SA Affordable Housing November - December 2018 // Issue: 73 | Page 22

FEATURES
normal building site is prepared, a prefab home will usually
already be built. And since building takes place indoors,
weather delays do not pose any problems.
Internationally green pod homes have been designed to
take local climates into account. Back in 2011 a group of
Indian architects headed by Komal Gupta, developed a
modular pod home they suggested would be ideal for the
Philippines. That country is often battered by typhoons,
floods and tsunamis and as such their design centred around
building a central, weather resistant core, around which
modular pods made of simple bamboo would be gathered.
The idea was that while the interior weathered the storm,
the outside pods would protect the core, and in the worst
weather likely blow away, but would ultimately be extremely
cheap to replace. This interior strengthened core holds all
the necessary elements like water lines, power, staircases
and each apartment’s kitchen and bathroom. This would
ensure that the worst scenarios of massive floods like
disease, or starvation could be hugely decreased.
In Vietnam H&P architects have also turned to bamboo for
their modular pod home design. The challenge they face is
that the area they build in can be both extremely hot and
also flood fairly regularly. Their solution is to develop a
home-made of light bamboo, leaves and recycled oil
containers, that when faced with a flood simply floats. In
extreme heat the roof flaps can be opened up like the petals
of a large flower thereby providing shade, while also cooling
the home. One wall of the home is also turned into a vertical,
hanging garden made from rope and bamboo trays. While
these homes are not something that would pass the muster
of strict building codes, it is an interesting take on the
problem and at just R30 000 each, they have become very
popular in that far-eastern country.
Studies have shown that by the
time a normal building site is
prepared, a prefab home will
usually already be built.
Built to more exacting standards is the ‘pop-up house’
designed by French architecture firm Multipod. Made from
entirely recyclable materials the home can be built by a
small team of builders, armed only with screwdrivers in just
four days, and is so well insulated it requires no heating at
all in its location in the south of France. Compared to other
pod houses of its kind it is extremely large, coming in at
150m 2 but it is also expensive costing almost R600 000.
To house the world’s homeless population we are always
going to turn to innovation, and if these homes are anything
to go by, there are plenty of innovative solutions to go
around.
Pod homes tend to create less waste than traditional buildings.
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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018
www.SAAffordableHousing.co.za