Demotech, design for self reliance - Sustainable housing and living

Study on family size, standardized urban housing, built by its future users. Good use of sub-terrain and roof area. Innovative construction with clay and wood.

Please visit also our wiki research pages. (D35)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Please refer to our work and provide us with usefull feedback and comments on our design initiatives.

We cannot be held accountable for injuries incurred during construction or usage of our designs and construction manuals.

Sustainable housing and living
<< Back to category Better living

Why
A wide project, directed at construction of housing, offering more comfort than usual. In regard of the use of non-renewable resources, the method of construction has to use no more than as available to all.

How
The building techniques as utilized, enable DIY-construction. Tools as designed for this project reduce the cost to a fourth of what is common. Timber out of which its solid wooden walls and floors are constructed, are sawn at the building site with an automatic devise from wood from young trees. This results in considerable CO2 buffering.

Internal links

Short description in Dutch, later to be translated

List of targets for building with an acceptable ecological footprint

External Links

FutureForest for a CarbonNeutral world
Making a business out of promoting a carbon neutral economy and lifestyle, such as planting trees to compensate for flying
http://www.futureforest.com

Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architecture for the poor

How do we go from the architect/constructor system to the architect-owner/builder system? One man cannot build a house, but ten men can build ten houses very easily, even a hundred houses. We need a system that allows the traditional way of cooperation to work in our society. We must subject technology and science to the economy of the poor and penniless. We must add the the aesthetic factor because the cheaper we build the more beauty we should add to respect man."

http://www.islam-online.net/English/ArtCulture/2004/08/article01.shtml

Modular dome structure for housing made from cement or adobe (clay).
http://www.planetaryrenewal.org/ipr/ultralc.html
How city planning incorporates eco-housing
"There is goven little scope for experimental building by the authorities" is an often heard complaint. How the municipality of Freiburg in Germany has countered this argument is described. Resulting in 60% reduction of car ownership in a newly build neigbourhood.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20061220/wl_csm/ovauban
Send us an email form about any relevant link, that should be added here

What other people say...

If you like you can add your own comment

by Reinder - Thu Dec 05 (2002)

Grow your own house from Bamboo
Van: "Asa Nathannael Hunt" Datum: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 03:49:07 Europe/Amsterdam Aan: Onderwerp: Antw.: [o2mailinglist] Plant fibre composite Antwoord aan: o2mailinglist@yahoogroups.com

I do not have any info, but there is an awesome book about the structural uses of Bamboo called Grow Your Own House by Simon Velez a building he designed is found at: www.zeri.org/pavilion/pavilion.htm Just a cool quote below: "Construction permit: Through 22 weeks of testing, and with the support of important German scientists and institutes, ZERI demonstrated that the bamboo pavilion complies with Germany's most stringent construction regulations. Our pavilion is the only one at the EXPO built twice: once in Colombia for testing...and once in Hannover for you to enjoy!" Regards, Asa

by robert - Sun Dec 07 (2003)

link sustainable housing
www.omslag.nl/wonen/ecobouw.html

reply
by Reinder / Demotech - Sun Dec 07 (2003)

Re: link sustainable housing
Thanks! I'll add this link to this item at our web site. However, it is also possible by now to create a Wiki page for this link, what Demotech's web master has just done now.
Please have a look at how the Wiki editing works and give it a try, it has great potential !

by Open Source Ecology - Tue Dec 09 (2003)

OpenHouse project
The Open Source Ecology project, OpenHouse <www.sourceopen.org/wiki/> has goals almost identical to Reider's work, and, i suspect, to www.omslag.nl/wonen/ecobouw.html
Please translate the key pointsof this into English. Let's create a list of contacts to all these projects so we could collaborate. My contact info: Marcin Jakubowski, Ph.D. Open Source Ecology, Inc.

Meyer Ave. Madison, WI 53711 USA Telephone and Fax: +608-236-2895 Mobile: +608-358-9062 Web: sourceopen.org/wiki/ E-mail: marcin@sourceopen.org

If you like you can add your own comment

What name would YOU give to this device?
You can assist search machines to find this topic by sending Demotech an email form with one or more appropriate names for this device in your language. Such as: milieubewust bouwen, eco architectuur, eco architecture, rijtjeshuis, referentierijtjeshuis, ....