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Wikicommunity
The project focuses on housing problem in large cities and tries to find out solutions to it. What first came out is the need of empty plots throughout the city of Brussels that could resolve this housing problem. It will provide housing for a certain category of population, the one which lives in the city for a short period of time, or which are in a transitional period in their lives and which need housing for a short period of time, until they settle on a permanent location. These people can be: students who need housing for the period of their studies, which is usually 2,3 or 5 years; young workers who just found a job in the city; young people who have just started a family and they need a first house; monoparental families; or freelancers, artist who what to create a community and work together. This project works out as a system of partnership between the public institutions in Brussels and the FabLab where people could go renting empty plots for a period of 2-5 years.
With this scenario of having a plot to use for a period of 2-5 years for people who are looking for a temporary house, the houses have to be made out of reusable materials, because it would be a waste to build something for a short period of
time using traditional techniques and materials, easy to assemble or dismantle, with the possibility of personalization according to space, needs and people and the system also needs to be organized. In order to be clear, the project is illustrated by two kinds of timeline that represent the process followed by the Fab-Lab and the process of the users of this system. It all starts with the partnership between the public institutions and the Fab-Lab in a particular city, the establishment of workshops and the search of free plots and wastelands. The Fab-Lab rents a plot for a period of 2-5 years and solves all the legal aspects to make it easier for the users, regarding the building permit and so on. Before going any further it trains people looking for jobs to be able to help with the constructions of such houses. Since the process is very simple, it does not require special skills. When this is over it posts the plot on the website with all the necessary information. This includes the surface, the number of available plots, the dates between which it will be rented and a deadline for signing up to rent a space there.
This is where the users begin involving in the process. They can go to the website, find a plot that meets their needs, sign up for it, get in touch with the future neighbors and after the deadline, configure their own house. After gathering all the information regarding the production from the people, the Fab-Lab can order the materials. The next step involves both the Fab-Lab and the users and represents the actual production of the pieces. After that, the people go on site and with the help of the workers, their house is build. About the construction, the house is create as a module that is adaptable to very different conditions. A basic module is 3x1x3 meters large and multiple modules can be put together as layers. They can be as many as each user wants but in case it gets too long there is a problem because it gives the feel of a tunnel or container, there are problems with the light in the middle of the house and also the quality of space has to suffer. To avoid that, we created the possibility of using a larger module, 5 meters long, in certain places of the house that require larger space or more light.
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