Vietnam architect creates low-income housing that can withstand the elements

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Vietnam architect creates low-income housing that can withstand the elements

PUBLISHED : Monday, 26 January, 2015, 6:35am
UPDATED : Monday, 26 January, 2015, 6:35am

Agence France-Presse in Long An

Vo Van Duong rests in the S-House 2. His bamboo and coconut leaf house, designed to withstand typhoons, flooding and earthquakes, costs less than US$4,000. Photo: AFP

Vo Van Duong's bamboo and coconut leaf house looks much like others deep in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. But unlike them, his seemingly simple abode is designed to withstand typhoons, flooding and earthquakes - and at a cost of less than US$4,000 could herald a new wave of cheap, sustainable housing.

The natural materials on its surface belie the hi-tech internal structure of the farmer's new home, which uses steel struts and wall panels as a defence against the elements in this natural disaster-prone region.

"The new house is safer, I'm not afraid that it will collapse," the 48-year-old papaya farmer said inside the house he moved into nine months ago.

Duong is testing a prototype by an award-winning Vietnamese architecture firm looking for low-cost housing solutions for communities vulnerable to climate change.

His S-House 2 was free, but if rolled-out on a wider scale could be sold for less than US$4,000.

"There was water coming down from the roof in my old house. Sometimes, when there was a strong wind, I was so afraid the house wouldn't survive," Duong said, adding his new home was the envy of his neighbours. The eco-home is the brainchild of Vo Trong Nghia, who joins other architects in trying to fill a demand for cheap and easy to assemble housing - from flat-pack refugee shelters to shipping-container homes for tsunami victims.

He says all architects have a duty to help the poor.

"What about those with low income, billions of them, how can they live?" Nghia said. "They have the right to live in comfortable, functional places."

But he wants to go further, creating a home residents can take pride in.

The design is still being refined by his team, who are aiming to create a flat-pack home.

Vo Van Duong works in the garden. Photo: AFP

The newest version, S-House 3, can be built by five people in three hours. "Our goal for S-house is for the owner to construct it by themselves," said Kosuke Nishijima, who is a partner at the firm.

The latest design also allows for multiple houses to be tacked together, a function that could allow, for example, the construction of a storm-proof school easily transportable to remote areas or a larger family home.

Nghia has already been approached by NGOs in disaster-prone Bangladesh and the Philippines, but is not yet ready to supply the house commercially.

For decades, Vietnamese families have adapted their houses themselves, many building ad hoc mezzanines to try to avoid flooding.

Architect Nghia has long sought to incorporate natural and local materials into his work.

One of his first projects in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City was an ecologically-conscious take on a traditional Vietnamese tube home, known as Stacking Green house. Built in 2011 for around US$150,000, the building is made of a series of concrete slabs and gaps filled with plants to provide privacy while still allowing plenty of air and light.

Nghia is in strong demand for high-end projects from hotels to private houses, but said the low-cost S-House is his personal obsession. "I want to live in S-House. If my family will agree," he said.