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Working to Eliminate Poverty Housing - Guatemala

http://burlington.craigslist.org/vol/920598881.html

Working to eliminate poverty housing-Guatemala (Totonicapan, Guatemala)
Reply to: comm-920598881@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-11-15, 5:02PM EST


Our international team will work with the local community to replace poverty housing. No prior experience needed, just good health and a willingness to help. Totonicapan is in the mountains of Guatemala, and remote enough that people have retained their traditional dress and customs. We will be there from Jan. 31 through Feb. 15. The team leaders are Jack from Toronto and Ann from Boston. Contact us if you would like more information. Habitat for Humanity Guatemala.


* Location: Totonicapan, Guatemala


PostingID: 920598881

Latin American Architecture & Islamic Design

The Islamic Design Module in Latin America: Proportionality and the Techniques of Neo-Mudejar Architecture, by John F. Moffitt

Amazon Editorial Reviews

This study analyses the distinctive look of Hispanic architecture. Its triangulate format, originated in Islamic Spain, was based on workshop techniques once used by journeyman designers and simple artisans. Spain was the only European transatlantic colonial power to have once been occupied by Islamic overlords. Spain's conquistadors took their traditional building methods to Latin America. Formal analyses of the facades of various Latin American churches reveal them to reiterate procedures worked out in Andalusia by Islamic builders in the ninth and tenth centuries. Though widely separated by time and place, both share a proportionate system determining abstract ratios; in both cases, this regulating format was derived from manipulations of the Pythagorean triangles. This "trazado regulador" is only expressed in ratios, with no numbers, and is illustrated here with 84 visual examples including measured drawings of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and medieval European prototypes. Grounded in historical and physical data, the research is partially drawn from four practical builders' manuals: two seventeenth-century Spanish ones and two Mexican ones from ca. 1640 and 1800. In an appendix, Viollet-le-Duc (a major nineteenth-century architect) explains architectural proportionality and the design function of the Pythagorean Triangle.

About the Author
John F. Moffitt, professor emeritus of art history, New Mexico State University, lives in Las Cruces.

---

From OpenLibrary.org: openlibrary.org/b/OL8138970M

Subject: Architecture
Islamic studies
Islamic Architecture
Architecture Of Specific Structures
Latin America
International Architecture - General
Architecture, Colonial
Design & Drafting
Composition, proportion, etc
Mudejar influences
Mudâejar influences

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Habitat for Humanity Guatemala

Home >> Where We Build >> Latin America & Caribbean >> Guatemala

http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/whe_latin_guat_2.htm\

From the U.K. site: "...Habitat houses in Guatemala

Habitat houses in Guatemala are built from concrete blocks with a tin roof and a concrete floor. They may be simple, but they are an unimaginable improvement on the substandard houses they are replacing. Petrie from Habitat for Humanity Guatemala explains:

"The reality here is that people are living in chicken coops with dirt floors and no walls. We have to be realistic about what makes a simple, decent home in this country. It is hard to grasp how much people's lives have been improved by moving into one of our houses." (more)

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala
Families Served Current FY: 2,899
Total Houses Constructed: 26,588
House Sponsorship Cost (USD): $4,020
Tercer Nivel
Office 3
Supercom Delco
Quetzaltenango
Guatemala
Phone: +502 77635308
Fax: +502 77671301
E-mail: info@habitatguate.org
URL: www.habitatguate.org



A woman sweeps in front of a shack in Guatemala.



Santos Mahil Cahy and her son Orlando Cahy in front of their Habitat house.


The first Habitat houses in all of Latin America and Caribbean went up in Guatemala in 1979, specifically in Aguacatan, Huehuetenango.

Habitat Guatemala was created with the purpose of improving the living conditions of low-income Guatemalan families through the construction of decent low-cost houses. The organization’s vision is that everyone in Guatemala should have access to a decent house.

Structured as a community organization that includes the participation of more than 1,300 volunteers, Habitat specializes in working with those families that have no access to the national financing system (banks, cooperatives, etc.) and who are living in sub-human conditions.

An average 3,000 Habitat homes are constructed each year in 15 departments; 70 percent of these houses are in rural zones and 30 percent in urban areas.

Depending on the future homeowner’s payment capacity, the house may measure from 32m2 to 51 m2. The loan for the cost of the house is granted for an 8-year term, through monthly installments of US$31, which represents a third or a fourth of the cost of renting a single room.

Houses are built with the following materials: cement blocks, iron, tin roof sheets, metal doors, four windows and wood. All these materials are easily found in the communities. The design is anti-seismic, making the constructions safer for families.

HOUSING NEEDS
In Guatemala, there is a need for 1.2 million houses. Currently, families live in huts or crowded in a small rented room. The great problem is land tenure; since many invade property belonging to the state or to individuals, most poor families are not the legitimate owners of the land they inhabit. These properties do not have basic utilities and are located in high-risk areas, mostly in urban zones. Also, there is a high degree of delinquency and crime.

Due to the conditions in which they live, there is a high risk of maternal and infant death due to gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin diseases.

Other hindrances that poor families wanting to build a decent house face are: lack of legal documents or property deeds; loans at an interest rate ranging between 18 to 30 percent; lands located in ravines, river banks, etc.; and land at prices unaffordable for the poor.

Due to their income level and to the type of guarantee they offer, many families claim that without Habitat, they would not have been able to build their homes. In 2005, Habitat Guatemala celebrated the construction of house 20,000, at that time, a tenth of all the houses built in the world through Habitat. Guatemala ends the year 2007 with 25,000 decent homes build for people in need, helping around 150,000 Guatemalans, the majority children.

COUNTRY FACTS
Location: Central America
Climate: tropical
Population: 12,728,111
Economy: primary exports include coffee, sugar, bananas, cardamom, apparel, fruits and vegetables.
Government: Democratic Republic
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant, indigenous Mayan Beliefs
Literacy: 71 percent
Language: Spanish, Amerindian languages

Habitat for Humanity Latin America/Caribbean Web Site (Spanish)

Affiliates in Guatemala

Affiliate Name City Website
Central, HPH Chimaltenango
El Progreso HPH Guastatoya, El Progreso
San Juan La Laguna HPH Miami
Jacaltenango HPH Miami
Xela, HPH Miami
Coatepeque HPH Miami
San Antonio Sacatepequez HPH Miami
San Juan Ixcoy HFH Miami
Cantel HPH Miami
Izabal HPH Quetzaltenango
Sur Oriente HPH Quetzaltenango
San Marcos HPH Quetzaltenango
Totonicapan HPH Quetzaltenango
Barcenas HPH Quetzaltenango
El Rosario HPH Quetzaltenango
San Lucas Toliman HPH Quetzaltenango
El Quiche, HPH Quetzaltenango
Suchitepequez HPH Quetzaltenango
Norte Habitat p/l Humanidad Quetzaltenango
Xela Occidente HPH Quetzaltenango
Escuintla HPH Quetzaltenango 09901
Huehuetenango HPH Quetzalternago
Nororiente HPH Zacapa

(more)


Thank you for visiting the official Habitat for Humanity International Web site.

© 2008 Habitat for Humanity® International. All rights reserved. "Habitat for Humanity" is a registered service mark owned by Habitat for Humanity International.

Home | Get Involved | Learn About Habitat | Where We Build | Support Habitat | Faces & Places
Donate | Privacy & Legal | E-Newsletter | Contact Us | Site Index | Search

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala - google search

#
Guatemala -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala. Families Served Current FY: 2899. Total Houses Constructed: 26588. House Sponsorship Cost (USD): $4020. ...
www.habitat.org/intl/lac/86.aspx

#
Bienvenidos al nuevo website de Hábitat Guatemala
Hábitat para la Humanidad ® Guatemala 2006.
www.habitatguate.org

#
idealist.org - Habitat for Humanity Guatemala

Nov 27, 2008 ... Habitat for Humanity Guatemala is a legal NGO which works with low income families that do not qualify for credit or loans through banks or ...
www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Org/100399-5

#
idealist.org - Habitat for Humanity Guatemala Volunteer

Nov 27, 2008 ... Habitat for Humanity Guatemala (HfHG) builds 10% of all Habitat for Humanity houses worldwide. So far in Guatemala, HfHG has built 28000 ...
www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/VolunteerOpportunity/161114-272

Més resultats des de www.idealist.org »
#
Habitat for Humanity Building hope and homes in Guatemala

When Luis Samayoa took over as national director of Habitat for Humanity Guatemala nine years ago, it was building 400 homes a year. ...
www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/whe_latin_guat_2.htm

#
One-Button Mouse | Habitat for Humanity: Guatemala

Habitat for Humanity: Guatemala. March 3rd, 2007. Habitat for Humanity: Guatemala ... Icons based on my Habitat for Humanity trip to Guatemala ...
onebuttonmouse.com/icons/guatemala/

#
Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity volunteers and donations

Dec 28, 2007 ... Journal coordinator on behalf of Team Guatemala ..... "There´s nothing like it - being on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip. ...
www.thriventbuilds.com/worldwide/journal/journal8.html

#
Habitat for Humanity - Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala is an NGO which specializes in community organizing , technical assistance and the construction of low cost housing. ...
www.xelapages.com/vol-habitat.htm

Castlebrook Buildings - Hardie

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Spanish House Style Plans

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Carpentry, Finished - JLC-Online Forums

Discussion forum for Finish Carpentry, History of the Ogee and classic mouldings (and more):
http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29630

Styrofoam "Reddi-Form blocks" - Search

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   Jul 9, 2008 ... PHOTO BY ROBERT ANDERSEN Called Reddi-Form blocks and made of Styro-Foam, the partially hollow blocks making up this foundation are fitted ...
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2. Styrofoam future | Alaska Business Monthly | Find Articles at BNET

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Google search for: buy "Reddi-Form blocks"

Styrofoam "Reddi-Form blocks" link together like Legos

Housing Office building green houses for rental stock
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER

July 9, 2008 nantucket independent online

PHOTO BY ROBERT ANDERSEN Called Reddi-Form blocks and made of Styro-Foam, the partially hollow blocks making up this foundation are fitted with steel reinforcement bars and filled with concrete to create super strong walls insulated inside and out to make the house 30 to 70 percent more heat efficient.

Affordable housing almost being an oxymoron on Nantucket, the Nantucket Housing Office's green construction protocol is likely to be the way for Nantucketers needing all the financial housing help they can to afford their homes in the long-term.

A case-in-point is the nearly 1,000- square-foot house that the Nantucket Housing Office is building at 2 Clarendon St. out in Tom Nevers.

Island builder Rob Andersen, the contractor for this project is building the foundation and exterior walls to the top of the gables ends of this house with expanded polystyrene Styrofoam blocks called Reddi-Form blocks that link together like Legos to create the most energy-efficient house possible.

This first green house for the Nantucket Housing Office will also employ an alternative technology septic system, bamboo flooring, low-volatile organic compound paints, Energy Starrated appliances, low-flow faucets and a solar hot water system with radiant heating in the floors.

This south side of the small house that the Nantucket Housing Office is building at 2 Clarendon St. for affordable rental housing will get a lot of natural light through its windows, which will also provide hot water for bathing and heating from solar water heating panels on its roof.

"We think it will be a showpiece about how affordable housing and green don't have to be at odds with each other," said Nantucket Housing Office Executive Director Aaron Marcavitch. "We also hope that it will be a showpiece for those thinking about a small house and what it takes to go green."

The Reddi-Form blocks, four feet long, nine and five-eighths inches wide and one foot high with up to six chambers in each, come with channels on their bottoms and tabs on their tops that allow the Reddi-Forms to be connected to each other while being built into a wall. Reinforcement bar is placed down through the chambers of the Reddi-Forms and concrete is poured in to solidify the wall, said Andersen, providing extremely strong, durable walls and a continuous insulation barrier inside and outside that makes the house 30 to 70 percent more efficient than a traditional woodframed house.

The Styro-Foam blocks forming the foundation and walls of this island house, known as Reddi-Form blocks, are the same kind that builder Rob Andersen will be using for the Nantucket Housing Office's affordable house in Tom Nevers on 2 Clarendon Street.

Andersen added that the Styrofoam/ concrete combination also significantly deadens sound waves coming into the house with a reduction of 59 decibels less than an all wood- framed built house.

"We're really looking forward to doing this," said Andersen. "I think it's the right move for the Housing Office. It's easier to heat and cool, and if the town is going to invest our money to do affordable housing, it needs to be affordable. I wish I could go back and retrofit my house with it."

Marcavitch said that he is trying for the silver Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design rating from the U.S. Green Building Council for this house and that he wants this first green affordable housing project to be as much of a benefit to the people to whom the Housing Office would rent it as a learning experience on which to build.

"The intent is to take all of the things we're learning from this project and apply them to other projects," said Marcavitch. "This isn't just about affordable housing, this is about housing in general, looking at different ways people can build houses."

The Reddi-Form blocks will work in concert with the solar panel hot water

panels, radiant heat floors and energyefficient

appliances. The solar panels are packed with evacuated tubes that absorb the heat from the collection surface of the panels, transferring it to water in the tubes for all household hot water needs. This heat exchanger system serves a dual purpose of providing hot water that is pumped through radiant heating pipes that will be laid in the floors of the house.

A super efficient propane-fired boiler controlled by a microcomputer kicks on when it determines the solar panel water is cooler than the chosen temperature settings for the house.

Andersen said that this system would be most active during the colder months of the year, specifically Sept. 21 through June 21.

"That, coupled with the insulation of the Reddi-Form blocks and we'll be able to use smaller appliances; it won't take as much energy to heat the building as it would with a conventional building," said Andersen.

The project is being funded by a grant for $245,000 from the Community Preservation Committee and some financial help from Energy Star, which is also helping the Housing Office with the costs of its LEED certification. With a second grant for $235,000 from CPC, the Housing Office is going to build another green house but with more traditional wood framing on Norquarta Drive.

Marcavitch said the Housing Office is trying to keep the size of these houses within reason to lessen its impact on the island environment and limit heating and cooling bills.

"In terms of green, obviously one of the most important things is keeping the size down, so to keep it at 676 square feet on the first floor, we're meeting a lot of LEED standards right off the bat," he said. "The Reddi-Form process makes it inherently very energy efficient."

Housing Nantucket

Nantucket could take a giant leap toward meeting its state-mandated 10% affordable housing quota with the construction of housing at the town's 2 Fairgrounds Road property. If you want to learn more about this quota, attend tonight's Board of Selectmen meeting at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the Town & County Building at 16 Broad St. At this meeting, John Ryan of Development Cycles of Amherst, Mass. who wrote Nantucket's 2002 Housing Needs Assessment, will update the board on his plan for affordable housing at 2 Fairgrounds.

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Ikea selling 'flat-pack' homes

Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Ikea Homes in a Box

Yes- its true! Ikea is selling prepackaged 'flat-pack' homes in the UK. These cost effective lego-like homes might be a good solution for an easy low-cost diy home.
check out the following article courtesy of treehugger.com

IKEA is taking flatpack construction to a new high – the BoKlok is a flatpack house offering hope to hundreds of thousands of people currently unable to buy a house in the UK. These timber frame, 1 or 2 bedroom homes will be available.. ..for lower income families. Affordable housing is a testing issue for the government as high house prices over a decade forced key workers and local people to the urban margins. Well-tested in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden, where 2,000 BoKloks occupy 45 sites, a new Anglo-Swedish venture aims to offer the flatpack housing at 13 IKEA outlets. Most BoKloks will be offered through the Hyde Group housing association, Paramount Homes and Skanska, IKEA’s partner in Scandinavia. Brits have shown considerable enthusiasm for minimalist Swedish design, with a stampede of 6,000 customers recently at a north London IKEA store. Whether the BoKlok (translating as Live Smart) aesthetic, a hybrid of country-and-western meets summer holiday home, will meet the romantic and practical aspirations of the British public, let alone the planners, remains to be seen. A glance to the post-World War II ‘Cornish Unit’ prefab concrete homes, and others of the same ilk, designed over fifty years ago to meet similar urgent housing needs, still sit awkwardly in the landscape. Whatever happened to ‘local is beautiful’? ::Hyde Housing and ::Ikea Boklok [by © Alastair Fuad-Luke, 2005.]
Posted by Patty Sylvana, Green Realtor at 8:59 AM

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN BUILD PROGRAM IN GUATEMALA

University of Washington, College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Landscape Architecture, Urban Ecological Design

* University of Washington
* College of Architecture & Urban Planning

* culturally based placemaking
* ecological infrastructure
* ecoliteracy
* human & environmental health
* design/build
* international partnerships
* community

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN BUILD PROGRAM IN GUATEMALA

Winter Quarter 2009: Outdoor Classroom

The Winter Design/Build 2008 Program offers students a unique service learning opportunity to study in one of the world’s most interesting countries, Guatemala. Rich in Mayan history and culture, Guatemala is an ecologically important with great swaths of forested land still intact and populations of endangered species threatened. This program is designed to meet two primary goals. First it offers students the opportunity to explore, observe and study in this unique country and gain insight into a unique culture and appreciate its vernacular environmental design. Second, the opportunity to work with a unique client and design and build an invaluable open space that will nurture and stimulate the children, their families and the community of garbage pickers.

Students will work with the client, Safe Passage (see description below), and the faculty to design and build an “outdoor classroom”. Students will learn the skills of small culturally appropriate site design and construction detailing through this intensive project. The process is formed around the collaborative model of inclusive design. Once the design is completed, each student will take on individual responsibilities for various aspects of the project. The rapid pace of both the design and construction will demand a deep level of commitment and responsibility. In the design phase, students will be taught graphics, site design, and construction documentation and learn what a “therapeutic garden” is and how it might function. In the building phase, students will be taught the principles and methodologies of construction, how to use tools, calculate materials and cost estimating. The students will also learn through the children and volunteers of Safe Passage and gain insight into how people survive in radically different cultures and in great depravation.

The park site is located in Zona #3, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Guatemala City. The site, a former garbage dump has been partially cleared and a wall was recently erected around its perimeter to prevent land invasions and a pre-school is currently being erected on the park site. The park is surrounded on two sides by the squatter community, on another by the garbage dump; the largest in the city, where the families scavenge.

Goals of the Project

* The creation of a park (Children’s Peace Park) to be used by the children of Safe Passage to reduce their daily stresses, and accommodate a range of activities including vocational training, recreation and ecological awareness. The park will also serve as a therapeutic environment and safe refuge within the often violent and dangerous squatter community.
* In a working session with Safe Passage children and staff and the U of WA’s students and faculty develop a program that meets the needs of the existing and planned future programs for Safe Passage.
* Develop construction documents that articulate the design intent and can be implemented within the construction budget.
* Implement the third phase of the park and work with the Safe Passage’s staff and administrators to complete a maintenance plan.

Outcome of the Project

* The creation of a therapeutic learning environment that accommodates the therapeutic, academic, vocational, and recreational goals of the Safe Passage curriculum.
* The creation of a replicable community service model.
* Conduct a continuing evaluation based on follow up interviews over the next two years, to monitor and evaluate the park and document its use.

Participants

Landscape Architecture Design Build Program

The University of Washington Landscape Architecture Design Build Program has been asked by Camino Segura/Safe Passage a non-governmental agency based in Antigua Guatemala to design and build a number of components in a Park designed for children and to be used as a part of their educational outreach and support program. The children are from the families of the garbage pickers who were pulled out of school by their families to harvest garbage for resale in an effort to increase the family income. Safe Passage is supporting the children in their effort to gain an education and break the cycle of dropouts/garbage picking. The park will be integrated into the programs curriculum and is intended to offer therapeutic, educational, vocational and recreation support and opportunities.

Students will work with the client, Safe Passage (staff, administrators and children (see description below), and the faculty to design and build an “interactive landscape. Students will learn the skills of small site design and construction detailing, management, community participation.

Faculty

The Landscape Architecture Design Build Program in Guatemala will be taught by Daniel Winterbottom, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture. The Design/Build Program was initiated by Professor Winterbottom in 1995 and over the past decade has completed a diverse range of projects. The projects include a public wash facility for a rural community in central Mexico; several projects in Seattle including an intergenerational play and recreational area, an outdoor classroom and environmental learning facility, a community adopt-a-park in the Cascade neighborhood, two formerly paved spaces on the UW's west campus that were transformed into green space for staff and students; and a series of gardens for a foster home for children with AIDS in New York City.

Camino Seguro/Safe Passage

Located in both Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala, Safe Passage was founded in 1999 in an effort to help the poorest of Guatemala’s children break out of poverty in a dignified and permanent way through education. Working with children living near the garbage dump, Safe Passage has turned the dream of education into a reality for more than 500 children.

Children are the hidden victims of poverty. As innocent victims, born into poverty, they are forced by their parents to drop out of school and work aside their families to pick through the garbage and sell what they can, to eke out their minimal survival, amidst the domestic violence, alcoholism, and drug and sexual abuse that plagues their neighborhoods.

Safe Passage offers a wide range of services for the children of these families. By providing ongoing school support in the form of school enrollment, supplies, books and uniforms, Safe Passage supports children in twelve area public schools. Each child can earn assistance with clothing, shoes and other needed items, by regularly attending school and the daily reinforcement program. Safe Passage also provides home and school visits to provide each child with additional support and a powerful awareness that someone cares deeply about them and their future.

The reinforcement program assists children with their homework and provides creative, meaningful hands on activities to reinforce their skills. Safe Passage depends on local and foreign volunteers to provide the children with individual attention they so desperately need. Volunteers are instrumental in the planning and administration of these activities. The park will play a significant role in the activities Safe Passage administers. It is intended to be a place of learning, recreation, exploration and healing. As a safe place, where children can express themselves as children, they will also learn about their local culture and ecology. The park will be a unique refuge in a neighborhood torn between poverty, violence and despair.

This collaborative relationship between the Safe Passage and the University of Washington offers a wonderful opportunity to combine teaching, research and to develop across discipline interaction between the Safe Passage personnel and the Department of Landscape Architecture. The design/build program represents an innovative model for teaching, intellectual exchange and service learning, and when realized, will provide a valuable community asset for the people of Zona #3 Guatemala City. (more & photos of the "Garden of Hope" 2006)

Students design residence for Guatemalan street kids

Stanford Report, May 29, 2003

Students design residence for Guatemalan street kids
In architecural studio course, 'real world situation' brings challenges, constraints

BY BARBARA PALMER

A blizzard of drawing paper covers the big table in Room 219 in Encina West on Mondays and Wednesdays as the 11 students enrolled in Civil and Environmental Engineering 137 -- an architectural design studio -- produce flurries of floor plans, site designs and scale drawings for their course project, a residential and institutional campus.

But in the words of Jeff Luney, a local architect who's serving as a design critic for the course, this is more than "paper architecture." Students are wrestling with the demands of a real site -- a hilly, irregularly shaped, 3-acre plot cut by a deep ravine -- and the needs of a real client, Estela Solis.



Seniors Luis Trujillo and Lucy Goodnough discussed the parcel of land upon which the Center for the Restoration of the Multitudes in Guatemala hopes to build a residential campus for former street children. Photo: L.A. Cicero

Solis is the founder of Center for the Restoration of the Multitudes (CEREM) in Chichicastenango, Guatemala, which provides shelter, drug treatment, counseling and occupational therapy for former gang members and prostitutes. Solis, a counselor, founded CEREM after witnessing the condition of women and children living in a garbage dump in Guatemala City.

Solis' foundation, which houses 20 to 30 individuals and treats dozens more, currently is based in a rented house, from which residents operate a bakery and a cafe. Solis plans to expand the program to include a residential campus on a site 20 minutes outside Guatemala City, where former prostitutes and street children could safely live, go to school and work.

It's the design of that campus that students are creating, with the help of architects Luney and David Nieh, lecturer and architect Marga Jann, and other lecturers and faculty who serve as visiting design critics. In addition to group-home-style residences, students are designing classrooms, spaces for small businesses, a church and a retreat center. Solis, accompanied by Guatemalan architect Alberto de Leon Escobar and a CEREM resident, will travel to campus next Monday for a design review of the project.

The course is titled Architectural Design of Individual Buildings: Ethics, Community Service and Social Responsibility, and students, drawn from backgrounds including medicine, history, urban studies, human biology, and civil and environmental engineering, take an interdisciplinary approach to the project.

Their designs, which use Guatemalan vernacular architecture and textile art as a springboard, address residents' needs for privacy and community, recreation and security, along with the need for square footage. "I love how architecture combines art with functionality," wrote Ben Palmquist in a description of the course project. "It takes into account everything from psychology to structural engineering."

"It's not just a place for kids to eat and sleep," added senior Luis Trujillo, a 21-year-old history major who brought the foundation to Jann's attention and serves as a board member. He has conducted research on education, poverty and street children.

The project is a rare opportunity for students and far different from more typical architectural projects that address problems like "How many offices can we fit into this space?" or "How many cases of Coca-Cola can we push out the back?" Luney said.

Their designs for the campus are imaginative, with curving walls and vine-shaded patios, rendered in a rainbow of colors. Yet in their critiques, architects Luney, Nieh and Jann keep students rooted in prosaic realities like drainage and sewer systems. "Are we using septic tanks? We have to think about the utilities," responded Nieh, after Palmquist presented a site plan sketch.

Students also are working to identify funding sources and are creating a business plan to generate income through the manufacture of clothing. The older residents will design and sew skirts, to be sold through organizations like the Fair Trade Federation, and class members are hoping to help CEREM to begin exporting Guatemalan crafts and tapestries, Jann said. (Students will take orders for Guatemalan textiles at the June 2 design review, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wallenberg Learning Theater. The design review is open to the community.)

A project like the CEREM campus has a lot of constraints, said Jann, who has previously worked with student designers to create blueprints for a residence at a Mexican orphanage, now under construction. The project is ambitious and has little funding, and the student architects, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds, are amateurs, she said. On the plus side are the students' commitment and ability, she said. "They are really motivated and are hard workers."

"It's not really even a class," said Palmquist. "It's a real-world situation. Most of us plan to stick with the project after the class is over."

The class receives support from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Center for Social Innovation at the Graduate School of Business, the Institute for International Studies, the Program in Ethics in Society, the Haas Center for Public Service and the Program on Urban Studies.

(more)

Green Home Building and Sustainable Architecture

Note: Great blog, with lots of alternative and sustainable building ideas. Mentions earth bags and Guatemalans building with stablized adobe. Excerpt:


Blog by Kelly Hart, Crestone, Colorado, United States

Sustainable architecture is an exciting and important field, with many people reviving traditional methods of building and others creating innovations to established practices. Kelly Hart, webmaster of the popular website www.greenhomebuilding.com, posts text and photos featuring what he discovers from around the world.

Kelly Hart has been involved with green building concepts for much of his life. He has also worked in various fields of communication media, including still photography, cinematography, animation, video production and now website development. Kelly has lived in an earthbag/papercrete home that he built (but is now mostly living in Mexico) and consults about sustainable building design.

Visit my green home building site and ecological house plans site.

Little Green House & Gardens, Oxford NC

Our little green house with lovely sunroom, gardens, daffodils, impatiens and outdoor fountains in Oxford NC. Who would have guessed this tiny little house would have turned out to be so nice? With windows and French doors throughout the entire space, it's like living in the garden, with views from every room. Absolutely Marvelous!

Note 11.08: This is the plan I want to use for my little houses in Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, although using the Spanish colonial character and designs. Can't wait to get started!

I have to find the Springtime photo with dogwoods blooming and 2,000 daffodils planted!

Green Solutions - Special Reports from CNN.com

Here's a great site with Green Solutions - most are free. (from John Merrick)
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/solutions

Green Solutions

Here's a great site with Green Solutions - most are free. (from John Merrick)
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/solutions

Nira Apartments, Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, GUA

I want my little houses to look like this: Nira Apartments, Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (GUA)






panajachel.com/nirapartments

The Story of Stuff

Great video on "The Story of Stuff": www.storyofstuff.com with Annie Leonard

Hexayurt Plans

Hexayurts - progressive building solutions.com plans

More photos: http://progressivebuildingsolutions.com/main/pics.php

Hexayurt - Cities Go Green.com

Cities Go Green.com

Hexayurt, Progressive Building Solutions (PBS)
Sam Taber McNeil Silver Bullet

Far from his home in Reykjavik, Iceland, at the height of a desert storm in Nevada, Vinay Gupta had an epiphany. He was at the 2003 Burning Man arts festival, inside a six-sided structure he had invented and named the hexayurt.

“I was inside, and I knew I’d changed the world,” Gupta said. “We’re comfortable in here, while outside there’s a whiteout dust storm, it’s 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and this cost $100.”

Since then, Gupta has worked on transforming the hexayurt into an easily transported, cheap and sustainable shelter for refugees, rural villagers, disaster victims, and others.

"Take 12 sheets of standard industrial board material, cut six in half, tape or screw them together, and move in,” Gupta said. “Boom: there’s your global housing.”

... Gupta has made the design and other information freely available online (see Resources). Videos on his website and Progressive Building Solution’s website show construction with box cutters and industrial tape, and YouTube also has numerous hexayurt videos, some made by enthusiasts, most by Gupta or Zwern. www.citiesgogreen.com/component/content/article/45-the-tech-fix/183-hexayurt

Two part folding 8 foot hexayurt in eindhoven

Progressive Building Solutions.com
From: hexayurt
Added: March 19, 2008
Two part folding 8 foot hexayurt in Eindhoven, The Netherlands

This is a folding hexayurt prototype being assembled at the Technical University of Eindhoven in spring 2008. It is being assembled as part of the Red Cross sponsored researching going on at TUE. You can see it takes less than ten minutes to assemble from start to finish.

The production hexayurt has a higher wall so people can stand at any point in the building, and several additional design features.

hexayurt.com

The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (backup link). Suitable raw materials include common building materials ( fire safe insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4' x 8' panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. It takes about two hours. The design (backup link) is in the public domain.

Different materials are appropriate for different uses - insulation, extended life, low cost, durability in extreme environments and so on. The design is in the public domain, and is in active development as a Free/Open Source style project.

The Hexayurt Project also includes groundbreaking work (pdf) (backup link) on providing simple services like interior lighting at incredibly low cost.

Important safety notice. Please read the Hexayurt Safety Information page on Appropedia for news on using Tuff-R / R-Max to make Hexayurts for Burning Man and similar events. (more)

Rhino Steel Buildings & Model Homes

Better Structural Strength
Because steel has the highest strength to weight ratio of any building material, it is by nature a superior construction material. It doesn’t rot, warp, split, crack or creep. It doesn’t expand or contract with moisture content.

A steel framed home will always have straight walls and square corners. No aggravating nail pops or drywall cracks. Steel framing can take popular finishes like brick, stucco or siding, so a steel framed home looks every bit as beautiful as any conventional home.

(add photos +)

Steel Frame Model Home Showcase

Contact us
Rhino Steel Buildings 4305 I-35 North, Denton, TX 76207 | T: (888) 320-7466 | F: (940) 484-6746 | E: info@rhinobldg.com

Welcome to the
Rhino Steel Buildings
Steel Frame Model Home Showcase.

Select a home for detailed elevation shots, floorplans, and more. Overall dimensions of models is reflected by model number. Example: Sweetwater NS4059 is 40’ left to right and 59’ front to back.

Why is a Steel Framed Home Better?
STRUCTURAL STRENGTH
FIRE PROTECTION
EARTHQUAKE PROTECTION
MOLD RESISTANCE
TERMITE RESISTANCE
ENVIRONMENTAL

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http://www.rhinobldg.com/standard-building-system.htm

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NS4136A NS4136B

CANTON
NS4136

3 Bedroom
1364 sq. ft.

NS4136C

The Canton offers both front and rear covered porches, a split bedroom and a 12' x 12' open kitchen.

Living: 1032 sq ft

Front Porch: 249 sq ft

Back Porch: 188 sq ft

List Price: $10,996.00

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NS5064A NS5064B

AMHERST
NS5064

3 Bedroom
2706 sq. ft.

NS5064C

The Amherst features a large family room with adjacent spacious kitchen area. A wrap around porch can accommodate shaded comfort at different times of the day and different seasons. A front entry two car garage is included.

Living: 1504 sq. ft

Wrap around porch: 732 sq ft.

Garage: 470 sq. ft

List Price: $22,493.00

steelframekits.com/versatube

Finish: http://www.steelframekits.com/versatube.htm

Why Build a Small House - Bungalow In a Box.com

YouTube video, from: Bungalow In a Box.com
Added: November 10, 2008

Why Build a Small House

Weathertight, Panel-Frame Structures

Living in a small house helps its owners prioritize their needs when the time comes to expand. They design the perfect timber frame addition which nearly doubles the living space to add an adaptable guest room, workshop, and indoor shower.

Category: Howto & Style
Tags:
addition design timberframe house plans

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We build the shell weathertight so you can relax and take your time on the interior finish.

Our component kits make durable cottage-camps, garages, home offices and studios. Our unique framing technique joins low-maintenance, natural materials to create beautiful structures that last. Prefabricated interlocking, exterior-finish panels assemble quickly with minimal on-site waste.

A BungalowInABox goes up on your foundation with a finished exterior appearance in in one or two days. (Impress your friends and neighbors.)

Call (207) 443-5691 and let us impress you today.

IN THE NEWS Sept.19,2008: CHANNEL 8 WMTW

4-minute video: Snowy bungalow raising.

Mountain-Top Photos: Unfinished Retreat.

Studio Photos: Finished Office near house.

A slideshow of Montsweag Bungalows

(more)

Choose your own color combinations.
Call (207) 443-5691 or email info@bungalowinabox.com today!

We are easy to reach pretty much any time during regular business hours:

M-F 8am-5pm, also (less) available on weekends:

Raoul Hennin

Montsweag Brook Corporation
425 Montsweag Road
Woolwich, ME 04579

(207) 443-5691
(207) 522-4590

raoul@bungalowinabox.com

Green Cottage Kits - November 2008

I know you are traditional cottage enthusiasts, but thought I'd share that our own modern house kit construction is well underway-... (more)

* Green Cottage Kits News! November 2008

Architecture_of_Guatemala

finish: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Architecture_of_Guatemala

Many great photos!

Calacirya Foundation - sustainable building

Sustainable Building with Trash

Calacirya Foundation is employing new building techniques using plastic trash in construction. This serves to hide unsightly, disease-causing garbage while creating community areas for all to enjoy. In addition, focus is placed on the importance of dealing with plastic trash in a more responsible manner and the long term effects of creating non-biodegradable garbage. Our two-fold goal is to affect a significant reduction in the use of plastics and to promote trash construction.




Community Garden Project .


In 2003, Calacirya Foundation, in cooperation with Kansas State University (Community Service Program), Rotary International and the High School in San Marcos, began a community garden. This project serves as our prototype for sustainable building projects of the future. The garden has not only beautified an area that was once neglected and unsightly, but is also serving as a classroom for the youth of San Marcos to learn about trash construction and other enviromental issues.

Ecological Sanitation Project

"Water and Sanitation is one of the primary drivers of public health. I often refer to it as “Health 101”, which means that once we can secure access to clean water and to adequate sanitation facilities for all people, irrespective of the difference in their living conditions, a huge battle against all kinds of diseases will be won."

Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General, World Health Organization.

About 2.4 billion people globally live under highly unsanitary conditions and have such poor hygiene behaviors that their exposure to and the spread of infectious diseases are enormous. Diarrheal disease alone amounts to an estimated 4.1 % of the total DALY global burden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year (WHO, 2004). It was estimated that 88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene, and is mostly concentrated on children in developing countries.

In the town of San Marcos la Laguna approximately 50% of the 450 families do not currently have bathrooms and there is no dump or solid waste disposal. Trash and human excrement are polluting the water ways and mountainsides. Calacirya Foundation has combined several ideas to make ecological sanitation facilities which not only contain human waste, but also make compost and use trash in the construction process.



This project is a grand opportunity to share with families how solid and human waste affects the health of the environment and in turn the health of the community. Families help in the construction of the bathrooms and are responsible for stuffing plastic bottles with trash to be used as fill for the bathroom walls. This allows ample time to instruct the family on better sanitation practices and proper care of their ecological composting toilet. They are also shown how to maintain a composting system for the excrement that is safe to fertilize crops. In addition, every family is given soap to emphasize the need to wash hands after handling trash or using the bathroom.

However, as stated above, black water is not the only environmental contaminate present. Grey water is also endangering local water ways. Calacirya Foundation is installing grey water filtration systems in individual houses so washing water does not flow away from the property. Using a permaculture system grey water is contained and broken down by a ring of bananas and flowers. In the meantime the “banana circle” also provides shade, food and a place to compost organic material; and the flowers create more of a “garden” atmosphere.

Ecological sanitation, trash education, composting and grey water filtration combined with the Calacirya Foundation stove project make a well-rounded household health system.

Calacirya Foundation goals are to:

Better community health through change in household sanitation practices
*

Promote ecological awareness in the house as well as the surrounding environment
*

Demonstrate the direct connection between the health of the environment and the health of families

Sources:

1.

World Health Organization Website, 2007.
2.

“Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion: Programming Guidance,” Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council and the World Health Organization, 2005.



Contact Us

Co-Founders: Christian Nix and Emily Webb

US: 1-866-841-9139 ext.1011

Guatemala: (011) (502) 4060-9412

http://www.calacirya.org/building.htm

info@calacirya.org

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See the main organization: puravidaatitlan.org/english.html

The majority of villages in Guatemala have no trash dumps or system to collect and contain their trash. Trash is dumped on the ground, in lakes and in rivers. Vital drinking water is being contaminated. Children are playing in garbage; and disease is being spread.


Pura Vida teaches villagers to compact clean, dry plastic trash into used plastic bottles, thereby converting waste into easily-storable and transportable “plastic bricks” for construction.

Mission:

To promote environmental consciousness among the indigenous villages of Guatemala, in order to curb the contamination of air, soil and water, promote healthier living conditions, and preserve the beauty of the land. (more)