2023-04-18 10:00:00
A team of Cuban architects and designers won an honorable mention in the prestigious MICROHOME contest, with a housing project that seeks to take advantage of the rooftops of a city
Building a new neighborhood brings a lot of money. Not only because of the previous preparation of the plots, lots and streets, because of the installation of hydraulic and residual networks, electrical lines, more gas and telephone services, but also because, for the area to be considered truly urbanized, it is necessary to enable commercial establishments, medical offices, recreation areas, public transportation, etc. In other words, it costs a fortune that does not abound in the state coffers.
Hence, the recent Law 145 of Territorial and Urban Planning and Land Management -published in December 2022 in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba–, in its article 54, ponder the preference of a compact urban model: cities should stretch upwards instead of expanding horizontally.
But since that also requires another large budget, another more earthly option might be contemplated through a kind of urban acupuncture, in which underutilized spaces, or perhaps “cleared” following landslides, can be revalued with the ingenuity of good architectural design.
In fact, in January of this year, a team of Cuban architects and designers made up of Anabel Morales, Mariángel Pérez, Javier Cuadra and Amaury Hernández won an honorable mention in the fifth edition of the MICROHOME International Architecture Competition – sponsored by the American organization Buildner, formerly called Bee Breeders– with a project for a housing module that seeks nothing less than to take advantage of the soil from city rooftops.
the contest
MICROHOME does not restrict the land where the competing projects are developed, nor if it is real or fictitious, nor even what materials will be used in the construction. It works almost like a receiving bank for innovative ideas, without the commitment that these will materialize later; which is why the sketches that participate, in addition to being conceptualized quite flexibly, are celebrated more for the originality of their solutions than for the detailed description of the design.
The only unchangeable requirements of the contest lie in participating with a housing module for a minimum of two people, that does not exceed an area of 25 square meters and that, in addition, is self-sufficient (that can be inhabited without being connected to the hydraulic networks , electric and residual of the region).
According to Hernández, one of the architects of the Cuban team, MICROHOME tries to demonstrate how architecture and design are capable of mitigating issues of poverty, humanitarian crises or, for example, resolving housing for people quickly following natural disasters. In the different editions, many laureates have worked on solutions to some kind of universal problem.
Neither does the concept of microhome is exclusive to this competition, as other architecture awards also stimulate it. In many cases, “it ceases to be an architectural product to become a design product, which you buy, assemble and place in a certain place,” Hernández notes.
Before launching into the competition, the Cubans searched for information regarding the contest and discovered many proposals that used unconventional, ecological materials to a large extent. As a case of progressive housing (which can vary its initial useful surface depending on the needs of its residents over time) in Mexico with recycled materials; or house-boats that, with the help of a sanitation system, allow their inhabitants to find shelter while they decontaminate the river.
For this reason, so that their project would not be so empirical, the young Cubans thought regarding it, first, on the basis of compelling problems in the Cuban context, such as that of the victims who lost their homes due to cyclones or landslides. In the end, they settled on a somewhat more everyday annoyance.
“We focus our project on university accommodation in compact cities, because most of the presentations are developed in open fields or forests. And it is very easy to get to those places and put something up, however when you do it in a city that is already formed, how do you solve that problem, without having to demolish and build a new building?” Hernández argues. “The strategy we use, which is to take advantage of the roofs of houses, we did not invent it, it is something that has been used throughout the world.”
Coincidentally, the aforementioned Law 145 of 2022, in its article 57, already authorizes third parties to build homes by “own effort” on the roofs of state and private buildings. Right now, the aforementioned architectural design that won an honorable mention, beyond the technological difficulties it has for the context of our country, might serve as a reference for future constructions.
The module
Many university residences in Cuba are located on the outskirts of the city, in remote and poorly communicated places. The José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana (Cujae) itself – where Anabel Morales and Amaury Hernández studied architecture – is close by, although very far from the urban center.
According to Hernández, being able to build student scholarships in a compact area, whose fundamental services are already working, represents great savings and a well-being additive for those residents. For that reason alone, he believes that his team’s project might be implemented by a university.
Even so, why would the owner of a house, or the neighbors of a multi-family building, want to install a housing module on the roof? Although, on a hypothetical level, the space on the roof might be rented, there is also the attraction that, since the house is self-sustaining, it generates its own energy from solar panels, and the surplus might supply the building and even be sold. to the national electrical system.
On the other hand, it has its own waste collection tanks and water storage. By the way, the water is recirculated in such a way that the same water used in the sink is later used to flush the toilet; and the one in the shower is recycled for cleaning. Probably the only drawback of this mechanism is that the liquid that initially enters the house depends on the rain, which works in the conceptual scheme of a contest, but not with the climatic reality of Cuba, affected by droughts. However, as the team’s designer, Javier Cuadra, explains, this does not prevent a pipe from being connected to the street. In addition, the waste that accumulates in the subsoil might also be reused, either as fertilizer or energy.
Each one of these technologies exists, only one would have to consider how well they fit and perform within the Cuban context. Due to the engineering issue and the construction system used (beams that have a galvanized steel skin on the outside, with tiles), the project is tacitly feasible.
“It is that we are used to designing things that are produced”, says Anabel Morales, from her experience with her three colleagues in the Espacio project: “We wanted to do something that was for a competition, but also that might be built”.
“Besides, I think we didn’t know how to do it any other way either,” Javier seconded. “I cannot start projecting something that I know cannot be built. So this is backed by an economic foundation with which you know it can be done, even if it is not the objective of the contest”.
“We suggest an implementation strategy with an operational and economic foundation to make it as real as possible,” adds Hernández.
The modules can be manufactured in series as if it were one more product and then assembled on the roof or lifted whole with the force of a crane. Several can even be assembled together, one next to the other, or stacked up to a maximum of three levels to which, of course, a system of stairs and walkways would be added. Nor do they have to be used on a roof: they can do it on any empty lot, take the site of a collapse, which is usually narrow and long, says Cuadra, one of the designers, and place several modules there.
And beyond the technologies and the reduced space they occupy, they are still comfortable, with a living area, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms with double beds. With all the furniture properly assembled to the modulations of the beams, and some basic systems of hinges and wheels. In this way, the sofas are stored on the walls, the dining table on the floor, and so on with other interior elements. Moreover, taking into account the dynamics of the students, the house was designed so that they might live there, no longer two people, but two couples.
“The student is leitmotifbut the project can be extended and used for those people affected by a cyclone, as we thought at the beginning”, says Hernández.
“But cheap, cheap, it won’t be”, clarifies Cuadra. “We say it will be cost efficient compared to concrete buildings that have to start from scratch and therefore take a long time. But if these little housing modules are used temporarily, you are solving a housing problem in what you expect”.
Perhaps one of the main attractions of this type of property is that, unlike concrete structures, it can be moved from one space to another if necessary. It is like a tareco – this is how Cuadra described it – that can be removed and put on at will, thus eliminating its permanent nature. In this way, when it is convenient, the roof can return to its previous state pristine.
CREDITS
Photos: Courtesy of interviewees
1681871731
#micro #house #macro #problem
