By eutv: creative urban sustainability

BASIC NEEDS

The theme description of the competition starts from a quotation about basic human needs. In the last century, basic human needs were the leitmotiv of a global consensus mainly due to the action of UN and NGO's, centered on cooking, hygiene and sleeping. One of the things we must learn from actual “musseques” is that “home” has to be thought of as the place one can work in. Therefore, we decided to integrate on our proposal a place to work, considering it as a basic human need.

LEARNING FROM MUSSEQUES

Musseques urban sprawl and continuous change is impressive. We don't think new interventions should do tabula rasa of rooted construction know-how. Even the most clean and designed house project will be enriched and appropriated by unpredictable family needs. Our option is to consider it, not as an undesirable consequence, but as an instrument on urban planning. The intervention will provide the basic elements and infrastructures, limit the plot and provide the basis to be arrogated.

THE CORE

Low budget, forced to focus on the essential. We concentrated on the human basic needs by designing the main volume as one core.

This will be composed by two floors (two bathrooms, one bedroom and the staircase). The social areas will be on the ground floor (two living rooms - one interior and one exterior, and one open-space kitchen, as a linking element of these two rooms.

On the upper limit of the plot, and conforming the patio, we placed the working place.

SELF-CONSTRUCTION

As said, self-construction is deep-rooted as a cultural activity. The difficulty on defining the number of inhabitants per house and its volatility, suggests that bedroom numbers will always be increasing or decreasing according to the needs. That's where we can potentiate self-construction.

The basic module provides one bedroom and the floor slab of the first floor as a plateau for people to appropriate themselves joining or removing bedrooms according to family needs.

SHADOW AND VENTILATION

Due to the geographic situation, the roof is the main tool for shading. Using it on exteriors provides useful places for socialization.

The ventilation is accomplished by the walls. On one hand, the grids, a typical device on Portuguese architecture's colonial legacy, may be used as a way of distinguishing neighborhoods and providing layers of privacy. On the other hand, the interior walls of the living room don't reach the ceiling so that the air may also circulate.

CONSTRUCTION

The construction system is made in concrete, comprising columns, beams and floor slabs, and cement bricks. The house pavements will be built in a continuous floor slab upon ground compression and regulation, finished by lining it with cement tiles. As a way to avoid electricity black outs, a generator is a necessary requisite and will be located on the exterior living room. The roof plans will have the proper pending for climate conditions and rain. Cheap, simple and modular to be easily reproduced.

[Official results]

[PT] Mário Moura, Design em tempos de crise, edição Braço de Ferro, Março de 2009

Um livro de bolso com inquietações que partilhamos. Escrito a partir de textos publicados no seu blogue: The Ressabiator.

(imagens da capa e contra-capa retiradas daqui)

[ENG] The International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS) are organizing a World Congress in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on the theme of Building Communities for the Cities of the Future. The congress includes a Student Competition, open for all students in the fields of (landscape) architecture, urban design, urban planning and other related studies. The competition focuses on the area of Morro Santa Tereza in Porto Alegre, and the students are asked to make a proposal for improvement of this area in groups of one up to five students.

[link]

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[ENG] ateliermob will be lecturing at Ryerson University - Toronto, in the end of November.

[ENG] Stadslab European Urban Design Laboratory is offering an international Master Class on the regeeration of Georgia's Black Sea coast and the transformations of Batumi and Poti as its main port cities. During the Master Class a number of architects and planners will develop strategies and design solutions for two strategic corridors in the Western part of Georgia: a tourism corridor along the subtropical Black Sea coast, connecting Batumi with Poti, and an industrial corridor connecting Poti harbor with Tbilisi and further to Central Asia.
The Master Class consists of three one-week design workshops (1 week/month in September, October and November) under the supervision of Ruurd Gietema (partner at KCAP Architects and Planners) and Stadslab Staff. The program includes lectures and seminars with internationally renowned planners and architects. The Master Class will further include design workshops, site visits to Batumi, Kobuleti, Poti, a visit of the INTA Conference in San Sebastian-Pasaia (Basque Country) and a final presentation and conference in Georgia.

Scheduled dates for the Master Class program:
September 19-26 (Tilburg, Netherlands and Batumi, Kobuleti, Poti Georgia)
October 23-30 (Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain)
November 21-27 (Batumi, Kobuleti, Tbilisi Georgia)

Detailed Course Information and Enrolment Form

Application procedure has started. Deadline for applications is September 1st 2010.

The first 6 applicants receive a free copy of Han Meyer's classic book 'City and Port: Transformation of Port Cities - London, Barcelona, New York and Rotterdam