In which ways can “technology” be a driving force for the transformation of housing,

today?

Tatiana Švecová,Arquitectura La Salle, Universitat Ramon LlullOctober 15, 2010

Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization. The word technology comes from the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), an 'art', 'skill' or 'craft' and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline.

Since the onset of different discoveries and inventions, different technology sources have come to the forefront and have known to affect the lifestyle of humans. The progress in technology is responsible for the advancements in the fields of manufacturing, transportation, medicine etc.as well as housing. For example, with the usage of electricity, life became easier and improved the efficiency of people all around the world.

In other words, the most important contribution of technology to

society is making the lives of common people much easier and helping them achieve what was previously not possible.

Different ways of impact of technology on housing

www.lansdowne-photography.co.ukwww.cityproject.sk

In other words, the most important contribution of technology to

society is making the lives of common people much easier and helping them achieve what was previously not possible.

Different ways of impact of technology on housing

Smart houses / comfort / not necessarily visible

Design/ shapes/ forms / High Tech

www.cityproject.sk www.lansdowne-photography.co.uk

Intelligent /smart houses

A smart house is a house that has highly advanced automatic systems for lighting, temperature control, multi-media, security, window and door operations, and many other functions. A smart home appears "intelligent" because its computer systems can monitor so many aspects of daily living.

www.iqrf.com

monitoring (measurement, displaying, ...) sending messages about the state checking response to the situation (rain, frost, ...) simulation of presence in a flat solving exceptions (illegal penetration, fire) comparison to required state and executing required operations or

sending a warning via SMS or e-mail in case of aberration

For such automatized building there is a possibility of controlling even remotely. In addition to this, the system can perform even additional functions:

Video door phone Camera systems Alarm systems Solar panels

High Tech architecture

High-tech architecture, also known as Late Modernism or Structural Expressionism, is an architectural style that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high-tech industry and technology into building design.

Characteristics of high-tech architecture have varied somewhat, yet all have accentuated technical elements. They included the prominent display of the building's technical and functional components, and an orderly arrangement and use of pre-fabricated elements.

HSBC Main Building, Hong Kong Lloyd's building, London Pompidou center, Paris

www.galinsky.comwww.rtaflondon.com.forum.skyscraperpage.com

Nowadays talking about technology and its impact on architecture

and housing – nothing is impossible - Urban skyscraper farms- Floating eco-cities- Glowing solar towers- Turbine-driven skyscrapers- Magnetically levitated wind collectors

Example – design od apartment building / scyscraper using modern technologies

www.archiinspire.com

Lilypad Project

The idea is to create a series of floating self-sufficient ocean-going eco-city islands. Each one would be able to house 50,000 residents and would support a great deal of biodiversity. Collecting pools located in their centers would gather and filter water for use on board. These would be places for adventurers and refugees alike as water levels rise around the world and threaten many, particularly island, habitats.www.weburbanist.com

Eco Factor: Housing project designed to generate renewable energy.

10 Raison architectshave drawn inspiration from the magnificent Eiffel Tower to design a futuristic housing high-rise for Zaabeel Park in Dubai. The plan focuses on the use of sustainable materials and renewable energy generators to lower the carbon footprint of the high-rise.

www.weburbanist.com

Bibligraphy

www.weburbanist.comwww.archinspire.comwww.greatbuildings.comwww.iarf.comwww.smarthouse.com.auwww.automatedbuildings.com/newswww.intelligenbuildings.com

What is “vernacular” housing, today?

Tatiana Švecová,Arquitectura La Salle, Universitat Ramon LlullOctober 15, 2010

Definitions / quotes

In 1964 the exhibition Architecture Without Architects was put on at the Museum of Modern Art, New York by Bernard Rudofsky. It was Rudofsky who first made use of the term vernacular in an architectural context, and brought the concept into the eye of the public and of mainstream architecture:

"For want of a generic label we shall call it vernacular, anonymous, spontaneous, indigenous, rural, as the case

may be."The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World defines vernacular architecture as:

...comprising the dwellings and all other buildings of the people. Related to their environmental contexts

and available resources they are customarily owner- or community-built, utilizing traditional technologies. All

forms of vernacular architecture are built to meet specific needs, accommodating the values, economies

and ways of life of the cultures that produce them.

Ronald Brunskill has defined the ultimate in vernacular architecture as:

...a building designed by an amateur without any training in

design; the individual will have been guided by a series of conventions built up in his locality, paying little attention to what may be fashionable. The function of the building would

be the dominant factor, aesthetic considerations, though present to some small degree, being quite minimal. Local

materials would be used as a matter of course, other materials being chosen and imported quite exceptionally.

Frank Lloyd Wright described vernacular architecture as

"Folk building growing in response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit

them with native feeling".

Vernacular architecture is influenced by a great range of

different aspects of human behaviour and environment, leading to differing building forms for almost every different context; even neighbouring villages may have subtly different approaches to the construction and use of their dwellings, even if they at first appear the same.

Aspects - climate , culture,environment and materials, economic situation , lifestyle,traditions etc.

Toda hut, India Tibet

www.skyscrapercity.com www.tibetheritagefund.org

Igloo Rondavel, Cameroon

Jungle hut, Brazil

www.adventureland.com

www.traditionorale.ca www.en.wikipedia.org

Paul Oliver, in his book Dwellings, states:

"...it is contended that 'popular architecture' designed by professional architects or commercial builders for

popular use, does not come within the compass of the vernacular.„

Popular architecture vs. vernacular architecture

www.archdaily.com www.blog.100-mile-house.org

Contemporary Vernacular Architecture

On-nuch garage slum - the biggest garbage disposal area in Bangkok. Thehouse is built from carefully selected garbage and left over - metal boxes for snacks. The details are well thought, so well thought that we as an architect are amazed. The owner / builder of the house is a man of his 40s, who never built anything in his life before....

An excellent example of Contemporary Vernacular Architecture?

The detail of the opening of the house.

The roof tiles are made of the metal boxes cut into small pieces too.

The columns are reinforce concrete molded by the metal bins, without removing the mold afterward!

http://phiphi-design-workshop.blogspot.com

Ahwaz, Iran, Sandbag project

After extensive research into vernacular earth building methods in Iran, followed by detailed prototyping, was developed the sandbag or ‘superadobe’ system. The basic construction technique involves filling sandbags with earth and laying them in courses in a circular plan. The circular courses are corbelled near the top to form a dome. Barbed wire is laid between courses to prevent the sandbags from shifting and to provide earthquake resistance. Hence the materials of war - sandbags and barbed wire - are used for peaceful ends, integrating traditional earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements.

Because the structures use local resources onsite earth and human hands they are entirely sustainable. Men and women, old and young, can build since the maximum weight lifted is an earth-filled can to pour into the bags. Barbed wire and sandbags are supplied locally, and the stabilizer is also usually locally sourced.

http://www.akdn.org/Architecture

Quinta Monroy, Iquique, Chile

The Chilean Government asked us to resolve the following equation:

To settle the 100 families of the Quinta Monroy, in the same 5,000 sqm site that they have illegally occupied for the last 30 years which is located in the very center of Iquique, a city in the Chilean desert.

http://www.elementalchile.com

If to answer the question, one starts assuming 1 house = 1 family = 1 lot, we were able to host just 30 families in the site. The problem with isolated houses, is that they are very inefficient in terms of land use. That is why social housing tends to look for land that costs as little as possible. That land, is normally far away from the opportunities of work, education, transportation and health that cities offer. This way of operating has tended to localize social housing in an impoverished urban sprawl, creating belts of resentment, social conflict and inequity.

http://www.elementalchile.comhttp://www.elementalchile.com

Bibligraphy

http://phiphi-design-workshop.blogspot.comhttp://www.elementalchile.comhttp://www.akdn.org/Architecturewww.archdaily.comwww.blog.100-mile-house.orgwww.skyscrapercity.comwww.tibetheritagefund.org