Open Architecture Network

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The Casita Segura seeks to improve the earthquake resistance of homes in Nicaragua's Managua region. Each Casita Segura should be able to withstand the regular seismic activity that characterizes this region with minimal structural damage and without death or injury. This construction phasing and method of assembly should be able to be produced, implemented and customized within regional and/or national constraints of labor and materials as much as possible and have a lasting positive impact on both safety and economy.

In Nicaragua, the adobe blocks typically used for construction, are unreinforced, making those structures prone to destruction by multiple natural hazards. By encasing the brittle blocks in wire mesh, the structure takes on a resilience that makes it much stronger against lateral forces. Rocks, rubble, recycled material or adobe bricks inside the mild tensile steel wire mesh provides compressive strength and the wire mesh provides tensile strength.

The Casita Segura building system would be used to rehabilitate poor communities at a larger scale than the single family unit. Units could be oriented to create useful outdoor community spaces and shared sanitation units that function off the grid. The alignment of the houses along a walkway would allow rainwater to be directed into a cistern at each sanitation unit. Each sanitation unit would include four to six composting toilets, two private wash rooms with access to water from a cistern and a covered area for laundry and food preparation.

Studio Web Page: http://www.studiorecover.virginia.edu/recover.html