An approach to an improved and sustainably affordable building system for emerging economy countries? The winners of the first Open Source House - Blaanc and Caeiro Capurso with the project 'Emerging Ghana' are announced. Please click on Full Text above for further details on the competition and winning project.
Enviu (Innovators in Sustainability) is an international network organisation for and by young entrepreneurial people based in the Netherlands. Their mission is to contribute to 'a sustainable world where innovative entrepreneurship creates value for people and planet by inspiring and involving young entrepreneurial people'.
Departing from the theme of ecological sustainability their stratedgy involves scouting and generating ideas regarding innovative sustainable entrepreneurship. These ideas are developed as 'profitable and sustainable solutions for environmental and social issues'. Environmental and social issues being problems or threats to (living) natural resources and social structures that the global society depends on. When operating in emerging economies they are particularly interested in ecological sustainability in relation to poverty reduction: 'We address poverty by means of empowering entrepreneurial people to realise their sustainable ideas.'
'Let’s generate choice for those who don’t have any!'
Enviu and architect Vincent van der Meulen initiated the Open Source House competition.
Open Source House (OS-House) aimed to provide better, more sustainable housing in low-income countries. 8 Design principles (including whether it can be produced locally/ aims at improving local employment and know-how/ strives to minimize the need for import and transportation) are utilized by OS-House to guarantee standards of sustainability, and meet the challenge of flexibility, ensuring that all designs could be locally embedded.
To read further on the 8 Design principles:
http://os-house.org/english/os-house/design+competition/Eight+principles.
The Winning Project
‘Emerging Ghana’ a design made by Blaanc and Caeiro Capurso has won the Open Source House design competition (image on right). The team includes: Ana Morgado, João Caeiro, Lara Camilla Pinho, Maria de Paz Sequeira Braga and Maria de Carmo Caldeira. Country of origin: Portugal. Location: Portugal/Mexico/Brazil.
Brief Project Statement/Background
Mrs. Aanaa N. Enin, the ambassador of Ghana, accompanied by two Ghanaian chiefs, articulated the need for affordable and sustainable housing in Ghana, especially for the emerging middle class.
More than one billion people in the world are forced to live in slums and that number is growing rapidly. The inhabitants of these slums are - contrary to what we often think - people with a decent job and a steady income. Nevertheless they can still face major difficulties when it comes to getting a decent house. Rapid urbanization, wastage of resources, expensive building materials, inefficient construction methods and architects who do not share their ideas are all part of the underlying problem.
Concept
The design is a courtyard building based on the Ashanti compound. Observing that most tropical buildings look similar, the architects adopted features such as the depth of the building to ensure cross-ventilation and the use of local materials (Lateritie soils, Dahoma wood, Plywood & Bamboo).
A modular system, which adheres to local building standards, was designed for facilitating transportation and re-use in others projects. The structure and skin of the building are separate. The demountable elements with dry connections would make it possible to change or upgrade.
Natural ventilation, passive solar, sustainable materials, waste and water management have been considered in designing an energy efficient proposal. The design can be built by anyone from skilled labourer to home owner. Local labour for digging and putting up walls, carpenter, electrician and plumber would be required. This offering 'a step closer to promoting togetherness, security, happiness and status.. One Step to Ghana Emerging'.
The winning design is planned to be built in Ghana as a pilot case.
For further information on:
Details, Plot Layout, Axonometric view, Water/Waste managent, Ventilation and Solar system, Life Cycle, Size, Connections, Installations & Climate all visible from Open Source website and project poster annexed to this article.
Open Sourcing
Enviu states they are aware that this is not the only way to build sustainable houses, yet in this way the housing designs can be compared and remain flexible. This means elements can be combined and adapted to fit changing personal needs. People in low-income countries are used to incremental building. However Open Source House provides a more sustainable solution to incremental building. It facilitates easy upgrading of the houses, stimulates the local economy and creates longer life cycles for building components and materials.
This way the houses and the designs are flexible and open for future improvements and developments. With the 8 Open Source House principles as a common language, an incredible diversity of technical and creative solutions is collected on the OS-House platform.
Free to Use for Anybody, Everywhere
What will be the outcome of the winning project? How many will be built?
Does this approach offer an improved and sustainably affordable building system for emerging economy countries as it set out to do?
Not only the winning but all of the competition entries are made available on the Open Source House platform (https://oshouse.viadesk.com). By registering on the Enviu website you can contribute your ideas, reshape the designs of others, or adapt and implement a design in your local context.
http://os-house.org
