PREFABRICATED HOUSE PROTOTYPE - 2 houses
Built
Location:
Milán, Italia.
Areas:
Initial house: 18,6 m²
Expanded house: 62,8 m²
Initial duplex: 26,3 m²
Expanded houses: 71,8 m²
Client:
La Triennale di Milano
Engineering:
DLC Progettazione e Tecnologie per le Costruzioni
Construction company:
MC Prefabricatti
PREFABRICATED HOUSE PROTOTYPE - 2 houses
Built
Location:
Milán, Italia.
Areas:
Initial house: 18,6 m²
Expanded house: 62,8 m²
Initial duplex: 26,3 m²
Expanded houses: 71,8 m²
Client:
La Triennale di Milano
Engineering:
DLC Progettazione e Tecnologie per le Costruzioni
Construction company:
MC Prefabricatti
To build a city of 1 million people per week for the next 20 years with $10,000 dollars per family; this is the equation the world needs to solve.
If in 2008, 3 billion people live in cities; by 2030 there will be 5 billion. This, in principle, is good news. Cities are a very efficient vehicle to improve the quality of life of people. Actually, the level of development and growth of countries is directly dependent on their urban rate. The problem is that this process of urbanization will take place mainly in the poorest countries of the world. We will go from 1 to 2 billion urban poor by 2030. The money available for resolving this equation, only allows the construction of half of a house. When that is the case, a key question is: which half do we do? ELEMENTAL delivers the half that a poor family will never be able to achieve on its own.
In any case, the biggest problem of the poor is not the shelter in itself, but the access to opportunities (jobs, markets, education, health, recreation). Location is by far more important than size. And since land is a scarce resource, projects have to be dense enough to pay for better located, more expensive lots. ELEMENTAL looks for density - without overcrowding - with possibility for expansion.
These are some of the design conditions we identified in order to guarantee a house to gain value over time, and therefore to consider housing an investment and not just a social expense:
As part of the Exhibition “Case per Tutti” (Houses for Everybody) at the Milano Triennale in May 2008, a prefabricated prototype of an Elemental House was built. The entire house was reduced to 10 panels assembled in 24 hours. This can be considered as the natural follow up of the projects built with more conventional techniques in Chile.
In social housing the usual relation between structural work and finishes (30/70) is inverted, the structure sometimes absorbing 80% of the final direct costs. This implies that any structural efficiency, whether on account of its possible repetition or the time reduction, is very welcome. If there is a place where assembling makes more sense than building, given its repetitive nature, it is to be found in social housing.
The historical criticism to prefabrication has been that due to the natural tendency to repeat and serialize construction in order to reduce costs, it has been unable to fit in the diversity of the families, both their composition as their tastes, sensitivities, etc.
In the specific framework in which we are working, where more than half of the housing complexes will be self-built, the repetition of the components, chain production and process repetition, instead of being a negative outcome, may be the only way of ensuring the future quality of the neighborhood. Even monotonous pieces may be a key factor for providing an ordered framework for the sum of individual interventions of a very unpredictable quality. Both factors combine to explore the manufacture of prefabricated structural components.
PREFABRICATED HOUSE PROTOTYPE - 2 houses
Built
Location:
Milán, Italia.
Areas:
Initial house: 18,6 m²
Expanded house: 62,8 m²
Initial duplex: 26,3 m²
Expanded houses: 71,8 m²
Client:
La Triennale di Milano
Engineering:
DLC Progettazione e Tecnologie per le Costruzioni
Construction company:
MC Prefabricatti
PREFABRICATED HOUSE PROTOTYPE - 2 houses
Built
Location:
Milán, Italia.
Areas:
Initial house: 18,6 m²
Expanded house: 62,8 m²
Initial duplex: 26,3 m²
Expanded houses: 71,8 m²
Client:
La Triennale di Milano
Engineering:
DLC Progettazione e Tecnologie per le Costruzioni
Construction company:
MC Prefabricatti
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN | no.211 | p.32 | London 08/05/2011
Structural Empowerment
INSIDEOUT | p. 130-135 | UAE | 27/01/2009
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena believes that his half-finished homes are the answer for those living in poverty in Santiago (…)
Space
SHISEIDO | N.71 | p. 19 | JAPAN | 01/09/2008
Prototipo Elemental destacado en Infobuild.it
infobuild.it | ITALIA | 23/07/2008
“(..) MC Prefabbricati, azienda specializzata nella produzione di sistemi costruttivi integrati ad elevato valore aggiunto, sia in termini tecnici che architettonici, ha partecipato con impegno ed entusiasmo a questo importante evento e ha realizzato in tempi da “prefabbricatore”, il progetto ELEMENTAL di Alejandro Aravena.
ELEMENTAL rappresenta una soluzione architettonica volta a soddisfare in tempi brevi e a costi contenuti le esigenze abitative in situazioni di emergenza urbana. Questo progetto ha già trovato un suo reale impiego in Cile attraverso le tecniche edilizie tradizionali. (…)”
Se destaca la colaboración de MC Prefabbricati en el desarrollo de proyectos de interés social a través de la construcción del prototipo de Elemental, de Alejandro Aravena.
Prototipo Trienal de Milan en Vivienda y Decoración
VIVIENDA Y DECORACIÓN | p. 54-57 | EL MERCURIO | CHILE 21/06/2008
“Nuevos aplausos para elemental
Arquitectos de distintos países muestran sus prototipos de vivienda social, de emergencia y de bajo costo; tópicos en torno a los cuales se desarrolla la Trienal de Milán. En esta versión, denominada “Casa per Tutti” participa el arquitecto chileno Alejandro Aravena, quien lidera Elemental, proyecto que en esta muestra logró destacarse entre otros que aún no se toman en serio un tema de relevancia mundial.
Tokio, Ciudad de México, Sao Paulo, Nueva York y Bombai son algunas de las diez urbes más pobladas del mundo. Todas bordean los veinte millones de habitantes, mientras Japón supera los treinta. Muchas de ellas son deficitarias en materia de vivienda social, a pesar de los esfuerzos que a diario se realizan para revertir la situación. Pero esto también ocurre en ciudades latinoamericanas que, como Santiago, aunque menos pobladas, no están ajenas a ese problema.”
ELEMENTAL prototype in La Segunda
LA SEGUNDA | p.13 | CHILE | 28/05/2008
On May 28 the chilean newspaper “La Segunda” published a note regarding the ELEMENTAL prototype for the “Case per Tutti” exposition for the Milan’s Triennial./lang_en]
ELEMENTAL y otros proyectos en Dezeen.com
Dezeen.com 27/05/2008
“Construction is underway on prototype houses by architects Alejandro Aravena, Massimiliano Fuksas, MVRDV, I-Beam Design, The Mad Housers and Kengo Kuma in the grounds of the Milan Triennale as part of the exhibition Casa Per Tutti (Housing For All), which opens this week.”
ELEMENTAL in Milan’s Triennial, on Teletrece
MILAN | ITALIA |
©Canal 13
“The creators of Elemental, an enterprise dedicated to social construction that combines design and quality, will present un one of the most important architectural showcases on the planet: the Triennal of Milan.
The objective of this group of engineers, builders, and architects of the Universidad Católica making up ELEMENTAL is to raise social housing with design, technology that also have economic value.
Since the formation of this enterprise, the members of ELEMENTAL have harvested praise, awards and the satisfaction of having elevated the quality of life of those who have received one of their homes. A similar model to those previously finished was chosen by italian architects to be shown at the Triennal of Milan, one of the three most important architectural showcases in the world.
The model of Elemental housing presented consists of two properties. According to Alejandro Aravena, director of the initiative, there is a house on the first floor, and a two story apartment on the second. The superimposition of these two units is that which permits the extension that are more suitable for work, study and recreation, keys for a poor family. (more)”
ELEMENTAL en Demanio.re
demaniore.com | 26/05/2008
“(…) The event’s objective is “to recall architects and administrations to engage that 90% of constructions abandoned to the housing industry” explained Irace. To answer social and community questions and to answer to the people’s rights to have a home, the event displayed different solutions; from emergency homes, to self made homes, to student, nomads and workers homes.
As such, by visiting the event’s atrium, garden and various rooms the public will be able to move along various models by Alejandro Aravena, Fuksas, Dutch group MVRDV and Kengo Kuma. (..)
ELEMENTAL prototype on Designboom.com
designboom.com | 22/05/2008
Here appear the first images of the prototype presented by ELEMENTAL at the exposition of the Triennal of Milan.