Student Work

Tortoise Tenements International: Safe Homes for the Third World

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In the developing countries of Haiti and Vietnam, thousands of families and individuals have faced the loss of their homes and lives due to natural disaster. However, this loss of life and prop-erty was not due solely to the natural event itself but also to the general lack of preparation or protection available to the communities. In the aftermath of a disaster many in these countries were, and are, left without homes. The mission of this project is to design the optimal type of housing so that families living within Haiti and Vietnam will, in the event of disaster, have a home to return to. These designs will be in the form of detailed computer drawings and details on specific recommended building materials. The homes are to be built to withstand either hurri-canes and flooding, or major seismic events, while remaining affordable and simple enough that the method of construction can be taught to those who are to live in the homes. In designing these homes the cultural and traditional requirements of the Vietnamese and Haitian populations were taken into account. The materials used for construction of the homes were chosen carefully from those that could be sourced locally, thus making the home designs both sustainable and beneficial to the local economy. In the design of these homes the group hopes to incorporate sustainable de-sign, cultural tradition, and modern safety principles, in order to produce architectural drafts and recommendations which humanitarian relief organizations, such as Conscience International, can use to build structures which can truly embody the safety and comfort of a home.

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Subject
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Language
  • English
Identifier
  • GPS_2011_GRAND_Tortoise_Tenements_International
Year
  • 2011
Date created
  • 2011-01-01
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