Project Name: NovoHouse
Project Type: (Choose one of the following)
6) architecture
Project Mission/Goal:
3) respond to our growing need for clean water, power, shelter, healthcare, education
4) address humanitarian crises
Project Description:
The aim of the NovoHouse is to create a practical solution that helps meet the demand that the world’s growing population places on housing, particularly in developing countries such as China, Brazil and India. With most of the world’s population growth expected to be in these areas1, and with nearly half of populations in developing countries already living in slums2, the need is enormous and pressing. As part of the Living Steel programme, UK firm Cartwright Pickard Architects has created a concept with five key principles at the fore: affordability; flexibility; sustainability; permanence and ease of assembly.
The NovoHouse programme seeks to exploit the latest steel construction technology to develop an affordable housing model that allows low-income families to live in improved home environments. Working closely with its partner Baosteel, Living Steel and Cartwright Pickard have combined their expertise in affordable housing and off-site construction methods to develop this unique project.
The NovoHouse blueprint is flexible to allow for local site constraints, culture, living habits and space standards. The lightweight steel frame is independent from the cladding structure and is designed to be permanent and can be designed to resist local climatic extremes, such as earthquakes and cyclones. The structural elements are light enough to be carried by donkey or boat, which ensures the house is suitable even for remote areas.
The design uses cold-formed steel to create the structural framework for the house, which can be created as prefabricated panels in a factory either at the site or nearby. One of the aims of the NovoHouse is that once on location, local, unskilled labourers will be able to assemble the lightweight structures easily, by hand. The NovoHouse housing system aims to be a straightforward and logical kit of parts.
Though the steel structure is permanent, indigenous materials will be used to clad the dwellings, such as handmade mud bricks, straw bales, timber, or bamboo – almost any cladding material that is available locally and suits the climate.
A total of eight demonstration versions of the NovoHouse are onsite in the Dujiangyan area of China to house a total of fourteen families. The NovoHouse project continues to be developed as part of Living Steel’s commitment to sustainable housing.
Text from: press release
Links and Captions:
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/beijing/novo_house.htm
http://www.bpn.com.au/article/NovoHouse-addresses-booming-population/501...
http://www.cartwrightpickard.com/news/uk-architects-steel-association-un...
http://www.cartwrightpickard.com/news/case-study-cartwright-pickard-demo...
http://www.livingsteel.org/sichuan/affordable-housing-for-a-growing-popu...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10071/1042282-30.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/greathomesanddestinations/12iht-restee...
Project Details:
Location: China, various
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Year (s): xx to xx
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Nominated by Satu Jackson
