For my capstone project I will research the climates and local materials of several impoverished countries in order to design quality housing for these areas. I want my designs to show that affordable and eco-friendly housing does not require imported materials, which adds a lot to the cost of building a home, but can include many local and recycled materials. It is my hope that similar designs may be used in the future to build houses for people in comparable climates and socioeconomic situations to the sites I will study.
After researching different aspects of the climate and culture, I will start a series of sketches for a house in each region. The sketches will eventually become drafts of the structures in plan, section, and elevation and the designs will be perfected over time. Final drafts of the orthographic drawings will be done on drawing paper with ink and will be compiled with all the process drawings for each design. When the two-dimensional images are completed I will begin creating three-dimensional digital images of the designs in a 3D imaging program. These digital versions may also include digital plans, sections, and elevations to link the digital with the actual paper drawings. The designs will both be houses, but they will have different amenities depending on the traditional way of life for families in those regions.
A significant portion of the project will be devoted to research. In order to choose the locations to which I will cater my designs I will first research the poverty levels for all the countries of the world and narrow my selections down to the most impoverished states from all over the world. I then will research the basic climate types (desert, rainforest, grassland, etc.) of each country and eliminate any countries that have the same climate type as another; I will ultimately choose two countries of different climate types. Once the two countries are chosen, I will do more in depth research regarding the specific climate for each. In order to design appropriately I will need to know about the types of vegetation that are prevalent in the area, how much rainfall it receives, the average temperatures, and seasonal variations in weather. I will also need to find out various family statistics, per capita income, and percentage of urban and rural populations to determine approximate budgets and house sizes. Learning about traditional building types and materials and more current methods will provide problems that need to be addressed and a starting point for design. Materials that are impractical in terms of expense or practicality in that climate will be eliminated. To incorporate sustainability and green building, I will research potential building materials that are local and readily available as well as various materials that may be recycled into building materials. Many of my materials will include traditional, local, and recycled products. Because green design is becoming increasingly popular, it should be fairly easy to find examples of recycled material use in architecture that I can use as inspiration for my designs. I also hope to experiment with new ways to incorporate some natural and recycled materials into the structure of a building.
All of the research I compile for each location will be incorporated into the design of both housing types during the entire development. I will keep a record of all my sources and condense the information into info sheets for each country. Process sketches will all be saved and put into a portfolio in sequential order to create process books for the designs. At the beginning of the portfolio I will include the info sheets and throughout the process books I will have notes and vignettes showing changes to the design over time. The last pages will have the final drawings in ink, including the plan, section, and elevation of the house design with materiality and scaled measurements. From those final drawings I will construct digital, three-dimensional models of each house type. The 3D designs are easier for most people to understand and will show materiality and structure in greater detail than the hand-drawn orthographic drawings.
As an architecture major I have taken several architectural drawing classes that included instruction in architectural design and technical drawing. I have sufficient skill to create and analyze orthographic drawings and visually represent the materiality of building structures and types. Architectural history courses have taught me about traditional and modern building techniques, materials, and designs. For the drawings themselves I will need drawing paper and pencils, an architectural scale, pens of various sizes, and space to work. I already have the materials and space should be easy to come by in the DCC lab. The limited knowledge I have on the subject of sustainable and recycled building materials and green architectural design will be supplemented with research and combined with my experimentation with unconventional materials. My ability to use 3D modeling software is highly limited and I will need to develop skills in a program that can effectively convey my designs to people with limited experience with architectural drawings. Because of my lack of experience with such programs, I will be using a free, user-friendly software that is designed for beginners. Google Sketchup and Wings 3D are two dependable programs that are designed to be easy to learn and fun to use for people who have never done 3D modeling. I will most likely use Sketchup because it is catered more to architectural design than Wings and it is widely used so getting help from people who have experience with the program should be easier.
Ever since I decided I wanted to be an architect, I’ve always wanted my work to have an impact on people all over the world. I want to help people and I think the best place to start is in the home. Today’s society values technology above all else and we tend to think that giving some kids computers will fix their economy and put food on the table, but what use are computers when the child doesn’t have a roof over his head? It is my dream to design simple yet innovative homes for the disadvantaged that cater to their specific needs and can be built at low cost. Although the designs I create for this project may never be used, they are a step in the right direction and can be a starting point for future architectural projects.
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