Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

Architects: Addis Ababa University Bauhaus Universität Weimar ETH Zürich EiABC
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Project Team: Project head: Prof. Dr. Ing. Dirk Donath
Interior Décor: EiABC, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, ETH Zürich, Addis Ababa University
Project Year: 2012
Photographer: EiABC, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, ETH Zürich, Addis Ababa University

Credits: DAAD, Ackermann GmbH, Strawtec Plc Germany, SIKA Waterproofing Materials Plc Addis Ababa Ethiopia, AEE Dawit Kabede Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Heng Sen Lumber Manufacture Plc Addis Ababa Ethiopia, CNC workshop by Thomas Haile Addis Ababa Ethiopia, Mehler Technologies GmbH.

- 26 April 2016
- Kililo Mtamu
Sustainability , Residential , Research Centres , Editor's Choice , Opinion , Selected Works ,

There is an expected boom in the construction sector in Sub Saharan Africa as factor of the projected urban population estimated to grow by almost 70% by 2025. This heavy urbanization consequently will choke the already insufficient planning methods in building techniques, soft and hard infrastructures and economic cycles. The current solutions in the said region are not commensurable with the growth and are more likely than not to fall short in laying strong foundations for a sustainable urban and social development.

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

In response to this situation, the development of fundamentally new concepts is the main duty for creating sufficient living spaces for this growing population. The concepts must be socially robust, open and flexible in their spatial structure and usage. The introduction of innovative building techniques and the lowest maintenance requirement possible is a central point that planners have to focus on. Developing countries have to find their own modes of urbanization rather than relying on outdated or inappropriate models from the so-called ‘developed/western world’. It must re-invent its indigenous building methods, construction technologies, and material use. These indigenous methods and technologies, at face value, may seem trivial but are in fact quite complex and extremely effective because they have been tested over time and have evolved to fit a society’s needs.

As an academic collaboration between EiABC (Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building Construction and City Development), Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and ETH Zürich, three different prototypical buildings were planned, built and tested as a potential model for housing in Africa: SECU, SICU & MACU. Each of the houses focuses on a possibly different core strategy:

SECU: the introduction of a new building material and corresponding working methods

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa
SICU: the use of highly-prefabricated building elements to achieve short construction times

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

MACU: the provocative use of a CNC-driven production techniques using parametric planning systems

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

The three housing solutions are the product of a culturally and socially motivated design investigation and can respond to highly flexible occupation scenarios. The proposed way of building and the simple design promotes economic, cultural and social sustainability by respecting existing ways of living while introducing improved contemporary housing standards.

The inhabitants should contribute with their own skills, adaptable techniques in contemporary circumstances and financial means to complete the structure according to their needs and wishes. This creates a need for parallel strategies to the existing governmental housing programs, allowing homeowners to remain in their existing local environment where their families have resided for decades and where they have established income and supporting social structures.

A common basis for all the developed concepts is the digital planning support system as a major contributor to cost-efficient building. The planning system contains all quality and cost-relevant information for the respective different means of construction or the building system. Based on a set of defined spatial requirements (for example, number and size of rooms) and conditions (land use regulations, geometry of the site, existing materials and available cost budget, the system can help to develop an optimal solution. The planning system was developed parallel to the building of the prototypes and the two processes informed one another, making it possible directly determine the results of a planning optimization. Based on the collected experiences and the acquired know-how, young planners from all over the world can now develop complex and cost-effective multi-story housing that can adapt to individual needs and conditions and can offer a way of increasing urban density in African countries.

SECU is a two-story experimental prototype house, built in 2012 on the campus of EiABC in Addis Ababa. It’s a 96m² unit estimated to be completed within three months. Its aim is to present a provocative and innovative design for housing for emerging settlements, as well as inspiring the construction industry and the government and decision makers at large. The research discusses the potentials of innovative building materials for fast growing housing solutions in Ethiopia. The building was realized entirely out of panels of compressed straw, rubber, metal sheets and compressed wood. Its main quality is hinged on the premise that it’s not static and is easily adaptable to the available technology of the day.

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

SICU – The Sustainable Incremental Construction Unit is a housing solution made entirely of prefabricated elements. Its 86m² unit estimated to be completed within 2 weeks with the incremental space adding another 30m². The solution uses locally available and locally produced building elements. It is provided as a semi-finished construction that the homeowners then complete themselves. Simple building elements and a clear construction principle using prefabricated concrete elements (foundation and columns) are combined with lightweight timber frames and readymade wall panels with integrated windows and doors. In principle its very similar to the housing concepts in Quinta Monroy and Villa Verde in Chile and Monterrey in Mexico by the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize award winner Alejandro Aravena. A section of the house, the main part, is mainly constructed with the support of the central government and the remainder is left for the homeowners to develop as its suits their needs. It doesn’t just have a social connotation in that the owners connect more to the house but allows for the integration of the local tech and material with the said modern methods. This then becomes both a solution to the housing problem and a learning prototype that develops new methods with every unit put up.

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

MACU (Mobile automated contemporary Unit) is the third experimental, technology oriented building prototype which integrates digital planning and manufacturing techniques as a part of strategy for solving enormous housing backlog of Addis Ababa-Ethiopia and Juba-South Sudan. Its estimated to be set up in one day with an area of about 36m². The aim is to develop such a small scale parameterized modular housing prototype which is flexible enough to suits the local needs both - Ethiopian and South Sudanese project partners. It will be a show case where the team of students with their tutors will research and explore possibilities digital manufacturing resulting in design and realization of a 1:1 housing unit. MACU is the first known showcase for state of the art technology and production methods for flexible, individual and rapidly-implemented building constructions in Africa.

Building for the Gap – Experimental Housing Units for Sub Saharan Africa

It is a forward-looking, technological alternative to existing know-how in the building industry and as such intends to stimulate thinking in new directions. The MACU prototype is a multi-purpose and flexible functional building unit which is produced out of high-end prefabricated elements. These sheets are customizable using CNC machines. At the moment this is a very provocative unit and may not be the solution currently in most upcoming urban centers but who knows what the future holds! It may just be the right solution to match the exponentially growing urban population.

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