Sustainable Building Material Approach

Kevin Vervuurt

The Open Source House Project aims at providing better, affordable and sustainable housing for low-income households in developing countries. The outcome of the architectural competition intends to guarantee standards of sustainability and meet the challenge of flexibility, ensuring that all designs can be locally embedded with the ambition that +100.000 people will be living in sustainable OS-housing by 2020.

Here are a few tips for a sustainable, local and affordable approach to building materialization. Despite the fact that these ‘themes’ overlap, they do not necessarily imply each other, hence my reason for mentioning them separately. Initially the Open Source House Competition is focused on the Ghanaian context, but eventually the objective of the entire project lies in providing a solution for developing countries.

Trias Ecologica is an environmental strategy for sustainable development. According to Trias Ecologica the first step is to minimize the demand of sources [e.g. raw materials, water, energy, etc] as much as possible. This already starts in the early stages of the design process, as the form and materialization will for example define its energy usage. At this point it is also important to have a feeling of the amount of materials a design requires, including the construction techniques applied, as the latter might need a lot of extra building elements and or labor.

Secondly in the case of dependency of a source, go for endless, inexhaustible sources. The construction industry creates a lot of waste; certain waste materials can be re-used without needing to be processed and with little effort. For example reusing the wood or bricks of [old] buildings which are about to be demolished. It is also encouraged to use [domestic] materials not stemming from the building industry, in alternative ways for construction purposes.

Only if the first two steps are not enough to meet demand use exhaustible/finite sources as efficiently as possible. Limit your choice to sustainable and traditional building materials which can easily be grown and or manufactured within the local context. In the case of the competition the usage of materials which can be found in Ghana is important, but secondly it is also encouraged to think about building with materials from your local context, which might not be the same. This would allow your design to be applicable within a broader context, from a building material perspective. A Local context is a relative term as its scale depends on several factors e.g. habits, density, infrastructure, etc.

The publication “Small-Scale Production of Building Materials in the Context of Appropriate Technology” from the Centre for Human Settlements of the University of British Columbia emphasizes the importance of employing the local context as part of a development strategy. The document indicates the scale of locality being of central importance for increasing self-reliance and efficiency in housing construction, and aims to build on experiences relevant to solving local needs in locally appropriate ways.

“The UNCHS theme ‘The Small-Scale Production of Building Materials’ therefore is important technically, economically, socially, culturally, and forms part of a development strategy which emphasizes increased self-reliance, efficiency, and above all, builds on experiences which are relevant to solving local needs in locally appropriate fashions. Man’s principal aim in this regard is to enclose space for a variety of human and social needs; to do it as effectively and efficiently as possible, using resources that are readily available and appropriate. This concept is particularly vital in meeting the burgeoning shelter needs of the poor”*

Lastly, as the Open Source House Project is targeted at low-income households the buildings should be affordable. Local materials and technology minimizes production, transportation and construction costs of the building process. A quick, efficient and simple to manage building process can also keep the building costs low.

An economic design strategy can be part of the solution, in which the initial building costs are kept to a minimum by thinking of an expandable unit that is build up in phases; starting with a simple nucleus containing the primary necessities of basic adequate shelter [toilet, shower, living room, external kitchen], which can be extended overtime. The latter can happen with the ‘growth’ of income or after the initial structure has been paid off.

Maintenance costs should be kept to a minimum by the application of user-friendly and familiar construction techniques in combination with durable materials, which can be self-repaired and replaced. Not only does this keep the cost of maintenance low but also promotes self sufficiency.

In the end the proposal should be economically viable for the target group. Cheap materials do not imply of low quality, it is up to us, as designers, to come up with creative, environmentally sustainable and affordable solutions.

*University of British Columbia Centre for Human Settlements, Small-Scale Production of Building Materials in the Context of Appropriate Technology, [p.2], 1986, [http://www.chs.ubc.ca/archives/?q=node/989]

Useful websites:

http://www.sustainablebuilding.info
http://www.humanitariantimber.org
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com

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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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/.

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/