Compressed Stabilized Earthen Blocks and Their Use in Low-Cost Social Housing

Earthen techniques have been historically used in construction of housing in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the past two decades the interest in earthen material has grown considerably, leading to the development of sustainable materials such as compressed earth blocks (CEB), compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEB) and interlocking...

Keep fish, keep water: Low-cost water village for aquacultural district in Tainan city

In coastal Tainan, aquaculture had become prosperous for more than 200 years. But the local communities are facing some difficulties in the past decades. These include over-development, flooding, and unstable living quality. The built environment had changed a lot on the site. Developers keep filling soil to the fishponds and build more and more...

Kebele 24: An urban redevelopment scheme for multistory dwelling in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

It is projected by the United Nations that the population of Addis Ababa will increase to almost double the size as it has by the day today. Due to political, as well as geographical circumstances, there is very little vacant space left to accommodate this growth. To tackle this growth, the Ethiopian government established the Integrated Housing...

Exploring the connection between arriving young adults and current residents of Addis Ababa: The redevelopment of bole sub city Woreda 14, Gerji, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The goal of the graduation studio is to research and design housing solutions that improve the livelihood of Addis Ababa’s urban dwellers. Combining analysis, planning and design, the participants of this graduation studio were challenged to use multidisciplinary research methods and tools to elaborate design proposals for the development of a...

Gerji Co-habitable Densification _ Urbanization & Nostalgia: Towards the collective welfare between original and new residents

An alternative proposal for the densification needs of Gerji site in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The design itself is systematic and highly flexible, on a larger scale, it could be an example of a gentler way of deification that is caring for the people involved.

The potential and current status of earthen material for low-cost housing in rural India

There is an enormous demand for rural housing in India that needs to be catered for within a short span of time. Building with earth (mud) is proposed as an economical and environmental friendly alternative due to the rising costs of conventional building materials. However, the construction of earthen houses has significantly declined in...