Flexible, Adaptable, and High Performance

“Homes, not Houses” aims to create a unique model for emergency housing–one that is not just designed to accommodate a static moment in time, but provides generous opportunities for sustainable growth as the home becomes more permanent.  Many previously deployed emergency housing has the tendency to remove itself from the regions’ vernacular architecture, thus removing its inhabitants from their culture. This project’s initial structure is to be built by Techo and their volunteers, but the final form is built over time by the homeowners’ ambition and drive.

The homes are simply built, harnessing the existing infrastructure that Techno has in place to prefabricate and assemble homes. The addition of prefabricated modules and a design based on material dimensions speeds up the construction process, while also reducing the amount of waste. Construction waste that is produced transforms into a simple wooden brick press that provides homeowners the tools to build upon their new community at their own pace. This tool, and the potential it has, will give residents an undefined future for their community–one that they can create. 

Thickened walls for adobe bricks, roofs ready to be thatched down the line, and a raised deck allowing for a stone foundation all contribute to the structures convertibility over time. These gestures towards permanence not only architecturally respond to the neighboring context, but also benefit the home through the passive energetic performance of thermal mass coupled with cross ventilation and passive solar heat gain. 

These are inexpensive, easy to build homes that adapt to accommodate many different family types. While they offer architectural intrigue upon initial construction, they are designed to convert into long-term, high performance, and permanent homes that respond to the vernacular history of Mexican architecture.