LONG AN, Vietnam - Vo Van Duong's bamboo and coconut leaf house looks
much like others deep in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. But unlike them, his
seemingly simple abode is designed to withstand typhoons, flooding and
earthquakes—and at a cost of less than $4,000 could herald a new wave of
cheap, sustainable housing.
The natural materials on its surface
belie the hi-tech internal structure of the farmer's new home, which
uses steel struts and wall panels as a defense against the elements in
this natural disaster-prone region.
"The new house is safer, I'm
not afraid that it will collapse," the 48-year-old papaya farmer told
AFP inside the house he moved into nine months ago.
Duong is
testing a prototype by an award-winning Vietnamese architecture firm
looking for low-cost housing solutions for communities vulnerable to
climate change.
His S-House 2 was free, but if rolled-out on a wider scale could be sold for less than $4,000.
"There
was water coming down from the roof in my old house. Sometimes, when
there was a strong wind, I was so afraid the house wouldn't survive,"
Duong said, adding his new home was the envy of his neighbors.
The
eco-home is the brainchild of Vo Trong Nghia, who joins other
architects around the world in trying to fill a demand for cheap and
easy to assemble housing—from flat-pack refugee shelters to
shipping-container homes for tsunami victims.
He says all architects have a duty to help the poor.
"What
about those with low income, billions of them, how can they live?"
Nghia told AFP. "They have the right to live in comfortable, functional
places."
But he wants to go further, creating a home residents can take pride in.
"I
don't want people to be looking at it as 'cheap houses' but as
resort-quality accommodation close to nature, so [residents] can live a
life of the highest quality."
Flat-pack homesThe
design is still being refined by his team, who are eventually aiming to
create a flat-pack home. The newest version, S-House 3, can be built by
five people in three hours.
"Our goal for S-house is for the owner to construct it by themselves," said Kosuke Nishijima, a partner at the firm.
The
latest design also allows for multiple houses to be tacked together, a
function that could allow, for example, the construction of a
storm-proof school easily transportable to remote areas or a larger
family home.
Nghia has already been approached by NGOs in
disaster-prone Bangladesh and the Philippines, but is not yet ready to
supply the house commercially.
From saline-intrusion and flooding
in the Mekong Delta to typhoons along the central coast, Vietnam is
also home to communities living in high risk areas.
For decades, Vietnamese families have adapted their houses themselves, many building ad hoc mezzanines to avoid flooding.
In
more recent years organizations including the Red Cross and Women's
Unions, as well as local authorities, have been trying to help people
develop more resilient housing.
But in order to ensure such
projects are successful, "private architects' support is critical,"
according to Boram Kim, an urban specialist with UN-Habitat in Vietnam.
"State
and local government authorities are well aware that such houses are
needed for the poor, but have little technical knowledge for realising
their ideas," she told AFP.
"Architects have technical knowledge
for reducing the housing construction cost while making it storm proof,"
she said, cautioning that it was important for designers to listen to
the needs of local communities.
Architect for the poorNghia's
firm found that one of the problems facing rural Vietnamese living in
traditional bamboo shacks or stilted river-bank dwellings is the costly
upkeep they require to withstand increasingly extreme weather.
Although
the S-House 2's outer casing of coconut leaf may need replacing every
four years, the structure itself should require no expensive
maintenance, said engineer Lien Phuoc Huy Phuong.
"It can last a long time, the structure is sound," he told AFP during a tour of the small building.
Despite
its solid exterior, the house is spacious and airy inside, with large
windows and doors to bring residents closer to nature.
"We tried
to design this house with the best ventilation system, with spaces by
the roof and windows for better air flow," Phuong said, pointing out
strategic gaps that should reduce the need for electric fans.
Architect
Nghia, who used bamboo as a key element in Vietnam's country pavilion
for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, has long sought to incorporate
natural and local materials into his work.
One of his first
projects in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City was an ecologically-conscious
take on a traditional Vietnamese tube home, known as Stacking Green
house.
Built in 2011 for around $150,000, the building is made of
a series of concrete slabs and gaps filled with plants to provide
privacy while still allowing plenty of air and light.
Nghia is in
strong demand for high-end projects from hotels to private houses, but
said the low-cost S-House is his personal obsession.
"I want to live in S-House. If my family will agree," he said.
— AFP
source: gmanetwork.com
