After starting the year with online classes, our students returned to hands-on learning to gain some practical skills with the workshop Low Technology Construction taught by our professor Emilio Hormías.
In this course, which focuses on low-tech architecture in development, students learn about appropriate, low-tech construction and building materials, their application in various contexts and lessons learned from projects by USF (Universidad Sin Fronteras – University Without Borders). Some of the topics taught in the course include the constructive logic of lightweight and heavy materials as well as typologies for these materials. Furthermore, students discover how to build with low-cost materials and the social processes required for local knowledge transfer.
If you want to find out more about low technology construction, check out this bibliography our professors have compiled for our students.
- Hassan Fathy, 1989. Architecture for the Poor, Ed. The American University in Cairo Press, Egypt. ISBN: 977 424 575 X
- Ban, Shigeru, 1997. Shigeru Ban. Editorial Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, ISBN: 84-252-1721-0
- Ban, Shigeru; Ambasz, Emilio. Shigeru Ban. Laurence King Publishing, London, 2001. ISBN: 1-85669-301-5
- Lynch, K. Image of the City. MIT Press, 1960.
- Peter Walker, Rowland Keable, Joe Martin, Vasilios Maniatidis. Rammed earth. Design and construction guidelines. 2005. ISBN 1-86081-734-3
- Corsellis, Tom. Vitalle, Antonella. Transitional Settlement: Displaced Populations. Oxfam. 2005
- Van Lengen, Johan. The barefoot architect. A handbook for green building, Shelter publications, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-936070-40-7
Additional resources (not in English):
- Bestraten and E. Hormías. Informes de la Construcción. (Coord.) Vol 63, No 523 (2011) doi:10.3989/ic.2011.v63.i523
- Joan Busquets. La urbanización marginal, 1999. ISBN 978-8483013250
- Hugo Houben; Hubert Guillaud. Traité de construction en terre. Editions Parentheses. 1989 Marseille. ISBN 2-86364-041-0
Images: Courtesy of Fizza, Marije, Matilde and Rana from our class of 2020/2021