How can we counter peri-urban sprawl? The Agrinesture response
Vietnam is experiencing strong population growth, like many developing countries. Several million hectares of farmland have gone up in smoke as a result of housing construction. Faced with this, the architects at H & P Architects asked themselves how to counter peri-urban sprawl.
The architects conceived this house as a cube of earth set in a field. Their aim is simple: to promote agriculture and create jobs for local residents.
A low-cost, scalable house model
The architects therefore devised a system that can be built in flood-prone areas and in rural settings, for people on low incomes. The result is a two-storey cuboid on a square base. The system is designed to form a network: by placing several modules (houses) side by side, it can make up a public facility such as a school or a health centre, or simply a group of homes. The construction system breaks down into two main elements: the frame and the covering.
Local, environmentally friendly materials
The Agrinesture project, whose name combines the words agriculture and nesture (meaning to nest), uses a concrete structure. For everything else (partitions, doors and so on), the architects turn to local materials: vine-derived products, rammed earth and, for the facing, brick. The fifth façade is given over to farming through a green roof.
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- © Nguyen TienThanh
- © H&P Architects