Houses built from accommodating cabins

The current economic crisis has meant, particularly in Spain, the almost cessation of new buildings construction. This deep crisis will mean in future an irreversible change in the Spanish construction model, based to date almost exclusively on the brick. After focusing on the Spanish property boom and examining its impact on the concept of housing (in a few years the house has moved forward from being contemplated exclusively as a primary good to be also considered a capital asset), we analyse the influence that this transformation has had on architecture (housing typology, building methods, the architectural profession and the architect training) and offers architectural alternatives –trough the university– to the present crisis. The project “Houses built from accommodating cabins” is part of a larger research within the line “Modular Architecture” developed by the Research Group “Design and Industrial Production”, belonging to the Technical University of Madrid, which aims to respond to the need for decent housing at an affordable price, by offering through Internet the plans, resources and other technical details required to build a house oneself. The proposed houses are built from the combination of industrially made modules (accommodation cabins, which are prefabricated modules usually used as provisional constructions in conventional building works), prefabricated subsystems and other catalogue components available on the market, all they set together by dry joints.

Passive design strategies and performance of Net Energy Plus Houses

The first step in order to comply with the European Union goals of Near to Zero Energy Buildings is to reduce the energy consumption in buildings. Most of the building consumption is related to the use of active systems to maintain the interior comfort. Passive design strategies contribute to improve the interior comfort conditions, increasing the energy efficiency in buildings and reducing their energy consumption. In this work, an analysis of the passive strategies used in Net Energy Plus Houses has been made. The participating houses of the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 competition were used as case studies. The passive design strategies of these houses were compared with the annual simulations, and the competition monitored data, especially during the Passive Monitored Period. The analysis included the thermal properties of the building envelope, geometric parameters, ratios and others passive solutions such as Thermal Energy Storage systems, evaporative cooling, night ventilation, solar gains and night sky radiation cooling. The results reflect the impact of passive design strategies on the houses' comfort and efficiency, as well as their influence in helping to achieve the Zero Energy Buildings category.

Space structures for sports buildings: Tien T. Lan and Yuan Zhilian (eds). Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, The Netherlands, 1987

This book review states that parts of this interesting volume may prove useful as a reference for designers and researchers in the field, though it lacks somewhat in unity and various important topics are not covered.

Accommodating cabins as a new way of building houses

The current economic crisis has meant, particularly in Spain, the almost cessation of new buildings construction. This deep crisis will mean in future an irreversible change in the Spanish construction model, based to date almost exclusively on the brick. The project “Accommodating cabins as a new way of building houses” is part of a larger research within the line “Modular Architecture” developed by the Research Group “Design and Industrial Production”, belonging to the Technical University of Madrid, which aims to respond to the need for decent housing at an affordable price, by offering through Internet the plans, resources and other technical details required to build a house oneself. The proposed houses are built from the combination of industrially made modules (accommodation cabins, which are prefabricated modules usually used as provisional constructions in conventional building works), prefabricated subsystems and other catalogue components available on the market, all they set together by dry joints.

Lime rendering of the houses of historical core of Maracaibo, Venezuela

An advance of the study undertaken of the plastering of the few dwellings that still exist in the historical area of Maracaibo is presented, with a base of restoration mortar of the plastering of sandstone known as “piedra de ojo”. The mortars are made of lime with a ferruginous stone aggregate that gives them a pinkish color, with additions of ceramics, bamboo, sand, wood and straw, and kneaded with salty water from Lake Maracaibo

Sustainable Living. Environmental integration in 15 vernacular Spanish houses

This research was published online by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works in 2012. It collects 20 years of work that contributes to recognizing and enhancing the vernacular architecture in Spain, which has no known author, but has significant values and shows a wide variety of adaptation examples to climatic and environmental conditions. The research analyzes in detail and from different scales 15 houses in different climatic conditions and geographic regions in order to go deeper into the specific characteristics of each one of them from the perspective of sustainability. These houses are located in Tenerife, Salamanca, Huelva, Granada, Toledo, Madrid, Menorca, Alicante, Mallorca, Almería, La Coruña, Cantabria, Huesca and Lugo. The article analyzes the traditional dwelling, the natural environment and conditions that surround it and intends to discover the formal dialogue among them, as well as the origin of the design strategies

Architecture Global Aid - Origami Houses (after tsunami houses), Tokyo, Miyagi, Giappone, 2013

This publication approaches the element of the "refuge" by showing several built prototypes designed and built by the author of this Ph.D and Yuko Ono that were effectively used as temporary shelters in Japan by the refugees in 2013. They consist on seven small wooden houses that can float and can also be packed into boxes and used as shelters following natural disasters. This publication explains both in Italian, English, Japanese and through small drawn diagrams the construction of these prototypes thanks to the help group "Architecture Global Aid" created by the author of this Ph.D in Japan (www.facebook.com/architectureglobalaid). Finally, this refuges can be as well seen in pages 660-664 of the Ph.D text were several kinds of architectures for shelters are analyzed. Esta publicación analiza el elemento del ?refugio? a través de varios ejemplos diseñados y construidos por la autora de este doctorado y la arquitecta Yuko Ono que fueron utilizados en la recuperación de Japón en el año 2013. Consisten en siete refugios de madera que pueden flotar y doblarse e introducirse en cajas del mismo material y de este modo, ser extraídos y empleados tras un desastre natural. Esta publicación explica en italiano, inglés, japonés y mediante varios diagramas, la construcción de estos prototipos gracias al grupo de ayuda ?Architecture Global Aid? creado por la autora de este doctorado en Japón (www.facebook.com/architectureglobalaid). Por último, la referencia a la investigación acerca de estos prototipos se puede encontrar en las páginas 660-664 de la tesis doctoral, entre las que se investiga también acerca de otras arquitecturas del refugio.

Energy efficiency evaluation of zero energy houses

Given the global energy and environmental situation, the European Union has been issuing directives with increasingly demanding requirements in term of the energy efficiency in buildings. The international competition of sustainable houses, Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE), is aligned with these European objectives. SDE houses are low energy solar buildings that must reach the near to zero energy houses’ goal. In the 2012 edition, in order to emphasize its significance, the Energy Efficiency Contest was added. SDE houses’ interior comfort, functioning and energy performance is monitored. The monitoring data can give an idea about the efficiency of the houses. However, a jury comprised by international experts is responsible for carrying out the houses energy efficiency evaluation. Passive strategies and houses services are analyzed. Additionally, the jury's assessment has been compared with the behavior of the houses during the monitoring period. Comparative studies make emphasis on the energy aspects, houses functioning and their interior comfort. Conclusions include thoughts related with the evaluation process, the results of the comparative studies and suggestions for the next competitions.