Integrated team for progressive house in the XXI century

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Bárbara Carvalho (Author) FEUP; Vitor Abrantes Almeida (Author) FEUP; Fernando Brandão Alves (Author) FEUP; Faria, JA (Author) Other

Journal

Title: International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications

Vol. 36

Pages: 151-162

ISSN: 0146-6518

Publisher: International Association for Housing Science

Indexing

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-4PM

Abstract (EN): Rapid urbanization to solve the housing problem is a reality in many parts of the world, in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The current severe economic crisis and the unemployment that will result will bring this issue again to the European agenda. This crisis is increasingly pointing to a subsistence economy. The single family dwelling with a piece of land for farming is becoming an option as an alternative to the tenement block. Solutions have to be easy to use and adapted to different conditions and different people. Construction processes have to be quick, simple and optimized. The solutions that have been implemented - pre-fabricated houses with small areas despite being economical and using rapid construction methods have, with few exceptions, poor architectural and urban quality. The designer's task for these housing projects for prefabricated non-progressive houses is fairly straightforward, requiring only a degree of sensitivity in the composition of the urban agglomeration. But when it comes to progressive housing, designers face a number of problems: 1. Prospective - the evolution can be urban - this requires predicting the growth of the cluster and all its urban, architectural and technical implications; 2. Economic sustainability housing and urban settlement should support cost-effective solutions - must be adapted to the local construction market, with regard to both technologies and materials; 3. Flexibility - the solution of the evolutionary model of housing should be sufficiently flexible - so it can be adapted to different circumstances, e.g. geographical or cultural; 4. Easily manageable - the evolution of each dwelling shall be managed by its people should be sufficiently controlled so as not to detract from the set. All these constraints imply a rigorous method for their application. After the definitive module provided for all situations, it should be easily put into practice to make it viable in many situations. It needs a project that is simple and efficient to implement. This type of program, however, is a difficult challenge for architects. The project is perceived as an industrial product that can be applied anywhere, and it rules out the possibility of close control of its implementation and construction. In the case of housing, this fear of the way it evolves is even greater. The building will grow over time at the hands of the inhabitants. The progressive evolutionary housing project assumes a distinct approach to project methodology, and a greater complicity between the various design specialties is inevitable. All the fields should be complementary, to achieve an integrated answer, to optimize the implementation phase and thus simplify the construction, in any situation and any terrain. An integrated progressive project, in an inter- disciplinary approach from urban, to architectural and to construction. Copyright©2012 IAHS.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific