Case study type: Edificio

Passiv Solar Verandas

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Passiv Solar Verandas

Mismatches Functional adequacy
Urban Design Urban fabrics Environments Liveability
Promotion and production Participatory processes Self-construction Progressive housing

Main objectives of the project

Since March 2014, over 1,500 Passiv Solar Verandas have been built onto the houses of people living in the remote Central Highlands of Afghanistan creating additional living spaces and providing warm air, which circulates round the house. More than 100 trained local craftsmen were involved in building the verandas, creating a livelihood for them and their families.

Date

  • 2016:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: World Habitat

Location

Continent: Asia
Country/Region: Afghanistan

Description

Project Description

Passiv Solar Verandas are wood-framed structures built against the south-facing wall of a house. The project installs them in the highland region of Afghanistan where winter temperatures are cold and access to fuel is expensive and difficult. They act like a greenhouse using the sun’s warmth to heat the air. The warm air circulates into the rest of the house achieving an indoor temperature of around +20°C. The verandas are easy and cheap to install, constructed from timber or steel and polythene sheets. The veranda creates an additional room, extending the living space of the house.

Since March 2014, over 1,500 verandas have been built in the Central Highlands (in the Bamyan and Maydan-Wardak districts). More than 100 trained local craftsmen were involved in building them creating a livelihood for them and their families.

The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2017 by which time GERES aims to have trained a total of 170 local workers who will complete 700 verandas (in addition to those completed by individuals/communities without GERES’s input).

Acknowledged by global consulting firm Hystra as one of the world’s 15 pioneers in marketing for vulnerable populations, GERES deploys an innovative approach to the large-scale dissemination of pioneering and sustainable energy solutions.

Aims and Objectives

The project aims to help vulnerable and poor households overcome fuel poverty through a market-based approach. The veranda was developed in collaboration with households, by including them in the design and adaptation process, and then training local craftsmen. They are provided with the technical and business tools to support a veranda-based business. GERES introduced the veranda into the market but households are responsible for placing the order and paying between 80 and 100% of the total cost.

Passiv Solar Verandas offer a more sustainable means of heating than the traditional practice of cutting down trees for fuel, which has a negative impact on the environment, degrading soil fertility and leading to erosion.

There are two groups who benefit directly from this project:

  • The local people who are able to operate within the marketplace and generate additional sources of income.
  • Households who purchase the Passiv Solar Verandas (with or without a GERES subsidy) and benefit from a warmer house and an additional, warm day room as well as savings on fuel costs.

The objective is that the demand will be self-sustained once the project ends, providing households with increased comfort and warmth, while craftsmen gain an additional source of income. As the primary goal of GERES is to provide sustainable energy solutions to as many people as possible, large-scale dissemination is at the heart of its strategy. By the end of the programme, GERES aims to equip 3,000 households with energy saving solutions.

Context

The Central Highlands of Afghanistan is a mountainous area north of Kabul forming part of the HinduKush mountain range. The area is largely rural. Some parts of it are remote and very sparsely populated. The climate is dry and seasonal temperatures vary. In upland areas the average summer temperatures don’t exceed 15°C and average winter temperatures are below 0°C.

Afghanistan is a poor country ranking 175th on the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Its recent history has been affected by decades of conflict which has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure and severely hampered trade. The Central Highlands is a relatively safe area. It is traditionally populated by the Hazara ethnic group, but there has been a significant rise in population as refugees from other ethnic groups have fled from other areas of the country to escape the war. The Hazara group has a history of being discriminated against and there are numerous reports of members of the group being attacked and kidnapped on the primary access roads that run through the region.

The population of the Central Highlands primarily relies on agriculture and livestock as a source of income. Livelihoods depend mainly on the availability and management of natural resources: land for pastures and agriculture; water for irrigation; biomass (wood) for cooking, heating and construction purposes. The area has suffered a prolonged drought. This combined with high population increases since 2001 have drastically increased the pressure on already scarce natural resources.

GERES’ passiv solar house technologies have been disseminated in remote regions of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and India since 2009. In Afghanistan, GERES has identified that the vast majority of the population live in uninsulated houses, with high indoor air pollution and energy expenses from heating. It also showed that 76% of these houses could be modified into passiv solar houses, which are cheaper to heat, energy efficient and locally installed. After a pilot initiative in the Bamyan region in 2010, and a larger scale project in Kabul, the project currently promotes the verandas at a larger scale in Central Highlands.

GERES implements its activities within the framework of the “Central Highland Rural Development Programme”, a consortium of three French NGOs (MADERA, Solidarités International and GERES as the lead partner) focused on improving the living conditions of the rural population in terms of agriculture, environment and natural resource management. Solidarités International focuses on agricultural development and water/sanitation activities and MADERA focuses on livestock and related natural resources management.

Key Features

The key features of the approach can be summarised as follows:

  • GERES works to find the best compromise between efficiency, acceptability, affordability and local ownership so that their technologies have a high market penetration rate and impact the largest number of beneficiaries. Finding the best balance among these four elements is the key to success, and requires lengthy analysis, research and development.
  • They maximise local added-value by developing or reinforcing value chains ensuring the local ownership and sustainability of their solutions by providing capacity building to local people (mainly craftsmen) so they can operate independently.
  • GERES also supports by generating demand through awareness-raising campaigns and enhancing policy frameworks.

Craftsmen are approached based on recommendations from the heads of communities. GERES then develops demonstration sites with these craftsmen in strategic places in their communities to raise awareness and share information about the benefits with local communities. The Passiv Solar Verandas are developed in collaboration with both households and craftsmen. GERES’ Research and Development team works with local households to identify their specific energy needs and problems and to create appropriate solutions.

Pilot designs are incorporated into houses and focus groups involving residents help ensure people’s inputs are incorporated into the adaptation process. Capacity building workshops were planned with local communities in order to explain how to use and maintain the verandas for optimal efficiency; Technical workshops were implemented with local stakeholders in order to clarify and explain the main purposes of the programme. Craftsmen were also consulted at this stage to make sure the technologies fit with their skills and the materials used are readily available locally.

What impact has it had?

In close cooperation with academia and UN agencies, the technologies and approaches developed by GERES are being embedded into the traditional construction designs of housing in the Central Highlands region of Afghanistan and GERES is currently working in collaboration with UN-HABITAT on improving the Afghan national standards for housing.

The project promotes and protects the rights of citizens by carefully considering cultural factors during the design process and by going to some lengths to ensure the solutions are affordable for the target community.

How is it funded?

The project was originally funded by the Government of France’s development agency ‘Agence Française de Développement’ (AFD) to work in Kabul with the support of the European Commission and private foundations. This agency fully funded the Central Highland Rural Development Programme (10 million euros; USD $11.1 million) for three partner organisations covering four components WASH, Agriculture, Energy Saving Solutions (ESS) in housing and capitalisation. Of these NGOs, GERES is in charge of the ESS and capitalisation components.

GERES’s development of the energy saving solutions component including the dissemination of Passiv Solar Veranda and other Energy Saving Solutions costs 4.5 million euros (USD $5 million). The annual running costs (14.5% of this amount) have been completed thanks to the support of private foundations (Fondation Abbé Pierre and Lord Michelham of Hellingly Foundation). The full implementation cost of the Passiv Solar Verandas project is 1 million euros (USD $1.1 million). This includes research and development, the direct material costs as well as a part of the HR and logistic resources needed for this activity, training and capacity building with craftsmen, toolkits and plans, demonstration units and awareness-raising and marketing.

The Government of France’s Development Agency (AFD) are fully funding the dissemination of the Passiv Solar Verandas in the Central Highlands area as a component of a wider programme of housing energy saving solutions. It is intended that by the end of the project the Passiv Solar Verandas will have been fully integrated into the local market ensuring financial sustainability for the local craftsmen. While the existing project funding ends in September 2017, additional funding is currently being sought to expand the project into new districts in the Central Highlands. At present, craftsmen have been trained in the construction of three different types of veranda. These range in price from approximately USD $130 to USD $350. The price variations are due primarily to the selection and availability of materials – from the more expensive hardwood veranda with a plastic cover through to one with a steel profile and then the cheaper round-pipe veranda. These variations make the Passiv Solar Verandas affordable for the majority of the target population.

Why is it innovative?

The programme has taken a proven technology and adapted it to deal with the challenges faced in an extreme environment due to the scarcity of materials and the geographic isolation of the community. An innovative approach to affordability has been strategically designed into this project. GERES has introduced the veranda into the market based on the need identified for such solutions in the community.

An innovative subsidy model has been used that keeps the verandas affordable without distorting the local market. The amount of the subsidy is calculated based on the average price of materials in the local bazaar and the expected time for construction. When a product is first introduced to an area a ‘high subsidy’ (approximately 12% of the total material and labour cost) is provided to the craftsmen. This ‘high subsidy’ remains for six weeks before moving to a ‘low subsidy’ (approximately 6% of the total material and labour cost). This low subsidy lasts for three months, or until the end of the project depending on the uptake in the different districts. The high subsidy coincides with a spring or winter promotional campaign which includes a series of awareness sessions and promotional events in communities to accelerate the acceptance of the technologies and increase the number of orders for the craftsmen.

A staggered subsidy campaign, with high subsidies available over two promotional periods (spring and winter) means that GERES contributes between 6% and 12% of the overall costs. This strategy allows for easier entry into the marketplace for craftsmen constructing these technologies and the staggered delivery is designed to eventually eliminate the subsidy to support the continuity and financial sustainability of the project. The subsidy is given to the craftsmen directly as they are the target beneficiaries of the project. It is then their responsibility to pass on the cost savings to the families.

The delivery is described as staggered as when the technologies are introduced into the community, the high subsidy leads to increased affordability and supports dissemination. As the subsidy decreases from high to low it is anticipated that a) the craftsmen will have gained more business and marketing skills (provided by GERES) and b) the technologies will be well known within the target area (meaning they will help to market themselves). This strategy eventually balances out to a point where once the subsidy ceases, the craftsmen have the start-up skills necessary to be sustainable, supporting themselves financially.

The programme has adapted its model as it has been implemented. The Passiv Solar Verandas developed in earlier GERES projects and at the initial phases of this project used imported Russian timber as the primary construction material. Given the lack of available local materials this timber was accepted locally and had improved durability and longevity over local materials. Since then however, the GERES team has developed variations of the timber veranda by using cheaper, locally available steel. While construction techniques differ slightly overall, these new techniques are more affordable for the most vulnerable households.

What is the environmental impact?

The veranda reduces the energy burden on the environment by significantly reducing the amount of bushes and wood that households collect to meet their daily heating needs. The Passiv Solar Verandas are primarily made up of the frame and polythene cover. The frame is made from either imported Russian timber, local timber, steel profile or steel pipes (based on the availability of material and financial constraints of the household). The local timber has the lowest embodied energy of these materials, however its poor quality and low density also make it the least sustainable in the long-term. Material selection in this region is based on availability and sustainable material selection for this project is an ongoing challenge in the Central Highlands area.

The verandas increase the household temperature by +10 to 15°C and reduce the amount of natural resources used as heating fuel in the household by between 5 and 30% per year. In the Central Highlands these fuels comprise primarily of dung, bushes and locally grown timber. The Passiv Solar Verandas, in combination with the other energy saving solutions disseminated by craftsmen as part of the programme, contribute to the overall awareness in the region of natural resource management, environmental stewardship and sustainable environmental best practices in general. For example, specific objectives have been outlined for the remainder of this project to train households on the reuse of plastic materials (at the end of each winter) and to create collection points for recycling.

Is it financially sustainable?

The programme has been developed so that once the funding comes to an end and the project is completed, the verandas will already be integrated into the marketplace and the trained craftsmen will have the capacity to further develop their enterprises without the ongoing support of GERES. The extensive replication of Passiv Solar Verandas in the project area indicates already that these technologies are being accepted into the local marketplace and are providing sources of income for craftsmen outside of the GERES project.

The current funding is guaranteed until the end of the project in late 2017. GERES is currently negotiating funding for a second phase of the project across different districts in the target provinces. While this funding is not guaranteed, it will not change the overall impact and ongoing sustainability of the current project. The project is specifically designed to ensure the trained craftsmen have a longer term source of income and will provide ongoing cost savings for the households involved. The business and marketing aspects of the project have focussed on the linkages between craftsmen and local material providers to ensure the current value-chain remains intact on completion of the project. While this project does not directly reduce the cost of building houses, the cost benefits achieved through fuel reduction does mean that household running costs are reduced.

What is the social impact?

The Passiv Solar Verandas project helps to facilitate greater cooperation and cohesion by working closely with communities and through awareness-raising activities. GERES ensures acceptance from communities by engaging community leaders in the decision making around the choice of craftsmen and the selection of verandas and other energy saving solutions.

Passiv Solar Verandas reduce social inequalities by allowing reductions in fuel consumption (giving financial savings), and increasing internal temperatures and improving living conditions in winter. In addition, the provision of an additional warm space in winter where people can undertake daily chores, such as washing dishes, looking after children and receiving guests has benefits for the whole household, particularly women, who are traditionally responsible for overseeing these activities.

The Passiv Solar Verandas project allows individual craftsmen to take a more active role in society by providing services that benefit their community. The marketing training provided allows them to reach out and generate business which increases the productivity of their enterprises. Craftsmen engaged in the Passiv Solar Verandas are trained on technical and business/marketing skills increasing their construction skills and also creating additional income opportunities for their enterprises. Given the harsh winter conditions in the Central Highlands region of Afghanistan the simple fact that the Passiv Solar Verandas increase the inside living temperature by about 10°C means the quality of life and overall health of the community is improved.

Barriers

The success of the Passiv Solar Verandas within the community is evident by the organic spread of this technology that is occurring within the community.  While this is a positive development and shows the acceptance of the concept by the community, the overall quality has not been to the standard prescribed by GERES; thus not delivering the same benefits.

Quality standards are being developed with local actors and UN-Habitat to create a minimum standards framework and ensure the safety of any Passiv Solar Verandas developed through this route.

Lessons Learned

The primary lesson learned by GERES in the Central Highlands is that of accessibility and availability of materials. The region is difficult to access and many of the communities live in remote, hard to reach areas. This presents challenges for the project team and the craftsmen seeking to disseminate the Passiv Solar Verandas in these areas. These geographic challenges also correlate to the availability of materials at an affordable price. GERES has worked hard to develop variations of the original Passiv Solar Verandas design to allow for easier access to more appropriate and affordable materials.

Evaluation

Three main areas of indicators are used to evaluate the overall success of the project:

  • The diversification of energy-saving solutions are evaluated using a number of data sets including structural tests, load bearing (with wind and snow), plastic weathering comparisons based on price of material and these are validated in the Research and Development work.
  • The strength of the value chain is demonstrated by the number of craftsmen trained/training sessions delivered, marketing material distributed and perceived demand from the community for the energy saving solutions.  These indicators allow the programme to assess the different stages of the value chain.
  • The overall impact of the project is evaluated using data regarding the dissemination of energy saving solutions, the reach of promotional campaigns and the overall mapping of the dissemination area.

Internal monitoring and evaluation activities track and analyse the implementation of the project on an ongoing basis in line with the overall objectives. External consultants have also been commission to undertake a mid-term and final review of the project activities. The overall conclusions presented as part of the mid-term review suggested that the fact that the spread of the verandas was happening organically and being led by the community themselves, without GERES’ involvement, was a testament to the appropriateness and effectiveness of the project activities.

Recognition

This submission is the first application from GERES for an award for this work. However, it is worth noting that two other solar passive technology projects by GERES in Ladakh, India have received some recognition: an Ashden in 2009 (passive solar greenhouses) and as a World Habitat Award finalist in 2011 (passive solar houses).

Transfer

GERES regularly publishes its work and attends related conferences at an international level. In Afghanistan, publications and studies are distributed via the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University in the Dari language, so are accessible to a wider public. Professional, public, donor agency and academics regularly visit the project sites and there are regular field visits by representatives of provincial and national government.

The original veranda was developed in Kabul as well as being piloted in other districts. It has since then been transferred by GERES with the current project to the rural Central Highlands of Afghanistan. Provided there is a market and an identified need within the community there is little reason why the current Passiv Solar Verandas technologies could not be transferred and replicated elsewhere. The veranda technology could be transferable to other locations that face similar heating issues during the winter if the design is adapted to the resources available within those areas. In addition, the market-based approach could be transferred to any location. Similarly, the approach with which GERES researches, develops, pilots and validates the Passiv Solar Verandas technology could be transferred to other similar energy saving solutions and sustainable housing and construction initiatives.

GERES is interested in scaling up the existing Passiv Solar Verandas project provided there is a need and interest from the target community and there is affordable and easy access to the required materials. Future projects (currently under development) seek to build on the current successes of this market based approach to energy efficiency and cover additional districts in the provinces where they are currently working. A forthcoming project in Kabul uses a similar methodology in combination with a micro-finance element to further the potential reach of Passiv Solar Verandas in the capital of Afghanistan.

The current Passiv Solar Verandas design is an evolution of previous Passiv Solar Housing initiatives that have been implemented across part of central and Southern Asia including the dissemination of over 3,000 Passiv Solar Verandas constructed by 74 craftsmen in Kabul between 2009 and 2012. The current Verandas project has built on these successes and evolved the material and construction techniques through its Research and Development process to make the Passiv Solar Verandas more accessible and affordable for the target community.

Locally – through the consortium work, the partners integrate GERES technologies into their programmes.

Nationally – In Afghanistan, the Ministry of Public Health legislated for the inclusion of the GERES’ energy-efficiency standards into the construction of all public buildings.

Links

Authors:

World Habitat

Back to Rio

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Back to Rio

Policies and regulations Local policies
Urban Design Urban fabrics Liveability Inclusion
Promotion and production Participatory processes Self-management

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2015:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: World Habitat

Location

Continent: South America
City: Rio de Janeiro
Country/Region: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

Description

This huge scale public arts project has radically transformed the image of one of the most notorious favelas in Rio de Janeiro. It mobilised a community to paint the façades of their houses creating massive works of art. The effect has been to redefine their surroundings and turned a no-go area into a dynamic community.

Project Description

Aims and Objectives

The ultimate aim of the project is that the painting of the houses in the favela will act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration and empowerment of the area and thereby improve people’s lives.

As a next stage, the project aims to continue, involving painting a further 50 buildings.

Back to Rio is a grassroots arts project started by two Dutch artists, Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, founders of the Favela Painting Foundation. They first visited Vila Cruzeiro in Rio in 2006 and painted a 150 m2 mural of a boy with a kite on the wall of one building. They returned a few years later creating a much larger mural covering a public stairway. This artwork depicted the stairway as a river with Koi fish swimming in it. They returned to Rio de Janeiro in 2010 to undertake a very large community artwork on a big public square in Santa Marta.

After they completed the Santa Marta project, their vision was to do something even bigger and paint a whole favela. Work then restarted in Vila Cruzeiro, in the main street of this favela. This project is called: Back To Rio. A serious gun battle in 2014 temporarily halted the work and also caused them to rethink. They relocated and chose a more visible and public place, partly for security reasons, but also to help create a more positive image for the area after its darkest moment. The project involves painting thirty-four connected buildings creating a vast 7,000 m2 artwork.

The artists initially hired six local young people to take part. Participants were given training in plastering (the houses were bare brick and had to be repaired and rendered before they could be painted). Later in the projects they trained twenty-five young people from the favela in painting and art techniques. Participants were all paid and learned a skill.

The project has drawn positive attention to Vila Cruzeiro in particular and Rio’s favelas in general. The brightly-coloured paintings have received wide scale international media coverage and the area has hosted several celebrity visitors. For the first time the media was reporting positive news from the Favelas. Santa Marta is now a tourist destination, with regular organised tours provided by locals for visitors to the city.

Context

Vila Cruzeiro is an informal settlement (favela) in Rio’s North Zone. It has a reputation for criminality and violence. In 2010, The Rio Times described it as “one of the most dangerous favelas in Rio.” It went on to say “The zone is responsible for over one third of the city’s murders and a common cause of death amongst inhabitants is stray bullets”. The settlement was built in the early 1970s and most of the buildings have been little improved since. In 2010, the area was targeted by police aiming to break a local drug gang. A street gun battle ensued, which lasted five days and resulted in the death of 37 people.

Estimates vary on the number of people living in Rio’s favelas, but in 2009 New Yorker magazine estimated that the city had more than one thousand favelas, inhabited by three million of the city’s fourteen million population. This number has almost certainly increased in the years since, with most of the city’s population growth occurring in favelas.

What impact has it had?

Back to Rio has delivered training and capacity-building within communities in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Rio.
The project has attracted significant media attention, both nationally and internationally and has helped to change people’s perceptions of the favelas.

How is it funded?

Back to Rio is funded by a continuous fundraising campaign. The project was set up after a successful US$100,000 KickStarter crowdfunding campaign. It has been sustained by further crowdfunding, donations, private money from Haas&Hahn and a grant from the Johnnie Walker Foundation.

Why is it innovative?

  • The Favela Painting undertaken as part of the Back to Rio project offers a very unusual approach to neighbourhood improvement in deprived communities. None of the actors involved see themselves as urban planners, development professionals or community organisers. They’re artists with a social conscience, understanding the power of art as a way to bring people together in positive action.
  • The project has very effectively used media coverage to draw positive attention to the favela. Most previous media coverage concentrated on crime, drugs and violence.
  • The painting has created a tourist destination which has brought income to the area employing local guides and increasing sales in local shops.
  • The artists believe the project has high street credibility, drawing in people who were previously hard to reach or even involved in criminal activities.
  • The project has used its media coverage to drive a successful crowdfunding campaign that paid for much of the costs of the project.

What is the environmental impact?

Whenever possible, the painters experiment with coloured plaster; using pigments in plaster instead of paint which is then sprayed onto the houses which, in the long term, is more sustainable. To support this, a Dutch team of residents from Vila Cruzeiro are currently setting up a pilot for a self-sustainable paint factory in Providencia (another Favela) which will be used to transform even more houses and, if successful, export the paint to other places where favela painting projects are happening.

Is it financially sustainable?

The financial sustainability of the project depends on the successful use of innovative funding mechanisms, for example crowdsourcing.

What is the social impact?

  • The project helps change public perception of favelas.
  • It has provided a positive focus and new image for an area that has undergone violence and tragedy.
  • It empowers residents of the favelas to feel a greater sense of participation in local development without the government being involved.
  • Participants are trained in arts, painting techniques and project management.

Barriers

Despite safety having improved in Vila Cruzeiro, the project has been halted due to the ongoing conflict between the police and drug gangs, which led the project to move to another more central and safer location.

The project is heavily reliant on the two Dutch artists being on site. They immerse themselves in the community, which is one of the success factors of the project because it allows them to develop an in-depth local understanding and the creation of local teams, but it also makes it very time-consuming.

All the tenants and homeowners living in the streets where the project takes place need to be willing to get involved in the project and all of them need to come to an agreement on the design and colour scheme of the art work. The project has developed a methodology using colour-lab workshops in which people come together to make a first draft together. These workshops can also convince homeowners who were not yet sure about their participation.

Lessons Learned

People can play a major role in neighbourhood improvement without the involvement of government and can also be actively involved via different approaches to participation, which don’t follow the traditional urbanism approaches to participatory planning.

Evaluation

Locally, results are evaluated, changes implemented and re-evaluated by the local crew leader until everyone is satisfied.

The longer-term impact of the project has not as yet been evaluated.

Transfer

The project started with one mural in a favela in Rio and has since been replicated in Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Philadelphia (USA), Gothenburg (Sweden) and Willemstad (Curacao).

The project ‘Germen Crew’ in Mexico painted an entire informal settlement in Pachuca City was inspired by Favela Painting.

Links

Authors:

World Habitat

Build Back Safer with Traditional Construction Methods

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Build Back Safer with Traditional Construction Methods

Mismatches Vulnerable groups Climate change
Urban Design Quality Inclusion Equity

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2014:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: World Habitat

Location

Continent: Asia
Country/Region: Karachi, Pakistan

Description

848,000 houses were destroyed and 9.7 million people affected by severe floods in western Pakistan in 2011. This project developed and provided support to build over 20,000 flood resistant houses by the most vulnerable families based on local and traditional building designs. The houses were built using local labour and construction skills. Water resistant and lighter weight materials, such as lime and bamboo were introduced, creating huge savings in cost and embodied carbon over standard reconstruction approaches.

 

Project Description

What are its aims and objectives?

The aim of the project was to quickly provide low-cost safe housing to some of the most vulnerable families affected by the floods.  The project did not take the approach of direct post disaster reconstruction; instead it facilitated a mass community self-build programme. Most of the communities affected were remote, had few resources and families frequently had a poor understanding of the structural vulnerabilities of buildings.

The project achieved its aims by supplying disaster-resistant materials and facilitating wide-scale training of communities to rebuild buildings themselves using these materials.Within each district, local project partners worked in collaboration with government authorities to identify the most affected villages. Committees of local people who knew the families were formed. These committees selected the neediest families, using previously established criteria. Priority was given to families whose homes had been completely destroyed. The highest priority was given to those families who also had disabled or elderly family members, had particularly low incomes or where the family size was large. The project worked with the communities to provide training on effective building techniques. This approach helped people to build 23,387 houses at an average cost of US $300 per house.

What context does it operate in?

Floods affect large parts of Pakistan. The 2011 flood was particularly severe and 848,000 houses were destroyed or damaged and 9.7 million people were affected by severe flooding in Southern Sindh and Eastern Balochistan. These regions are amongst the poorest in Pakistan and many residents were very vulnerable, even before the disaster. Houses collapsed under the weight of waterlogged roofs and foundations were compromised by the flood waters. Many of the affected areas had also been hit by floods in 2010 and families reconstructing homes after those floods lost everything twice. This project has focused on helping rural communities which have suffered disproportionally from the extensive flooding.

The Heritage Foundation has been involved in post-disaster reconstruction since the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, where the organisation recycled materials such as stone, mud and wood from collapsed houses, adding lime and traditional cross-bracing (dhajji) to create stronger buildings. Another local material, bamboo, was subsequently tested and proven in housing displaced populations in the Mardan region. The use of these materials was then further developed during post-flood reconstruction in the Swat region in 2010, using multiple bamboo joists and cross-bracing to carry heavy roofs, withstanding subsequent flooding and several feet of snow.

This experience was then taken further in early 2011, after the 2010 floods in Upper Sindh, creating bamboo buildings on stilts, thus proving the feasibility of building two-storey structures of bamboo that have withstood several floods since; this included housing over 400 households. All this experience fed into the current project, implemented after the 2011 floods in Lower Sindh.

What are its key features?

Various aspects make this project unique. Most important is the experience gained by all the project partners including the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in previous disasters and shared in this project. This experience, in terms of suitable building materials and building techniques, was then further piloted, tested and proven in the programme area, before being scaled up into this project. The project adopted materials that had proved to be durable and flood resistant in post disaster reconstruction in other parts of the world. This included bamboo, which was used in place of timber and steel. Bamboo was cheap, flexible and strong and experience had shown it to be more resilient than timber and steel to floods. Hydraulic lime is a form of mortar that is much more water resistant than other forms of mortar. It had not previously been commonly used in Pakistan but can be made easily from locally available materials. It was used instead of fired bricks and cement.

These materials were then adapted into traditional building designs and techniques used in the areas affected.  A significant advantage of the use of these materials were the carbon savings. By avoiding cement and fired bricks wherever possible, the wider project has saved approximately 365,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.  Implementation was then supported by large-scale training of the communities, raising awareness around disaster risks and the vulnerabilities of their traditional ways of building. It then provided knowledge and training in using bamboo and lime materials to create safer buildings.

How is it funded?

Overall funding of £30m over three years has been provided by DFID based on detailed proposals submitted by the implementing partners, including International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which then worked with the national organisations, such as Heritage Foundation. The costs of technical consultants, training and community level training and support are included in the overall budget. The capital costs were US$300 per One Room Shelter (ORS) plus an estimated US$214 per house as the cost of overheads, transport, advisors, equipment, consultants and researchers. DFID has played a key role in the project by maintaining its funding for reconstruction after all major floods.

What impact has it had?

23,387 shelters had been completed, by Heritage Foundation by the end of the programme in 2012. The wider DFID programme, of which this was a part, implemented by various other partners, has benefitted 100,000 families in Sindh and Balochistan. The project has also enhanced the livelihoods and promoted the use of local materials. The techniques have reduced the carbon emissions and demonstrated an approach to deliver flood resistant reconstruction at an affordable price. Evaluation studies are underway to further gather the evidence of the project impact.

 

Why is it innovative?

  • Low environmental footprint due to the use of local, mainly low or zero-energy materials.
  • Re-introduction of lime to improve earth construction.
  • Improvements to vernacular construction that are innovative in each specific location.
  • Introduction of barefoot building entrepreneurs.
  • Greater involvement of women in construction, income generation and community based disaster risk management (CBDRM).

 

What is the environmental impact?

According to the estimates made by DFID’s advisor, by avoiding the use of cement and fired bricks this project has saved approximately 365,000 tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to three days’ emissions from the city of London or 170,000 inter-continental return flights. The project has used local, light-weight materials. The use of bamboo instead of wood reduces the environmental impact on forests. The project does introduce improved stoves, which should be more fuel efficient.

 

Is it financially sustainable?

The project started by making use of the Floods Relief Fund made available by DFID. By giving beneficiaries the skills to self-build with improved vernacular technologies, no further funding is required to maintain the project, although there are still thousands of families requiring help. The decentralised procurement process also contributes to local income generation. With the help of International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Foundation has also been able to initiate a programme of village barefoot entrepreneurs, who are now marketing the project’s shelters or parts thereof, including eco-toilets, stoves and other innovations. Local tribes, known as Odhs, who are traditionally employed in construction, have also found work locally. In addition, the programme and its precursors have been piloting women-focused Community-based Disaster Risk Management Centres, which have promoted alternative income generating activities.

 

What is the social impact?

The project worked with the local communities and government departments.

The village committees were established to deal with the selection of beneficiaries, the management of the funding at village level and through participation in training.  The project placed great emphasis on reaching all households with awareness raising regarding disaster risks and training to improve on vernacular building. As the shelters were relatively small, the project foresaw they would be extended at some stage in the future and aimed to give beneficiaries sufficient skills to do so on their own. The project has changed the role of women, enabling more women to be involved in construction and various alternative forms of income generation. Women are also now beginning to take a lead role in the Community-based Disaster Risk Management Centres.

 

Barriers

  • Though many of the improved vernacular technologies have proven their DRR in practice, funding has been lacking to actually test them structurally.
  • Households had to divide their time between construction and agriculture, affecting quality and donor deadlines. Quality was also affected by not all households valuing some of the support staff’s recommendations. Some further work is needed to improve the quality and reach of technical support. After reconstructed houses had proven their value during the 2012 rains, motivation to build better increased considerably.
  • Many households have been unable to extend their ORS due to extreme poverty and lack of access to micro-credits.
  • Lack of funding to support trained builders to become village entrepreneurs or provide technical support.
  • The programme was unable to initiate local bamboo plantations, to ensure sustainable harvesting in future.
  • Convincing a large number of organisations quickly of the efficacy of the project methodology was difficult, but the use of volunteers in surveys and piloting of solutions enabled the programme to rapidly provide useful information and proven options. The method was soon adopted as a key component of the “Pakistan Initial Floods Response Plan” and in grant applications to donors and thus a relatively small initiative became influential.

 

Lessons Learned

  • It is possible to improve vernacular technologies using mainly simple local means to become much more disaster-resistant, in many different locations and to transfer and adapt these experiences between locations.
  • It is possible to help disaster victims rebuild or retrofit damaged houses with relatively limited cash inputs, of just over US$500 per household, and, based on continued research by the Foundation, this can be further reduced.
  • Adequate training of each participating household is key to successful construction and its sustainability.

 

Evaluation

IOM monitored beneficiary selection, as explained above, as well as the proper use of cash for shelter by randomly scrutinising 5 per cent of beneficiaries. In doing so, it also ensured that monitoring would involve a visit to each village.

 

Transfer

Following the success of this programme in Lower Sindh, the methodology was replicated in Upper Sindh, with additions based on local technologies. Currently, 11,557 ORS are under construction there and a further 3,000 under preparation.

A survey in various programme villages revealed that community members who did not benefit from the project replicated the module with their own resources, attracted by its low cost and ease of construction, sometimes with the advice of people trained by the programme.

The Foundation has conducted training for several other agencies and communities, e.g. those affected by the Awaran earthquake of 2013 in Balochistan. And following some research, HF built several prototypes there, using earth and bamboo, with Swiss Aid. A local organisation, trained by HF will build several thousand shelters there, funded by DFID. HF is currently also being considered to provide assistance with rehousing a million people displaced from North Waziristan.

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World Habitat

Gleis 21 – We bring the village to the city

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Gleis 21 – We bring the village to the city

Urban Design

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2021: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: einszueins architektur
  • Architect:  YEWO LANDSCAPES GmbH
  • Constructor: Weissenseer Holz-System-Bau GmbH 

Location

City: Vienna
Country/Region: Austria, Vienna

Description

Under the motto “Setting the course together”, the co-housing project Gleis 21 was planned in a participatory manner with the future residents, from urban development to the socket outlet. The property is located in the center of the new urban development area “Leben am Helmut Zilk Park” near the Vienna Central Station („Hauptbahnhof Wien“). The project and the cultural association of the same name want to contribute to the development of the district. Communication within and outward, is key at Gleis 21.

The co-housing project Gleis 21 builds on three major principles: “living in solidarity”, “indulging cleverly”, and “creating with media”. Solidarity is lived in a variety of ways, be it simple neighborhood services or a Solidarityfund for personal emergencies. Lived solidarity also includes certain appartements, that were planned in cooperation with Diakonie Flüchtlingsdienst (a refugee aid organization), that can be given to refugees.

To help shape the cultural, social and media life in the newly developed quarter, a cooperation with Radio Orange, Okto TV and Stadkino Wien (cinema) was formed. The cultural Organization Gleis 21 is going to ensure a steady cultural program adapted to and in unison with its surroundings. A music-school on the lower floor rounds out the cultural scope of opportunity.
Extensive communal areas represent the focus of the communal aspect and offer space for common and individual use: from the communal kitchen to the library and sauna on the top floor to the workshop, studio and fitness room in the basement. The selection and details of community-spaces were made by the residents and form the center of communal aspects of the project.

The project was designed as a compact, zero-energy house („Niedrigstenergiehaus“) in a wood-hybrid construction and was built in a resources saving way.

The individually planned housing-units on the upper four floors are accessed via an open north-west-facing arcade and are all equipped with private balconies. The neutral and flexible structure of the building enabled each unit to be planned individually in collaboration with its residents

Authors:

Test case

3

Test case

Mismatches Location
Policies and regulations National policies
Financing Financial actors
Urban Design Modelos De Ciudad
Promotion and production Public promotion
Ownership and tenure Shared ownership

Main objectives of the project

The process has been a collective effort based on negotiation, in collaboration with the local architectural team, Mascha & Seethaler, management experts (Raum&Co), mobility (Traffix), landscaping (Land in Sicht), energy or sociology, as well as representatives of the neighborhood, the soil promoters (ARE) and the MA21 office of the Vienna City Council; all of them active participants in the design process.

Date

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Arenas Basabe Palacios arquitectos

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

The team published the story of this collaborative process as a comic (“Commons”), from the winning project of the Europan 10 competition in Vienna and its later development with a multidisciplinary team until its definitive passing by the Vienna City Council. “Commons” obtained recognition as an example of innovative, sustainable and democratic urbanism.

One of the most challenging issues of today is the question whether housing in itself, as a programme, has the power to generate an urban neighbouthood. “Garden>Courtyard” plays the ball straight back to the municipality, developers and users, suggesting an extrapolated concept of mixing with just a single programme-housing: housing with diverse models of living, diverse models of sharing, diverse models of developing, diverse models of financing, diverse models of landscaping, diverse models of maintaining.

Once the masterplan approved, the landowner (ARE, Austrian Real State) commissioned multiple architecture teams as well as different sporsors to develop an edification design. In the partnership with the Viennese enterprise for social housing and different cooperatives, a collaborative democratic and plural urbanism process was created.
Arenas Basabe Palacios was commissioned with the design and execution of 11 housing blocks in different scales, including 82 housing units with a total of 9500 m2 constructed surface containing community spaces, shared parking facilities for bicycles and commercial spaces in the ground floor for zone.

The design respects the original urban idea and furthermore creates new potential based on the garden-matrix, which is structuring the new district. Each block is constructed around its garden while edification varies in height, bay and edification type: constructions of small scale (size S) contain single-family housing and duplex; Medium-scaled buildings (size M) as their taller complements (size L) serve as collective housing blocks and develop a diverse and porous urban process.

The materiality of the buildings accentuates this idea: Ceramic colour facades are facing the sun, while all living spaces are south-orientated and opened towards the garden. The more intimate bedrooms can be accessed through privacy filters in form of halls which contain service rooms installations and space for storage.

The dwelling´s interiors reflect the characteristic construction system: together with white carpentry, visible vertically perforated bricks (“Hochlochziegel”) are creating a sequence of neutral, flexible and reconfigurable spaces.

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300000km/s

Moholt 50I50 – Timber Towers

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Moholt 50I50 – Timber Towers

Urban Design Quality Liveability
Promotion and production Materials Technology

Main objectives of the project

The Moholt 50|50 project in Trondheim, Norway, aims to improve student housing by introducing new collective-oriented units, support services, and public programs. It creates an active central area that connects the student village with the surrounding area. The project includes tower constructions where each floor is a student collective with shared spaces. Additionally, it features a kindergarten, library, and public spaces. All buildings are constructed using cross-laminated timber (CLT) and have an ambitious energy concept, including geothermal heating. The use of CLT reduces CO2 emissions and the project is the largest CLT project in Europe. The towers have a 9-storey height, with CLT elements used from the first to the 9th floor. The project utilizes the aesthetic qualities of CLT and conducted fire tests. The façade cladding system accommodates shrinkage and is clad with Kebony treated pine wood panels.

Date

  • 2016: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Masu planning
  • Architect: MDH Arkitekter SA

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Trondheim
Country/Region: Norway, Trondheim

Description

Student housing often plumb the depths of mediocrity, with simple units stacked on top of each other in the cheapest way possible and left to themselves without support programs. The Moholt 50|50 project is a reaction to this. By injecting new collective oriented housing units, support services for students and public programs into an existing student village built in the sixties, a new active central area is created, erasing the psychological border between the student village and the surrounding area.

The project is located in Trondheim, Norway. The title Moholt 50|50 represents a turning point in the history of the student village. 50 years after the inauguration of the first student units at Moholt student village a competition for young architects was arranged looking for a vision for the coming 50 years. True to the ideals of the student organization – offering both private space for individual needs and collective space promoting collaboration, social responsibility and tolerance, the winning project proposed tower constructions where every floor is a student collective. Every collective consists of 15 units with individual bathrooms. The habitants of the units share a kitchen, dining/ living room, entrance hall and a guest toilet. The ground floors of all towers offer spaces for more publicly oriented services of the student organization and commercial spaces. In addition to the student housing towers the masterplan consists of a kindergarten and a library with spaces for student activities. All buildings are constructed in crosslaminated timber (CLT) and have an ambitious energy concept. Moholt 50|50 is the largest CLT project in Europe. The guiding idea was to lay out a “street” through the student village, a coherent and active public space. Moholt allmenningen (Moholt commons), as it is now officially called, brings together existing small paths and roads to a larger public space and connects them to the larger road system. All new buildings are connected to this street which brings together movement and activity connected to the buildings. The Moholt Commons is a “shared space” area, also available to emergency vehicles, deliveries and handicap vehicles. It is designed as a public space with benches, stages, bicycle parking and planting – a place where people can meet. In the original competition proposal the towers were planned with conventional construction methods; a steel and concrete structure with a brick cladding, the latter in order to harmonize with the existing low-rise student housing with redbrick facades. To meet the project’s energy and climate goals the project team researched the possibility of turning the structures into CLT constructions. The towers, with their relatively short spans and Y-shape volumes, were statically optimal for CLT-construction. The choice of CLT in load-bearing structures, the reduced energy need in accordance with the “passive house standard” and geothermal heating are the main elements of the environmental concept for the project. The local heating plant consists of 23 geothermal wells, heat recovery from ventilation air, heat recovery from waste-water, and solar thermal collectors, all of which provide for an integrated energy system.

The use of CLT has reduced the CO2 in building materials by 57 % and the CO2 emissions associated with energy use are reduced by approximately 70% compared to standard Norwegian requirements. db77d1a7fbc36aa2769d9d623707981f2eb6d65f e7059104b8f3c628405c8bc8408ffaf6f0b22661

The five towers are 9-storeys high with a height of 28-metres. The basement and ground floor levels are made in cast reinforced concrete. From the first floor to the 9th floor the structure consists of prefabricated CLT-elements.

The approach to building with CLT was to take advantage of the finished surface of the CLT elements and expose as much as possible of the wood in the interiors. By utilizing the technical and aesthetic qualities of the CLT system a robust and honest expression was achieved.

A full scale fire test was conducted to establish a better information basis for fire sizing, burn rate and sprinkler capacity.

Like regular wood structures, CLT wood structures have the characteristics of shrinkage in tangential and radial direction. The façade cladding system of the student towers is designed to give it a telescopic characteristic, which can absorb the shrinkage of the floor elements without creating tensions in the cladding.

The façades are clad with Kebony treated pine wood panels. The cladding on the ground floor is treated with a fire protecting wood stain, whereas the rest of the Kebony façade is left untreated and will weather naturally.

Authors:

Rasu Houses

2

Rasu Houses

Urban Design Quality

Main objectives of the project

Rasu Namai is a residential quarter in Vilnius consisting of 18 houses. The plot of land features a wooded slope, ammunition vaults, and a creek. The design overcomes challenges of a narrow site, lack of sunlight, and historical preservation through an elevated and lowered approach. Eight elevated houses are positioned between the retaining walls of the vaults, angled to correspond with the vault entrances. Ten lowered houses connect two terraces along the creek and street, with retaining walls separating car spaces and private terraces. The buildings are clad in various textures of wood planks, reflecting local traditions and creating a harmonious aesthetic. The project preserves the street's perspective, extending into the Ribiskes landscape reserve. Concrete structures support the elevated houses, while other elements use local materials like clay brickwork and wooden roofs. The facades are clad in Siberian larch for minimal maintenance. The design emphasizes the relationship between nature, historical objects, textures, and the new structures, contributing to non-energetic sustainability.

Date

  • 2015: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: PLAZMA Architecture Studio
  • Architect: Paleko architektu studija

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Vilnius
Country/Region: Lithuania, Vilnius

Description

Rasu Namai is a residential quarter consisting of ordinary 18 houses in Pavilniai regional park of Vilnius.
A 7000 sq. m. plot of land in the cul-de-sac of Rasu street features a tall tree wooded slope with a northern orientation, 1920s ammunition vaults on the higher ground and a narrow creek on lower levels. The new buildings in the higher part of the plot are elevated on slender columns in order to „catch” the sun and leave the walls of historical vaults undisturbed. Meanwhile the buildings down the slope are lowered in order to get more privacy and provided with the yards on the creek bank.

The main design challenges were: an extremely narrow site with cross height difference, lack of sun and affection to historical objects. The key answer to it lay in the duality: ELEVATED + LOWERED.

8 ELEVATED houses are set between the retaining walls of the ammunition vaults or placed above their cornices to ensure their visibility from the street. The pairs of houses correspond to the pairs of entrances to the vaults. These houses are angled to correspond with the entrances to the vaults.
The northern side of the street is shaped by the intermittent perimeter of LOWERED houses. 10 separate buildings connect two terraces: the bank of the creek and the street. Retaining walls between the houses separate the places for cars on the street level and private terraces below.

The complex of houses is harmonized by uniform materialization: buildings are clad in wood planks of several different textures, influenced by local traditions. Homogenous architectural details, scale and color of the buildings enhance the idea of unity even further.

The perspective of the street is not obstructed, but rather extending into the valley of Ribiskes landscape reserve.

The idea to raise the upper houses on metal stilts required the use of concrete structures while other elements of the project employs local, traditional building materials such as clay brickwork and wooden roof structures. The facades are clad in Siberian larch harvested in the nearby areas and initially patinated to keep it as much maintenance free as possible. The compact size of the building decrease heat losses as well as provide easy accessibility to every element if repair is necessary. The relation between local nature, historical objects, textures and the new structures might be considered as an aspect of non-energetic sustainability.

Authors:

Fundació Mies van der Rohe Barcelona

Puukuokka Housing Block (house 1)

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Puukuokka Housing Block (house 1)

Urban Design Environments Quality

Main objectives of the project

Puukuokka One is Finland's first eight-story wooden apartment building, showcasing modular prefabricated CLT construction for high-quality, environmentally responsible, and affordable housing. It has received accolades such as the Finlandia Prize for Architecture and Resident Act of the Year 2015. The complex consists of three 6-8-story buildings, with the first building completed and the others scheduled for construction in the next two years. Puukuokka aims to maximize the technical and aesthetic qualities of CLT while creating a distinct architectural expression. It pioneers a lease-to-own financing strategy to support social sustainability, allowing gradual ownership acquisition through rental payments over 20 years. The design combines the warmth and privacy of single-family dwellings with the semi-public nature of shared spaces in apartment buildings. The use of CLT enables a spacious and energy-efficient hallway and atrium space, independent temperature control in each unit, and integrated piping for maintenance. The construction time is reduced through prefabricated modules, which also allow for a fully wooden load-bearing structure. The complex is built on a concrete foundation, preserving the natural landscape and utilizing locally available and renewable wood as a low-emission and CO2 storage material.

Date

  • 2015: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Jyväskylä
Country/Region: Finland, Jyväskylä

Description

Puukuokka One is the first eight-story high wooden apartment building in Finland. It explores the potential of modular prefabricated CLT construction to meet the goal of providing high quality, environmentally responsible and affordable housing. It has won several prizes including Finlandia Prize for Architecture and Resident Act of the Year 2015.
The Puukuokka apartment complex is comprised of three 6-8-storey buildings. The first building in the Puukuokka complex is now complete and the other two buildings will be built over the next two years.

The goal was to find a solution that makes the best possible use of the technical and aesthetic qualities of CLT and to create a wooden building in large scale with a distinct architectonic expression of its own.

Puukuokka pilots an innovative lease-to-own financing strategy that aims to support social sustainability by promoting stable communities. A 7% down payment on the purchase price of an apartment allows the purchaser to secure a state guaranteed loan, and, through rental payments over a period of 20 years, the purchaser gradually acquires full ownership of the unit. The sales price is negotiated and agreed upon when the lease is signed.

The goal was to create a building that combines the sense of warmth and privacy of a single-family dwelling with the semi-public character of the shared spaces of an apartment building.The town plan has been tailored to meet the needs of the building complex making it possible to count only part of the shared spaces in the building volume and allowing an open and spacious feel in the shared spaces without compromising the amount of space offered in the individual units.

Puukuokka served as a pilot case to develop and test a CLT based system of volumetric modules. Working with CLT enabled several important aspects in the project: It made it possible to create a spacious hallway and atrium space with a lot of light realized in an energy efficient manner as a semi-warm space. The insulating qualities of massive wood allow for controlling the temperature of the individual units independently. The use of prefabricated volumetric CLT modules made it possible to integrate the piping for heat, water, electricity and ventilation in the wall structure in the hallway making it easily accessible for maintenance. This arrangement also allows for an efficient organization of the plan. The entire load bearing structure and frame is made of massive wood composed of prefabricated volumetric CLT modules made of spruce. Each apartment is made of two modules, one housing the living room, balcony and bedroom, the other the bathroom, kitchen and foyer.

The use of prefabricated modules made it possible to cut the construction time on site down to six months and to reduce the exposure to weather conditions. That made it possible to achieve a higher quality in the end result. Working with CLTmade it possible to create a building with a primary load bearing structure and frame fully made of wood. The modules are prefabricated in a local factory in Hartola less than two hours away from the site.

The complex is built on a concrete foundation with indoor parking spaces on the basement level. To preserve the naturally hilly landscape of the site, as much of the bedrock has been left untouched as possible. The building follows the contours of the site to minimize disturbance to the underlying bedrock and existing vegetation.

Wood is a locally available, renewable and recyclable material for construction. It also produces reduced emissions and provides remarkable co2 storage.

Authors:

Shepherdess Walk Housing

0

Shepherdess Walk Housing

Urban Design

Main objectives of the project

Shepherdess Walk is a contemporary residential development in central London, blending with the historical context of the area. The project features houses and apartments with a split-level design, offering spatial generosity and flexibility. The exterior spaces vary, including walled gardens for houses and panoramic views for apartments. The design draws inspiration from the historical terraced housing of Shepherdess Walk, with subtle variations in façades and a folding effect to create a connection with the surrounding Georgian terrace. The apartment building complements the larger post-war housing nearby. Both buildings are clad in brick, reflecting the local materiality. Deep window reveals and raw interior materials such as plaster, timber, concrete, brass, and steel add character and patina over time. Handcrafted elements like walnut handrails and brass ironmongery provide a tactile quality.

Date

  • 2015: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Jaccaud Zein Architects

Location

Continent: Europe
City: London
Country/Region: London, United Kingdom

Description

Shepherdess Walk is a new residential development in central London, located near to Old Street roundabout, on the border of Shoreditch, London’s technology hub and design district of Clerkenwell. Situated at the corner of Shepherdess Walk and Wenlock Street, the project establishes positive relations with the different historical conditions and formal qualities of the site to propose an unapologetically contemporary project for a terrace of houses and an apartment building with a strong sense of place.

A split-level section was developed in collaboration with Solidspace and has been applied to both houses and apartments. This configuration allows for the juxtaposition of rooms with different usages around double-height connected spaces, offering a sense of spatial generosity and continuity. The complexity of the section is not immediately apparent from the exterior with only hints given by the large-scale windows to the presence of the double height spaces.

The split-level arrangement introduced a strong potential for flexibility for the apartments, allowing for possible subdivisions within each unit with multiple access to the stairwell. This flexibility allows for a possible fragmentation of scale and an evolution of use through time to meet the demands of multiple occupancy, of children growing up, of partial rental of the unit, of working from home or just varying use of the different rooms.

Every dwelling has an exterior space with a variety of specific qualities. If the houses have rear walled gardens which echo the surrounding Georgian types the apartments have a diversity of exterior spaces which open up to spectacular views at the top of the building, incorporating views of London and it’s surroundings into the building. Shepherdess Walk has a rich historical heritage of terraced housing and fragments of the continuous Georgian frontages, still visible despite the heavy bomb damage suffered during the Second World War. The project draws on this historical fabric and reinstates three terraced houses on Shepherdess Walk in a contemporary reinterpretation of the type. Gentle variations of the façades enable a subtle closure of the street towards the adjacent park, giving both orientation to the open space from within the building and clarification of the boundaries of the streetscape. This slight folding echoes the geometry of the adjacent Georgian terrace, reinforcing the historical identity of the street. Facing on to Wenlock Street, the first house folds more sharply asserting its presence towards the south and opening the angle of the site towards a second apartment building. This shift in scale between the two buildings generates a vivid urban juxtaposition that reinforces the presence of the corner in the neighborhood.

The apartment building rises in scale beyond the houses to stitch the development into the context of bigger scale post-war housing which extend beyond

Both buildings are clad in a brick that was chosen to reflect the patinated materiality of the surroundings, once again stitching the development into its context. Slight variations to the pointing of the brickwork allow for a horizontal banding to the apartment building façade, directing the gaze along the depth of the street and marking an articulation in the bulk of the building. Deep window reveals emphasise the threshold between the intimacy of the interior spaces and the street giving a sense of weight and presence to the buildings. All internal spaces have been developed using a palette of raw materials, plaster, timber, concrete brass and steel which are designed to patinate with use, giving each space a specific and unique character which will develop through time. Handrails and ironmongery have been designed to offer a sensual tactile quality, using hand crafted traditional materials such as solid walnut and brass.

Authors:

Collective housing for elderly people and civic and health centre

0

Collective housing for elderly people and civic and health centre

Urban Design Environments Equity

Main objectives of the project

The project comprises 105 senior citizens' housing units and features a double-height plinth with a Health Centre and Senior Community Centre. The design fosters a dynamic community and preserves the existing social network of the neighborhood. Located near Glories' square, the project integrates with the urban fabric of Eixample and responds to Diagonal Street. Three housing volumes on top of the plinth accommodate the program. Each building has seven or eight dwellings per floor, connected by a central corridor. Communal spaces include a rooftop terrace, laundry, porch, and patio-solarium. The layout promotes a sense of limitless interconnectedness, with movable walls and open spaces. The construction system incorporates thermal insulation and a district heating system, resulting in high energy efficiency.

Date

  • 2016: Construction

Stakeholders

  • Architect: peris+toral.arquitectes
  • Architect: Bonell i Gil

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

The project organises 105 senior citizens housing into three volumes spread out, on top of a double-height plinth containing a Health Centre and a Senior Community Centre. The building’s common spaces help to create a dynamic community. The mixed-use of the program enable to preserve the existing social network of the neighbourhood. The project is located near Glories’ square. This plot is within the Eixample’s urban fabric. At the same time, is part of a city block trimmed by Diagonal’s Street trace.

One of the main challenges the project had to face was the mixed-use program with different real estate developments: 105 housing for Barcelona’s council, a Health Centre for regional government, a Senior Community Centre for the district and a vehicle impoundment parking for BSM. We opted for a unitary building in order to organise and to encourage different uses but also to accommodate the whole program: a group of three volumes of housing on top of one double-height plinth containing the facilities.

By overlapping two different urban strategies, the project is capable of giving response to the surroundings’ complexity. On one hand, the continuous base of the building recognises the grid of the Eixample, by leaning on its alignments. On the other, the housing volumes give continuity to the sequence of nearby isolated blocks in respond to Diagonal Street. The void between these blocks is necessary to filter the public space through and to maintain the global unit. The result is an architectural ensemble that despite its domestic height is able to dialogue with the unique geometry of the high and sharped nearby buildings, joining into a greater scale urban piece of strong identity.

Depending on the block, each building has seven or eight dwellings by floor with a central corridor. This walkway enlarges at both ends where it receives daylight.

At the top floor of each building there are a communal laundry, a covered porch with clothes lines and a patio-solarium with foreseen urban-garden.

At the plinth’s roof level, each building has a multi-use room connected directly with the outside terrace enabling the social services managing the building to organise workshops or activities.

This communal terrace, located at the treetops’ height and endowed with benches, is opened to the surrounding views. It integrates the three blocks into a larger community of neighbours.

Considering these are dwellings for elderly, users are meant to spend long periods of time at home and at the building. Thus, communal spaces enhance and enrich the experience of living. This dwelling’s typology is organised around a central core of serving spaces, which is surrounded by the bedroom and the living room, both understood as a continuous and flexible space articulated by the terrace. This layout enables to perceive space as limitless, not enclosed but interconnected. The bathroom segregates into two pieces: a more private area and an open space.

Spaces connect or segregate through large sliding doors, like movable walls. If they are all open, space flows around the core. Depending on whether doors either open or close, space is transformed so it can be differently used.

The corner’s typology repeats the same scheme of serving spaces. The entrance threshold is enlarged to host the dinning room, linked by a window to the kitchen. The sights connect with the exterior through a large series of frames. The enfilade of doors and windows increase the porosity of space; and as a result, space seems larger than it is.

Rooms are never enclosed, they always vanish into neighbouring spaces slightly introduced for the occupant to imagine. Tangent views flow around the core, linking contiguous spaces.

The dwellings’s structure consists on perimeter walls and pillars always located on the in-between apartments walls so that a free plant is guaranteed. It is at the ground floor level and by using cross-beams where the structure turns into an orthogonal grid of pillars of 7,5×7,5m for the parking located at the lower floors.

The construction system of the housing façade is different than the one for the plinth. The one of the dwellings consists in External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) improving the thermal inertia of the building, whereas in the lower floors Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) is used. Both systems guarantee a thermal break, providing maximum comfort.

The building is connected to a district heating system, providing sanitary hot water and central heating. Inside the houses, we opted for a low-temperature underfloor-heating system in order to obtain greater comfort with less consumption. Due to all these resources, the building is qualified with an A for European energy labeling.

Authors: