During my period as a researcher at the Center of Material’s Innovation in the Habitat’s Studies Institute (IDEHAB) unit in La Plata (Argentina, 1995 – 1997) I investigated possible solutions for the severe sanitation problems in the Argentineans poor housing sectors and slums.
Our vision was to developed a prefabricated sanitary unit that will consider the broader sanitary problem (whole cycle: manure’s treatment, reuse of gray water & drinking water provision)
This resulted in the design of a new design process with a sanitary core as a starting point for the construction of a house, considering mechanisms that focus on gaining water and energy. The research also considered studies and designs of prefab-systems for housing and their future growing possibilities The layouts possibilities that this module offers make it adaptable to several geometries and houses structures.
In the research special attention was given to works of Prouve in France and Fermin Estrella in Argentina.
The research was executed in collaboration with Alejandro Jarolaski, leaded by Carlos Barbachan and Uriel Jauregui, from IDEHAB. My added value was the integration of several complex problems regarding living (culture) conditions into the design, interviewing many users/stakeholders and drawing and prototyping.
During the research we could make some try outs and test prototypes. This research was too advance in terms of sustainability for that period (1997), for that reason we could not get the finance to apply the model extensively in the needy areas.
