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Design
concept
Why
choose cardboard?
How it all goes
together
What are the implications
for the future of housing?
Historical
or theoretical precedents
Environmental
features
About the
Architects – Stutchbury
and Pape
About the
Architects – Col James
Why would you
live in a cardboard house?
Could you buy
one of these now?
Design
concept
The Cardboard House represents the reduction of technology and the
simplification of needs. By demonstrating that we are able to recycle
100% of the building components at extremely low cost, the Cardboard
House is a direct challenge to the housing industry to reduce housing
and environmental costs.
Stutchbury and Pape, working in association with the Ian Buchan
Fell Housing Research Unit at University of Sydney, see this project
as a genuine temporary housing option.
A cardboard house places the least demand on resources and encourages
people to shift their preconceptions about the “typical Australian
house”. Many Australians enjoy camping on their holidays, easily
shifting their lifestyle from the rigidity of the urban home to
the freedom of the campsite.
Being extremely low cost and transportable, the Cardboard House
could be used in a wide variety of applications. You could live
in one while your permanent house is being built or renovated, for
emergency housing, or for short-term accommodation.
Why choose cardboard?
Cardboard is not a traditional building material, however the introduction
of innovative bonding, cutting and structural techniques has provided
the opportunity to consider this lightweight and recyclable material
in a more creative fashion.
All the material in the house is recycled, and recyclable, making
it an excellent environmentally sustainable option for housing.
The Carboard House is made of recycled carboard supplied by Visy
Industries. This is completed with a waterproof roof made from
HDPE plastic, which also forms the material of the flexible under-floor
water tanks and the novel kitchen and bathroom 'pods'.
How it all goes
together
The Cardboard House is conceived as a kit of parts comprising a
flat pack of frames, and infill floor and wall panels. It uses minimal
fixings: nylon wing nuts, hand-tightened polyster tape stays and
Velcro fastenings are used to assemble the frames and protective
skin system.
The building can be assembled by two people over a six-hour period
using appropriate scaffolding, and is transportable in a light commercial
vehicle.
A series of repetitive portal frames are both spaced and stabilised
by a standardised secondary structure, similar to the interlocking
spacer sheets found in wine boxes. Once assembled, the structure
provides a creative architectural frame from which the house derives
its aesthetic.
Fixed and moveable furnishings, floor systems, door and opening
frames, lighting and other services all relate to the structure
and layout.
The roof covering is a lightweight material that is as transportable
as the structure. Similar to a tent fly, the roof fabric assists
in holding down the building, providing a diffuse light in the day
and a glowing box at night.
Water is collected in bladders underneath the floor which double
as ballast to hold down the lightweight building.
A composting toilet system produces nutrient-rich water for gardening.
Low-voltage lighting can be powered using a 12-volt car battery
or small photovoltaic cells mounted on the roof framing.
What are the
implications for the future of housing?
The Architects see this project as a genuine housing option. Extremely
low cost, transportable, lightweight and flexible, this building
could be used in a variety of widespread applications. The Cardboard
House is seen as a prototype that may serve to meet future housing
in a way that is responsible and beautiful.
Historical
or theoretical precedents
Paper
and cardboard have been used to construct domestic housing in Japan
for many centuries, where rice paper (shoji) was both cheap and
safe in earthquake prone regions. Folded cardboard (origami) was
also used for lightweight enclosures, simulating paper sculpture.
Contemporary Japanese architect Shigeru
Ban has used tubular and flat cardboard to great effect for
housing, civic buildings, large exhibition pavilions and emergency
shelters.
In Australia, pioneering work was carried out at the University
of New South Wales by Vincent Sedlack, and just last year Adriano
Pupilli, an honours student at the University of Sydney, designed
and built a full-size bay of a 5-bedroom house with Col James. This
attracted local attention and directly led to the invitation to
showcase cardboard as a potential building material in the future.
Environmental
features
• Uses 85% recycled materials
• All materials are 100% recycleable
• Recycling the house saves 12 cubic metres of landfill, 39
trees and 30 000 litres of water
• Extremely low cost, transportable, and flexible, this is
a genuine
housing option that could be used in a variety of temporary applications
• Autonomous servicing: uses only 12-volt batteries or small
photovoltaic cells for power generation
• Composting system produces nutrient-rich water for gardening
About
the Architects – Stutchbury and Pape
Recognised
in Australia and abroad as an accomplished and inspired design firm,
Stutchbury and Pape has built works ranging from residential to
institutional and public buildings. The practice has received 24
RAIA awards since 1995, and a total of 57 local, state and national
architecture and environment awards.
Stutchbury and Pape’s methods appear simple: the genesis of
their designs are within each specific site. But they also have
a reputation for innovation, an approach that marries the intellect
of sustainable principles with the grace of architecture.
The elimination of waste in all its forms is a primary design guide
for Stutchbury and Pape. They believe that materials require modelling
to suit their use: particularly in the ease, cost and duration of
replacement materials. They assemble buildings for flexibility,
disassembly, reuse and predetermined lifecycles, so that a building
is always seen as a resource.
About the
Architects – Col James
Col
James has had an abiding concern for environmental sustainability
since early childhood in rural NSW, where the use of wood fuel,
tank rainwater and composting waste was the accepted way of life.
Col has been involved with students in the research and publication
of ‘Low Cost Country Home Building’; construction of the
‘Autonomous House’ at Sydney University; and several alternative
technology fairs. He has also promoted Multiple Occupancy (communes)
on degraded dairy country in coastal NSW and affordable, expanded
houses which has continued this work.
More recently, Col’s engagement with a Unibusiness scholar
Adriano Pupilli led to the design and construction of a full size
bay of a cardboard student house.
Col holds the strong belief that when households control all the
services and become sensitive to rainfall, wind, solar exposure
and gardening potential, this will have more impact on sustainable
energy use than relying on large utility service providers. Col
James works directly with Susan Clarke, the Fell Senior Researcher
in all Fell projects.
You can read about the prototype Paper House project at www.thepaperhouse.net
Why
would you live in a cardboard house?
By purchasing this fully recycleable house, collecting your own
water, running a composting system and generating your own electricity,
you would visibly demonstrate your overall concern for the environment.
You would also enjoy the benefits of low capital costs, minimal
running costs, and the capacity to alter, repair or renew your home
according to need.
Could you
buy one of these now?
At a purchase price of just $35,000 this is a genuine short-term
housing option that could be used in a variety of applications.
It is lightweight, transportable, requires no more skill to erect
than an Ikea product, and is very affordable.
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