HOUSES FOR CHANGE

INTRODUCTION
Ho Chi Minh City is the most crowded city in Vietnam with more than 7 millions of people, and it is also an important economic center, cultural center and educational center. Although Ho Chi Minh City comprise of a small fraction of Vietnam’s over all land mass, it contributes about 20% of the country’s GDP and 30% industrial output. Like other developing cities in the world, Ho Chi Minh City has to cope with many serious problems such as rapid urbanization, environmental pollution and , the lack of accommodation and green spaces in urban areas.

SITE ANALYSIS
This project is located on the Kenh Doi canal which is connected with Saigon river in District 8, just 4 km away from CBD (Central Business District). This is slums where poor labor from countryside coming to the city to manage for their living. Each house include 7 to 8 family members from different generation live together in small, dark, and poor condition… These slums were built near with the canal because of lacking land in the city. Therefore, river traffic is stuck and water is polluted. This is because the waste from houses is lead directly to Saigon river.

CULTURAL CONTEXT
The vernacular architecture here is famous with the characteristic of tube houses, these house were built next to canal and will be decorated with different colors. This canal is marketplace for small business-owner – who carry goods, fruits to sell in this canal. These market is very bustling, especially at festival day which form “floating-market” on the river. This is a local-culture that need to be protected.

NEW COOLING MATERIAL FOR NATURAL EVAPORATION FROM LOCAL MATERIAL
Material for the facade of this project is made from a layer of used burlap sack. Which is compress by two 2mx 1m corrugated iron net . Corrugated iron will be drill some small holes and will be cover a mental net to ensure evaporation process. Capillary action will lead the water from the canal to the upper part of the facade, which will cool building material by the evaporation of moisture layer of used-burlap sack in the dry season. In the rainy season, the façade will get water from rains and started to cool down the building after the rain. All of that help to cool the temperature down without using electricity. Used-burlap sacks can be easily bought from Binh Dong factory.

We started a testing for the cooling performance of this new material by making a real testing prototype. A metal box is cover by a layer of used burlap sack and metal net can be cooled down 5 Celsius degree compare to outside atmosphere. Because of covering by metal net, material became more fire-resistant and more reliable. After short time. These material can be easily replaced after time of using.

SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES

-Collection of rain water
-Garbage disposal
-Green layer on the facades
-Wind flow for natural ventilation
-Self-supplied food system (vegetables)
-New cooling material façade for natural evaporation