Sustainable urban housing model: looking for alternatives to change course

Abstract

The current deterioration of the environment is reaching increasingly alarming levels. Although there are significant efforts in different areas of architecture and construction, urban housing by the formal sector has begun a very slow migration to new proposals.

The high costs of sustainable proposals and the rejection of schemes and nontraditional building systems by the user are some of the variables that limit progress towards alternatives that provide the conditions that a user expects from a home, without raising its cost substantially and reducing its environmental impact.

This research aims to bridge the gap between the different alternatives of architecture and green building with the current offer of formal urban housing, presenting feasible changes to implement the proposals for housing projects, specifically those that are aimed at sectors with less purchasing power.

In a first phase, the research will design an architectural and functionality model. In a second phase, it will evaluate alternative materials, construction systems and cost, to finally develop a prototype.

Entorno, may 2016, issue 61: 25-39