By definition, trying to establish a new prototype for urban housing works better when you're working side-by-side with those already living downtown. As part of an experiment to devise new building models that can accommodate the massive growth of Africa's urban population, students from the Experimental Architecture School at the Bauhaus in Weimer, Germany, and EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building Construction and City Development) collaborated on a series of three concept homes for the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Grounded in concepts of self-sufficiency, ease of assembly and affordability, the three designs are attempts to provide more sustainable models for rapid urbanization, relatively low-maintenance, easy-to-assemble structures that can keep pace with city development.
With a steep interior that traps heat and sheet metal overhangs to provide shade, this structure offer a climate friendly model of rapid construction. Built over a three-month period with compressed straw panels, rubber and metal sheets, this model costs $8,500.
The most high-tech of the three models, this model utilizes digital design and CNC fabrication to create a system of easy-to-assemble parts that can be connected and constructed in a single day.
This raised prefab structure, made from Eucalyptus with a concrete foundation, can be built in just two weeks for a cost of $7,000.
・3 Experimental Homes Address Hyper-Urbanization in Africa [ArchDaily]
・Saving the World's Largest Bauhaus Settlement—In Israel [Curbed]
・New Exhibit Showcases the 'Intense Flowering' of Experimental Modernist Architecture in Africa [Curbed]