This study explores the reasons for, and patterns of, housing modifications in Mahogany Village at the Calaanan site, where permanent houses were built as part of a program to resettle communities affected by the severe tropical storm Washi that hit Cagayan de Oro City in December 2011. The basic housing units provided were not intended to be modified and the possibilities for adaptations were limited. However, this research found that residents were willing to invest in the construction of complementary spaces, even though it was considered a violation of their occupancy agreement. The construction of modifications was driven by the low performance of the houses provided, while the need to modify them came about because householders' needs, activities, and goals were not properly satisfied. In this study, the identification of the patterns of modification is augmented by an analysis of the reasons behind these modifications, incorporating consideration of demographic, economic, sociocultural, local environment, and climatic conditions. The study's findings reveal that the local characteristics of the resettled communities and their physical context were not taken into account during the planning stage of the resettlement.
PurposeThis paper analyses the incremental housing process developed at Villa Verde, a housing project designed by the Chilean architecture firm Elemental, whose director Alejandro Aravena received the Pritzker Prize in 2016. This project is conceived within a social housing framework and designed as an affordable “half-house” to be incrementally extended by the owners.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on research undertaken in August 2017 with data obtained through site surveys, trace analysis, interviews with 32 residents and photographic surveys. The researchers mapped the modifications made by all households at Villa Verde in the four years after occupation.FindingsThe strategy of designing a formal framework for informal additions has generally been successful with most houses undergoing substantial expansion to a high standard of construction. The paper raises concerns regarding the settlement's urban design, response to local climate and the quality of shared open space. We also find evidence of over-development as informal additions extend across front and rear yards that are in some cases fully enclosed.Originality/valueThis project is critiqued within the context of a long series of architectural attempts to harness the productive capacities of self-help housing. Villa Verde engages the freedom to build in a self-organised manner within a formal framework. But what will stop these additions from escalating into a “slum”?
In 2003, the Chilean architecture firm Elemental began to revisit the idea of partially completed housing harnessing the productive capacities of the informal process within a more formal framework. The Quinta Monroy project in the northern Chilean city of Iquique was the first such project and involved the in-situ replacement of an informal settlement. The desire of residents was for a middle-class house that was beyond the scope of their budget or the subsidy. The Elemental project at Quinta Monroy comprised 93 expandable houses designed in parallel buildings and organized in four courtyards aiming to promote community interaction and maintain neighbors’ affinities. This paper investigates the process of housing adaptation through self-construction twelve years after the residents received their homes in 2005. The strategy to promote resident-driven expansions has been successful as 92 out of 93 households expanded their homes. The most significant concerns focused on the deterioration of living standards due to progressive and uncontrollable extensions which might have significant impacts on the settlement development. The findings from this paper focus on the neighbors’ negotiations for housing extensions and the risk of the re-creation of precarious living environments evidencing limitations for unassisted or spontaneous incremental schemes of housing development.
Purpose
This study focuses on residents’ perceptions of the permanent houses built by various implementing agencies on the Calaanan site as part of post-Typhoon Washi resettlement in the city of Cagayan de Oro. This research aims to make a comparative analysis of the communities’ pre- and post-disaster situation, their satisfaction with the housing provided and the factors influencing housing modification.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes the data obtained from a questionnaire survey of residents, interviews with stakeholders involved in resettlement, observation survey and graphic documentation between July and August 2014.
Findings
The analysis of residents’ perspectives revealed that their building of extensions to houses was a response to a lack of consideration of their needs and of local environmental and cultural patterns in the planning and construction of permanent housing.
Originality/value
The findings are used to develop points to consider to gain a better understanding of residents’ adaptation to their environment. These points may be useful in improving future resettlement projects in a country permanently exposed to disasters.
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