HABITAT PROJECT: a low-tech smart home designed and built by students
Program: Parcours Ouvert General Engineering, Institut Catholique d'arts et Métiers - Icam
Campus: Recife, Brazil
Project coordinator: Ana Luisa Rolim
Presented in the Brazil-France Workshop - Curricular Review and Outcomes of the Parcours Ouvert Program, Year 03, Icam Grand Paris Sud, June 29 – July 2, 2022.
The project involves designing and constructing a "habitat project" focusing on low-tech smart housing over two semesters. It was implemented for the first time across four Icam campuses globally: Paris, France; Recife, Brazil; Quito, Ecuador; and Douala, Cameroon. As part of the 3rd Year of the Parcours Ouvert, an international undergraduate program in General Engineering, students are prepared for Icam’s Master’s Degree in General Engineering, emphasizing creativity, innovation, problem-solving, and entrepreneurial skills.
Constraints for the project included using a 20’ container, bio-materials, and solutions for energy efficiency, smart water and waste management, and hygiene systems. Each campus had unique local requirements, with Recife focusing on designing a compact, affordable home for a retired woman in an informal community (favela), within a total construction budget of 8K Euros or 50K Reais. The house would be located at Unicap Icam campus to educate the community on sustainable home design.
Recife utilized recycled-content concrete blocks as the main building material, collaborating with a local company to develop a modular and affordable "kit casa." After designing various houses in the first semester, one project was chosen for construction in the subsequent semester. Recife presented the most thoroughly designed and built house among the campuses, laying the foundation for future iterations of the habitat project initiative
A video about the experience and its outcome produced by students is available here.