FITECMA LATIN AMERICAN COMPETITION

The morphology  of the house arises with the idea of generating affordable, flexible housing, in constant evolution and at the same time respectful of the environment, no longer understanding housing as a machine for living but as a machine for generating habitat. 

The idea is to generate social housing and also for the middle class, which is  economic and constantly evolve, whether growing or decreasing, adapting to the needs of each  family, accompanying the cycle of life.    

 

THE HOUSE.

The strategy  It is based on generating different responses to the various climatic situations of the terrain.

The compact shape of the house contributes to less heat loss through the envelope.

Towards the southwest, the services are located, forming a strip that serves as a bellows between the less favorable climatic conditions and the home.       

Towards the northeast, a treatment is carried out on the facades consisting of different passive solar systems that are used to take advantage of environmental energies. 

The use of flat roofs (with little slope) gives us the possibility of growing

vertically to avoid negative impact on the ground.

The rationality of the proposal and the construction system used make it possible for the  housing modules adapt to terrain of diverse topography, and can be implemented both on flat land,  irregular and floodable.

The base module (atom) can change the distribution of the environments and facades according to

the conditions of each particular lot. (flexibility of the construction system and design)

The home has great flexibility, the ground floor bedroom can be transformed into a work space with independent access.

Another possibility is to generate an integrated environment by removing the partition that divides the dining room from the bedroom, since it is not structural.

The minimum housing, made up of a base module, is made up of a living room - dining room, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom,

bedroom and grill connected to the dining room

for a deck, this one,   In turn, it is used to store the car.

In the design of the rooms of the  base module, the minimum measurements and their development are taken into account

on one floor, to enable its use by people with reduced mobility.

We propose to install a 90M2 orchard in the garden,

Surface indicated to supply a typical family, or provide the possibility of forming a  family business.

The greenhouse es  useful for germinating the seeds and then  transplant them to the garden.  

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STAGEABILITY.

As can be seen, the home grows and decreases vertically, adapting to the different moments in the lives of its inhabitants, the starting point depending on the needs of each one.       

In cases of decrease, the removed modules are totally or partially reused depending on the conditions in which they are found. In turn,  They can be modified to later be used in another home, in this way, significant reductions in the costs of the new modules, built with recycled materials, are achieved.

 

THERMAL OPERATION.

To generate a comfortable environment, we use passive solar systems, since we consider them the most appropriate for the economic reality of Mar del Plata.

The façade with the most favorable orientation is made up of different solar treatment systems:

The living room has a greenhouse, which during the winter raises the temperature of the environment and during the summer cools the façade.

The dining room has a double façade that during the winter allows solar radiation to pass through and in the summer keeps the façade cool.

All bedrooms contain a trombe wall, made up of reused plastic bottles filled with water that accumulate heat during the day and release it into the environment at night.

Mobile parasols provide efficient shade in summer, and allow solar radiation to pass through in winter.

 

RAINWATER COLLECTION.

One of the strategies used to save water is the collection and use of rainwater.

Through the terraces, rainwater is collected and stored in a cistern, having previously passed through a fine mesh filter. The water is propelled by an electric pump into the interior of the home to feed the washing machine, the toilet tank and the bidet. ;   

 

WATER HEATING.

To save energy in water heating, a complementary passive solar heating system is used, with which  we get  hot water, between 45 and 75 C.  

 

Reuse of gray water. (water collected from kitchen sink, bathroom sink and shower)

To save water, it is very useful to recycle gray water and use it to irrigate the garden.

So that gray water is not harmful to health, it is important not to store it for a long time and deposit it quickly in an organic location. asset.

Gray water is collected through polypropylene pipes, filtered,  and distributed regularly through porous hoses, in infiltration ditches made in the orchard every 45 cm.         .

The ditches are covered with organic matter: dry leaves, stubble, peat, etc., which filter and oxygenate the water before being absorbed by the garden.

 

TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS.

By carrying out a large number of tasks in the factory, the construction work is limited to foundations, assembly of modules and placement of coatings, in this way, we obtain very important reductions in costs and construction times.                   The structural system that we adopt is the ballom frame, with eucalyptus saligna wall structure (2¨X4¨) and eucalyptus MLE mezzanine structure (2¨X 6¨ AND 2¨ X 5¨), all panels are covered with an OSB plate on each side, achieving the necessary rigidity of the complete module for transport.

The materials were chosen for their low environmental impact, technical characteristics, high availability in the  area and  low cost. For example, eucalyptus saligna is extracted from established forests.

On the other hand, we propose to recover wooden carpentry, such as  pine, cedar, oak and pine floors of excellent quality to reuse in our housing modules, obtaining them from demolitions, which are currently being carried out, of a large number of buildings, built in the 50s and 60s.

 

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Project description:

Prize: Second place,  International Competition for architecture students FITECMA 2007.

Authors: Architect Mariel Cámara - Architect Ezequiel Muñoz.

Year 2007

University: National University of Mar del Plata, Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design.

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