Wall AG have developed a pre-fab home, the ‘Universal World House’ to be made from recycled paper as a response to those in devloping countries, the homeless or perhaps those displaced by disaster.
The Design uses a product known as Swisscell — Cellulose is extracted from recycled newspaper and cardboard, the resin from the recyclables is then formed into honeycomb like walls that provides an amazing strength to weight ratio as well as excellent insulation.
“Gerd Niemoeller says that the 36sq m paper house weighs barely 800kg (1,763lb)- lighter than a VW Golf. ‘Without the foundation block, the whole house actually weighs in at about 400kg,’ says the design engineer. It will not, however, simply blow away. The basic material is resin-soaked cellulose recovered from recycled cardboard and newspapers.’”
I found this gem via Archicentral.com view the original article here.
and also via Timesonline (UK)
Mr Niemoeller who patented the invention explains.. “The prime purpose is to create intelligent housing settlements almost instantly for the displaced and the urban poor.”
“People don’t want to flee their countries, they’ve been driven to leave their homes out of the need to survive,” said the 58-year-old engineer. “The number of migrants, refugees living in improvised housing, is going to grow with climate change, and we offer an alternative.” An alternative, that is, to the corrugated-iron sheds and lean-tos so often seen in the slums of the developing world.
The house has eight built-in single and double beds and a veranda with a sealed-off area housing a shower and a lavatory. It has been designed together with the German development aid agency GTZ, and with the architect Dirk Donath, from the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
Apart from the sleeping area, there are shelves, a table and benches. “It has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line.” The whole wall of the kitchen can be tipped open to let air in and to blur the distinction between inside and outside.
It may be a tad exaggerated (or perhaps ignorant?) to name a design the ‘Universal world house’ I wonder if it could stand up to the likes of a harsh Australian summer or a freezing Greenland? One would also have to question is stability and fire susceptibility — Regardless, a positive step toward global housing.. no matter how fundamental
I guess the move towards solving the global housing problem can only be a positive thing. I assume from the post that the houses will be funded by aid organisations? I agree though, it’d be important for the houses to be able to function in a variety of locations…=P
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Won’t paper houses melt under the rain ? lol stunning ideas
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this is obviously a positive achievment and the designer clearly shows an experience in designing for the need of displayced and impoverished people. So in that spirit of making a true difference i propose that i can design a better building. Respectfully and with adnmiration i offer these criticisms of the structure.
1. ill bet this building cost thousands not hundreds.
i can design for $1a square foot total building.
2. The materials are unavailable they are special order.
my materials are %100 recycled and available at any lumber yard in the world.
3. not nearly big enough for 8 people. unless it were pouring down rain id rather sleep outside. and even if it were raining id probably stay outside to wash!
4 Lastly it is not something that people can build themselves without being tought how. My building is very obvious in construction anyone who has seen it could build one using only a screwdriver for tools no sawing or electricity is required. ( a paint brush or roller would be helpfull)
If you remain intrigued by such claims i will try to briefly describe this structure. Regretfully i will have to leav e most of the details to yopur imagination in the intrest of not boring you with obvious details.
But first i will submitt some of my concerns or ratrher complaints about standard construction methoids.
1, way too many layers, thers diging and forms and concrete and bulldozers and more wood and more wood and more wood and finaly a fram and evert few inches this massive slab of wood spaneing a room and then this dusty insulation and more layers that all nned sanding and sanding and more plaster and then the siding and the primer and the caullc and filling every blasted nail hole and crack in the whole infernal thing and reacing up into eaves and the three coats of paint all to be redone in five or then years and then and then the roof hauling all these tons of tar and papper to the top and thousands of nails and of cource it will all have to come off someday and every layer has a trade union or some charlatan that wants union scale to put it in or some poor slob so beat down by the system of labor they can babrley do the job an im a jerk if i hire them and a jerk if i dont hire them cause i need a job and im an idiot if i pay fuull price too. and no im not going to go back and spell checkk this cause i think it represents the frustration and outrage and anger at which the whole of society is being strangled and indeed the very planet we stand on murdered by this nobel stucture we call home! Each layer becomes so expensive i havent even talked about plumbing hot cold and wast three pipes and the electical right next to the leakythings all buried in wall that will have to be torn out and if you flick a switch when the gas leaks the whole thing will blow up!
This building was invented in 1823 shortly after building codes and bank loans gained widespred use.
It is a building desined by an ass hole buracrat for the purpose of convincing a mans wife to leave him if he doesnt have one and to give all the money he makes to someone besides himself ( or a t least his own family) if he does. The whole point is to make people indentured to an industrial system through a mortgae that is a contract of personal labor which last a lifetime in order to have a home to live in. Something not that different is what started slavery back in jamestown.
If we are to be freepeople we ust have a free home or ass near a free home asposiable. The same is true for all poeples in developing worlds. This allows our labo to be conserved to provide health car and education for our families. It allows us to go on strike without fearof becoming homeless. It allows us to store and produce enough food to live during a recesion or a famine.
Owning home free of contrac is what brkes the cycle of poverty and ends homelessness. It i what allows labor and the voter the leverage they need to have a real advantage agianst the powerfull employers and governig bodies.
All right you have indulged my ranting long enough and for that i am greatfull.
On to the substanceof this diatribe on sheds and how they ultimately must save the planet from certain destruction.
My building is built entirely of oriented strand plyboard in 4×8 panels.it is treated for exterior conditions by being coated with an elastomeric acrylic emulsion coating suitiable for roofing You might know the product as snow roof. it is white and reflects the sun and is an attraactiv coler.
The panels are arangeded and secured end to end until several 16 foot long panels are
made. these panels are then secured to purlin at the top an to the edge of the foundation thus forming a gothic or pointed arch. The closest exaple of the shape of this struchture is found as an online image search
fo “GOTHIC GREENHOUSE” , a fiberglass shed. I sugest using t poles which are those metal posts used for barbedwire fencing as a post for a foundation to hold a wood floor.This floor shouild be made by laying a single layer of 2×4 or 2×6 board across the perimeter boards. perpindicular boards under the floor increase strength as well ass midspan blocking or posts. Almost any other type of fopundatioin can be used. including blocks on packed grade to a full stem wall. Foundation type depend on soil conditions and location.
It is posiable to add framing to incre3ase rigidity to the building. This depend on building size. By adding an additional layer of osb or just strips. Also a 2×4 can be bent to the curve using a series of kerf cuts across the board. Typically additional framinfg is only needed foir larger buildings. The end wall when added will provide sufficient lateral and torsional support for the structur. For a stronger sructure it is recomenderd that the osb panels be lapped by half both vertically as well as horizontaly. This requires cutting and some planning to achive but does not waste wood. theses board are quite stong and eliminate the need for framing whaen glued together with exterior wood glue and and screwed together. This createsa one inch thicck wood wall which is stressed into an arch to resist downward forces and arched to resist lateral forces and create the interior space of the building. For insulatin i recomend a plaster of recycled newspaper, sawdusr, other fiberous materials miwed with water and a 1×6 portion of cement powder (not mortar or concrete mix)
this plaster has been used to form whole buildings on its own.However it takes months to dry and can mold
insulation is the only real sticking point with this type of building. Perhaps the original buildings paper resin panel could be added. Or an arched version of the paper resin panel migtht prove superior to both designs.
i am not goung to spell check as i doubt nayone will read this my keyboard has stick keys im not actuall that bad of a speller! if you have any questions or insults please feel free to direct them toward my email account where thay will be answered in kind. Thankyou
Great post! Recycled Paper homes to address homelessness and developing countries. | design tavern really tends to make my evening a little better :D Keep going together with the remarkable posts! Regards, There is
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How is the paper strong enough to resist through rains, and what is one of the wall made of?? like the inside??? its it cardboard on the inside, honeycomb on the middle, and paper facing the out side??? If so how hard it that paper that is on the outer layer, how can it under go fire, snow, and rain???