Humanitarian and (un)Ordinary Machine for Emergency
Based on careful and relevant research of the emergency context and housing quality, Home* is a housing system based on principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability and flexibility over time: from a temporary structure, it can become a permanent housing.
The project is Humanitarian as solves the problem of living in any context, (un)Ordinary as house in an extra-ordinary environment, a Machine designed in every detail to be effective and efficient in the Emergency context.
Cross-border/international
Italy
Other
Jordan
Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Other
{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Claudio Last name: Portogallo Gender: Male Age: 29 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy If relevant, please select your other nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Viuzzo del Roncolino n.6 Town: Firenze Postal code: 50143 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 334 321 6232 E-mail:cla.portogallo@gmail.com
HOME* is a home and not only.
The aim of the proposal is to combine the problems and needs of contemporary living in the emergency context with an innovative and sustainability approach, to create an efficient and effectiveness housing system called HOME*: Humanitarian and (un)Ordinary Machine for Emergency.
As the name says, it is a home for people, which takes into account the emergency context and offers strength and dignity to living despite the critical situation. It is a Humanitarian intervention, in that the architect's job is to solve the problem of living in any context. It is an (un)Ordinary house located in an extraordinary environment, which continuously offers new possibilities, always keeping in mind the space and time dimensions. It is a Machine for Emergency as thought in its each detail, every element is flexible for different needs and different purposes, everything is designed to be effective and efficient, from the method to design, build and live it, to its easthetic and perception.
It is a project that required a careful and critical study of the context and the operators involved; the design of a housing system and of its entire life cycle, from the planning to end of life phase.
The result achieved is a sustainable system on environmental, social and economic levels, that meets the needs of humans and the environment around them.
Emergency Housing
Sustainability
Circularity
Social Value
LCA
The sustainability criteria that have guided the research concern the planning and designing of the whole life cycle of the system.
In order to verify the sustainability of home* system, it is developed three assessments (environmental, energy and economic) modelling the project in twp locations Amatrice (Italy) and Zaatari (Jordan). The environmental assessment methodology, used to evaluate the sustainability of the system in its production and transport phases, is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). To this end, the subsystems that compose the project are assessed both in terms of materials and in terms of their construction technology, obtaining the quantities of embodied energy (MJ) and embodied carbon (kgCO2eq) necessary for the production and transport of each component. The energy assessment, on the other hand, evaluated the sustainability of the project in its use phase, thanks to the Termolog software which uses CENED+2.0 as its calculation engine. In the calculation it is assumed as use time of 30 years, nevertheless the flexibility and ability to respond to different needs of the system, allow to extend the duration of use, optimizing consumption. The first two evaluations compare and verify the efficiency of the system life cycle (A1-C4), offering considerations regarding the method of optimizing the carbon and energy emissions. Finally, by comparing the costs for the production, transport and construction of the structures currently used for the resolution of the housing emergency, using the costs of components that potentially can be used for home*, provided by the manufactures that produce and transport the components. The scope is to verify the feasibility and the economic advantageus of the project. The assessments developed allowed to validate and adjust the design proposal, optimizing the energy and carbon consuptions and, in addition, testify the sustainability on environmental and economic level of the project.
Despite the several environments defined by the emenrgency context in which the project can be located, humans must not live in a space that is uncomfortable or is not pleasant as well as liveable. This work is a project for people, who seeks through a technical and analytical process to transform an emergency structure into a real home*.
This emergency machine is built on a human scale, for humans and by humans. It takes into account the context in which the inhabitant is forced to live, their needs and much more. Simple in its shape but rich of possibility to offer for different needs. Thanks to the choice of wood as the main material, the house acquires not only a technological-constructive value but also a psychological one. Well-being in the project is sought after in every aspect. The intention is to obtain a habitat which, thanks to the colours, the choice of materials and the furnishings, would make the time spent inside comfortable. Spruce wood as main material is selected for its constructive performances and for its aesthetics. Used without additional finishing, its natural appearance, both for structural and stuff elements, allows to exploit the health, physical and psychological benefits it has on the inhabitants, thanks to the strength and warmth that characterise it. The indoor and outdoor spaces defined are more familiar and welcoming, with high level of quality. It is a machine conceived by a laboratory and built by a factory with conscience, intelligence, precision, rigour, and above all, imagination. Since humans must be able to imagine and dream of their own future, despite the critical situation, in a real home to live alone or with others. Living the way they choose and not the way they have to, taking advantage of all the possibilities that the house, as a good machine for living, offers them.
When we talk about humanitarian assistance, it should not be understood only as a noble action but as a duty towards others, for the return of a place to live, a shelter, a home for a new beginning. It is about thinking and planning the lives of those people whose their life has been compromised. Comes from here, the main design principle of home* is create spaces in which first of all, we would like to live and consequently take care of and develop. This is the reason why those designed are spaces of excellence from both a hygienic and technological and ecological point of view. They are the engine of an idea of development in which the redistribution of wealth becomes a basis for social justice. Considering that the structures used today for housing emergency, that follow national and international standards directives, are not entirely efficient. The critical situation does not sometimes consider parameters and implications that could improve the emergency process. Through the requirements (technical and regulamentation) analysis, HM* offers a right and ambitious solution.
In order to understand the concept of home* about “to live in an emergency”, it is essential to refer to three principles, perhaps taken for granted, yet extremely innovative, because they are too rarely applied. First: equality. Every human being has the right to have a home, regardless of economic condition or social background, gender, ethnic group or religion. Second: quality. A house must be able to satisfy primary and non-primary needs, offer a shelter that generates well-being and leads to development. Third: sociability. The well-being of the inhabitants within a system is generated by living with others, by how the built space and the context coexist and develop. The values reported guided the design to not forget to always fix the humans wellbeing, emotions and feelings first, which are even more important when their fragility is exposed, trying to reconstruct the sensation of safety
Architecture is the result of two processes, design and use. Two lives of the process that each have a protagonist, on the one hand the architect and on the other the inhabitant. The inhabitant is not only the main user and beneficiary of all the work that is done in emergency architecture, but he also becomes an actor, as he is called upon to participate in the process both in the preliminary phase and in the phase of use when he is firsthand inside the emergency itself. Housing represents the shelter, the social role, and the history of each of us, and the restoration of one's dwelling becomes the subject of great questioning for the hopes that become increasingly shaky for each of the victims. The forced displacement of a population due to a disaster that has damaged or destroyed places of habitation puts the evacuee in a serious psychological as well as economic condition. If it is right for each person to own his own home, it must be made to suit him but also take into account the needs of the community. Sociality in an emergency project is a goal pursued by all actors in the process, where personal needs coexist with community ones. It is important that the settlement and the structures of which it is composed encourage people to come together, generating spaces where they can meet and be together. The flexibility of the design allows to offer different sizes, modes of aggregation and host different functions for individuals and people aggregation. It is important for individuals to continue to cultivate their social relationships, with neighbors or co-workers. On the other hand, the proximity between modules influences socialization patterns, but even high density can create problems with cohabitation. To prevent this, the housing system have not compromise either private property or privacy, but rather to encourage living in community, sharing decisions and spaces, enjoying the psychological and economic benefits of coping with emergency together.
Emergency scenarios have within them a variety of actors, who are victims of the emergency and who manage the situation with the goal of "return to normality."
Around the world, actors change according to the geographic area where the emergency occurs and are related to the country's culture, society, economic availability and technological advancement.
The actors considered by home* in an emergency scenario are: governments (through specially prepared entities such as for Italy the Civil Protection Department); nongovernmental associations (local, national and international) that complement or replace the action of states; spontaneous interventions by volunteers or the affected population itself. Major international nongovernmental agencies include: the Croce Rossa, ONU, Medici Senza Frontiere and UNHCR.
On Italian territory, emergency management with the goal of protection is the responsibility of the Italian Civil Defense Department, the Fire Department, the Italian Croce Rossa and the Health Service structures.
In the rest of the world, management is entrusted to government organisations similar to those in Italy, as well as by international relief organisations that flank or supplant national organisations.
The planning of intevention in emergency situation is fundamental to manage in efficient and effective way the critical event. The actors cited are the key drivers for the management of the emergency process. Starting from them and defined the needs related to the services providing to people, the role of professionals in the construction sector is crucial: architects that design sustainable and technological structures; manufacturer that provided the components; and constructors to install the structures. The proposal offers an example of efficient and effective machine realizable with an integrative and collaborative approach among stakeholders is requested.
Home* offers an ordinary home that is just as extraordinary as the context in which it is located. It is a simple system, but also a perfect machine designed to be efficient for as long as the inhabitant decides to use it. It can be transported and assembled, transformed and adapted, integrated and expanded. It is a system that follows a precise method, which takes into account all phases of the life cycle: planning, design, material sourcing, production, transport, installation, use, operation and maintenance, decommissioning, reuse and recycling. Actors (on technical and management level), materials, processes, components, their transport, assembly, disassembly, transformation, use and reuse are defined. It is a sustainable system that takes environmental and economic factors into account throughout its life cycle and implements efficient and effective procedures and technological solutions.
The development of the system took into account the project experiences of 84 case studies from the 1800s to the present, of emergency and non-emergency housing, which were analysed in order to identify the peculiar characteristics of each in order to systemise them and respond to the needs of emergency housing. The feasibility of the project was then analysed through the lens of experts in the professional sector of the Italian and international market (suppliers, manufacturer, constructors, etc.) who work with humanitarian organisations. Furthermore, thanks to the direct interaction with humanitarian organization, such as UNHCR, and the sharing of their experiences in manage emergency situations, it was possible to define specific implementations and real contribution of our project.
Home* combines months of study, analysis, considerations, and experimentation elaborated and studied during the design process. It is conceived as a machine, a system that connects different elements, solves the problem of emergency living in a careful and efficient way, without neglecting any aspect, concerning the inhabitant, how he or she lives, how he or she might want to live in the future, and in case he or she no longer wants to live there, how other people might take advantage of each individual component for further and different use. It takes into account not only the emergency but also the environment, how its being technologically innovative at the architectural level can also be so at the environmental level. Innovation lies in research and analysis of past experience. Moreover, innovation and technology work together to generate a new awareness of the importance of the relationship between architecture and social design. Architecture becomes a means of communication to build a vision of the world, a collective path to share technical skills, aesthetic sensibility, inventive abilities but also emotional involvement. Since working for a humanitarian intervention is not only a professional commitment but above all a personal choice of our social role.
home* has tried to be all of issues mentioned, to be able to reach all latitudes, to have a form and behavior that allows it to adapt to external conditions and the will of its inhabitants. Never having to remain static, standing still at its first story, but with the possibility of being able to create new ones, moving and traveling by all possible means, to find new life on the opposite side of the world. Traditional in form, innovative in thought. A new kind of home, encountering no obstacles in its process and discriminating against no proposal. Building with others and for others reminds us of the right of every human to have a home. For these "others" are all of us.
In order to design a housing machine enable to meet different needs and requirements, specific and adaptable performances are developed for different environments. Furthermore, within the emergency context, planning interventions and establishing a replicable method that takes into account the entire life cycle of the housing system is essential. Therefore, it is followed the Life Cycle Thinking approach, in order to achieve sustainable results and meet people's goals and needs in an optimal way. The importance of checking the environmental, social and economic sustainability of home* stems from the fact that the analysis carried out on specific stages does not allow observing the efficiency of the whole process, which is instead carefully studied in every part. The development time of the emergency is marked by three basic moments: moment 0; in which the whole process begins; emergency, which is the trigger of the housing problem; 30 years, which is the typical duration of the process. Between moment 0 and emergency, the interventions to be implemented in subsequent stages are defined. The duration of the emergency process, although indicated as 30 years, does not have a certain and established end, as it is a cyclical process that reintroduces resources into the system and always offers new possibilities. home* turns out to be an organism that has in itself the characteristics of prefabrication, minimal living, modularity, transportability and lightness, flexibility and sustainability, which define emergency living and make it possible to meet the requirements that refer to different emergency structures. In this sense, home* has been analyzed on different scales, from materials to components, from technical construction solutions to plant solutions, in order to achieve higher quality performance, reduce costs, waste and environmental impacts.
By analysing the types of emergency, it is immediately clear not only the geographical picture of today's world situation, but it is possible to become aware of just how important a figure the number of people affected every day is.
The context of the project is complex, both on social and environmental level. These are areas affected by environmental disasters, poverty and war, where electricity, running water, or even schools, roads, and health care are too far away.
There are many local solutions to the global challenge, all of which contribute to architecture's response to this problem by focusing on the issue of housing. The issue is approached from different perspectives: economic, morphological, typological, cultural, anthropological and social. All this is done to safeguard the dignity and identity of the communities concerned.
The use of energy sources and materials that do not come from more than 50 km to the installation site was considered; attention was first paid to international guidelines followed by more stringent local regulations. The use of a modular construction system, based on pre-configured components to respond to different needs, allows the system to adapt to multiple geographical contexts and respond effectively to the global climate situations, being able to be inserted in extreme climatic contexts in opposite directions.
The design of this emergency house was not evaluated with academic yardsticks nor analysed by observing only its functional or technological compositional principles, traditionally conceived as beauty, solidity and utility. Unless these principles are reinvented and understood as ethical, sustainable and participatory design. It was essential to bring together different types of needs from beauty to liveability, from solidity to strength, from usefulness to sustainability, in order to create a complete, efficient and effective system perfect for specific situations but replicable in completely different contexts.
