No Comments »

The Very Sustainable and Affordable Prefab Housing at Vila Taguaí

• Tweet

• Tweet

Suggesting a hillside cave overlooking the jungle, this living space comes standard in a settlement of sustainable and affordable housing.

The innovative alternative building concept comprises eight new wooden houses for young families set amongst the dense vegetation of the suburbs of São Paulo at at Vila Taguaí.

The houses are elevated off the ground taking care to preserve as many trees as possible.

Roads and pathways are finished in cobblestones, maintaining soil permeability.

The houses share communal spaces – clearings in the jungle for children from several families to play together.

Wood was chosen for its performance in service to the environment: its production requires only solar energy

The buildings are oriented to make the most of natural sunlight and ventilation and utilise solar energy for water heating.

Whether for a family of three or four, each housing unit has joint plumbing and electrical inspection chambers that allow for future infrastructure installations and maintenance, taking advantage of the shared site.

Rainwater runoff is collected and directed to an existing stream.

Sewage and wastewater is treated in a plant located within the condominium for subsequent use in toilets and irrigation.

Three different floor plans are available in single or two stories, but they all share a modular design that allows for efficient building.

Natural cross ventilation is used, with the largest openings facing North or East, and the smaller ones facing West, allowing natural sunlight in while controlling overheating with the chimney effect.

The project uses innovative, low cost, easily implemented partly prefabricated modular building techniques.

This made it possible to use local relatively unskilled labor to assemble the units, giving them an understanding of building techniques on the job.

A shared pool for the eight families is now affordable in the context of the semi prefab housing construction methods.

The inspiration of Cristina Xavier Arquitetura, the innovative and sustainable housing can be replicated as a model for future developments.

The good life!