not make the same mistakes. Samson: "It's necessary to undesrtand ghanian's housing and building concepts for a succesful pilot project evolution".

Finally, Samson Nibi thinks local involvement is essential to generate information regarding buildings, building processes and general economic and cultural situation. To therefore establish the feasibilty of the pilot project.