According to the International Organization for Migration climate change to move more than 1000 million people in the next 40 years. These data coupled with the literacy needs and demand of public education make us see architecture as an emergency. The emergency does not involve the activity, but the interaction, at least I can appreciate the possibilities of disseminating this typology of projects.
For a research project called Desert Sand / Stone Magnus Larsson, a student at the Architectural Association in London, has proposed 6,000 km long artificial stone wall to prevent the spread of the desert and at the same time creating a habitat connected.
Global Village Shelters, an NGO whose goal is «Creating communities and individual homes for people in need» .. Two models of shelter made of corrugated sheets of polypropylene which is waterproof, semi-translucent and reflective light (PP), a thickness of 13 mm. enabling it to be self-supporting. The larger shelter model covers 20 m2 with a minimum height of 1.98 and a weight of only 236 kg allows non-specialists to build an acceptable housing in just twenty minutes.
This video shows the assembly in situ with two or three people is built in about twenty minutes.
Another very clever solution and perhaps more accessible to poor countries is the proposal by the Iranian architect Nader Khalili based on the use of clay in very elongated sandbags, which has been called superadobe.
The bags are placed according to a circular domed model studied, avoiding blank walls to make it much more resistant to simian movements. To avoid moving the bags placed between the sacks barbed wire, which further increases their resistance to earthquakes. Apart from its practical usefulness, this construction comes with it also a philosophical side, the sandbags and barbed wire, both used in warfare may also apply to win the peace and bring joy where there was war previously so much mischief.
The system is very convenient to provide only temporary shelter but not permanent because it is cheap and with little initial support allows buildings are erected their own owners. It be a very adequate housing hot dry climates. It can then be extended so that the house comes to give adequate shelter for all the family and the rooms need to conduct his business as merchant or farmer and rancher, as allowed in the future extend to kitchens, toilets and so on.
When you are swayed half showing doors and windows needed to create the semicircular arches and domes that are completely recyclable and finished the work they retire.
Superadobe covered the clay with a layer of smooth exterior and interior forms, being suitable to receive the traditional whitewash or native decor. Since almost all materials are locally sourced, men, women, old and young, can participate in the construction of his house builders as well as bracing materials.
Only the difficulty is that such buildings would be found in wetter sites Palestine or Iran, might have to put a stone base or concrete base and possibly waterproof top watering it with asphalt. With only that this construction could be useful anywhere in the globe that is not extremely wet. This project was nominated for The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the most important contest 2004.el that is done on architecture in Islamic countries.
We bring the contents of this designer Matsys which shows the symbiosis among various disciplines to achieve a result to their research. While water scarcity is a problem of global proportions, is particularly important and potentially irreversible in arid areas. Today, 14% of the world’s biomes are dry, 14% are semi-arid, and 2% are of the Mediterranean. Given global warming, today’s arid zones will be modified and expanded.
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), one quarter of Earth’s land mass is already threatened by desertification. The United Nations projects are in the next 10 years 50 million people will be living in desert environments, which can cause large migration flows, political tensions and instability. The peak pressure is exacerbated by a number of other factors such as population growth and increased industrial and agricultural consumption.
Finding solutions to inhabit the desert in a sustainable way, not only to mitigate the effects of water scarcity, which can also slow desertification. With a shortage of water, how existing and future of cities and landscapes to adapt to drastic changes in the environment?
As a young man from Malawi (Africa) asked his father to buy him a bike. Disarmed and the parties of bicicletta has built a wind turbine with electric light which gives their neighborhood. William Kamkwamba beginning at age 14 to pursue opportunities in energy, reading books in your community encontrava (account of having to leave school to go to work).
The first model consisted of a wooden tower 5 meters, in which girava bicycle wheel (driven by the horns) connected to a dynamo. The generator charging a battery of 12V. The battery was sufficiente to turn four foci, two radios and batteries charging a cell phone. La notizia to call the attention of local journalists and William has become a minor celebrity. With the passage of time aumentava turbine efficiency, reaching to run a pump to assist in the regional fields.
The tower has been rebuilt highest (12 meters) and more distant from the house (to avoid the risk of damage in case of a fall). Having seen that the shafts and producing current giravan has decided to make a technological leap and replaced with plastic horns metal horns,. Now William is thinking of improving the efficiency of the horns also capturing energy from the sun, besides the wind and discuss their experiments on a blog in English, from which also calls for further economic cooperation with the studies.
Our honor is Creactivos Vicente Ferrer, who has devoted a life to a project that has involved thousands of people to give welfare to millions. His nature was made of something beyond a charitable man. He thought he had qualified to provide a service to all these people with few resources but with a prospect professional and simple. Project and created one of the most effective independent organizations in the world.
To see the editor’s experience with the post about the trip or Article Vicente Ferrer, a lifelong project. A sign hung on the first hut in which I host and said «and only hope that the miracle».
And the miracle happened, Vincent was thriving and organizing their actions in a manner sensilla but very firm to the immediate needs of the Dalit communities. But besides being an architect of its own factories with which avoided the indiscriminate felling of trees, was planning clinics, schools, houses and brought water to areas that did not have.
His interest in helping others led David Henderson, architect, planner, and part of the team I want my Neighborhood Program (PQMB) Population Santa Adriana, to dive into the architecture community. Says he feels happy for the challenge and the great interest shown by residents, especially women. Only regrets the low participation of young people.
On citizen involvement says: «It is still a complicated scenario. I think there are historical reasons, here the social cohesion was aniquiliada. For example, we have organizations involved, but are very small, or five people, and organization so that it can constitute as such needs to fifteen. So I think the little participation of the community come from the idiosyncrasies of our country.
The route of activists who instigate design adapted to the social reality in which they live would be very broad. In this context the ability to build up a process corresponds to a developer and designer Creactivistas and multidisciplinary projects in the field.
We will name Creactivistas them involved in thinking and share their experiences. As we said, the emergency does not involve the activity, so the interaction.