Studie-tainer
A circular approach to creating student housing solutions through hybridization of materials in Ghana, West Africa
B. Cobbina (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Thijs Asselbergs – Mentor (TU Delft - Architectural Engineering)
M.J. Smit – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Architectural Engineering)
P.L. Tomesen – Coach (TU Delft - Building Product Innovation)
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Abstract
The architectural engineering graduation studio created an opportunity to address the emerging social, urban, environmental and infrastructural challenges facing the global context today. This project seeks to embrace the culture of circular building concepts and methods through materialization and vernacular principles in addressing social and urban pressing needs. The title of the graduation project is “STUDIE-TAINER”, conceived from the concept of students living in a shipping container. This project can simply be envisaged as an architectural composition and exploration of re-purposed shipping containers, local building materials and techniques to create a micro and eco-friendly living experience for students in Ghana, West Africa. The design proposal will be located on Central University campus, Tema, Ghana. The inspirations regarding the use of shipping containers as a building element for student housing also emerged from an appreciation of some interesting student housing projects in the Netherlands. It was intriguing to see how cargo-architecture had been used to address student housing demands within the temperate climatic region. Considering the tropical climate of Ghana, this proposed project will serve as a basis for experimenting how to create a climate and eco-friendly living experience for students, thus achieving both indoor and outdoor comfort for the users. Ghana is enriched with diverse cultural values and traditions especially with respect to traditional architecture. Bearing in mind the climatic and cultural influences of Ghana, an experimental approach was developed to harness these influences to create an architecture that responds to both the climatic and cultural aspirations.