It is clear that in a world that is entering a crisis and it is not possible to return to the energy consumption model of the last 100 years, the expensive production of materials for the construction of houses and even the design and conceptualization of them must be reviewed and redefined .
Over the last 70 years, the southern countries of the world have significantly increased our demographic rates. Improving our socio-hygienic conditions has a decisive influence on our population increasing at an ever faster rate.
These population increases were concentrated mainly in the capitals of our countries and, within a few decades, led to a collapse of their service capacity and an increasing deficit in the supply of housing and building land.
In the 80s and 90s of the last century, the housing problem worsened dramatically with the coming to power of governments that resembled and submitted to the neoliberal ideology and the enormous weight that external debt imposed on the economies of our countries.
Housing construction and even urban planning have been abandoned by the various governments, transferring these responsibilities to private initiative and the invisible hand of the market, euphemisms used in our countries to describe the monopolistic construction mafias and gangster companies. speculative mortgage banking.
In Venezuela, this catastrophic legacy has not yet been overcome by the plans and developments launched by the Bolivarian Revolution in terms of housing and living space.
It is clear that in a world that is entering a crisis and it is not possible to return to the energy consumption model that has been in force for the last 100 years, the expensive production of materials for the construction of houses and even the design and conceptualization of them must be eliminated and reviewed newly defined.
The durability of current building materials is achieved through very high energy expenditure: 1000 degrees Celsius for the production of Portland cement, 1700 degrees Celsius for the extraction of the steel used in construction, high freight costs, etc. This high energy consumption contributed to inadequate designs that do not conform to ours climatic, cultural and economic conditions, as well as to the vision of the financial sector to view the housing problem as one of the most lucrative enterprises, with faster and higher returns on invested capital for profit reasons have made the purchase of a home for millions of men and women in our made cities an almost unattainable dream; Situation that I also find myself in.
The situations described above seem to point to the need to explore new (but also old and unfairly forgotten) possibilities related to housing construction, among which we must highlight clay and bamboo as raw materials for construction.
Mud and bamboo
Clay has been used to build houses since the time of the first human settlements. It is an abundant, inexpensive material with remarkable physical-structural properties that made us forget and despise snobbery and cultural colonization.
Clay as a building material is socially stigmatized; It is associated with poverty and backwardness; It is attributed with an alleged fragility and inconsistency that belies the fact that pyramids such as those at Dahsur in Egypt, built entirely of clay more than 5,000 years ago, as well as the ancient city of Cachan, remain in an astonishing state of preservation today Peru, which was built from clay around 2,800 years ago, or large sections of the Great Wall of China that still stand and function today.
Also in the western state of Falcón, the capital Coro, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a historic center built mainly in clay where you can see majestic houses such as the “House of Iron Windows”. The Tellería family, which even after 300 years still amazes and admires those who have the pleasure of walking through its corridors, courtyards and rooms, and which today cries out to be taken over by the Venezuelan state in order to reverse its progressive decay impede.
The many qualities and benefits of clay as a building material include:
Clay bricks (the word “adobe” seems to come from the Arabic “atob,” meaning silt or mud, or “atuba,” meaning brick) barely conduct heat and act as a heat balancer (they absorb the day’s heat and give it little). away). bit by bit). little by little during the cold of the night and vice versa).
Its soundproofing ability is remarkable, and this property is of great use and benefit for a society characterized by stress and noise. Mud insulates against electromagnetic radiation, which concrete does not. It is a virtually non-flammable material with an ignition value of F-180, meaning it can withstand a fire for 180 minutes without burning.
The mud brick walls and walls are thick and their density is similar to that of concrete. It has high impact resistance and is completely ecological and recyclable. The structural damage is easily repaired, and both mud and clay are natural protectants against fungi and bacteria. In addition to exchanging moisture with the outside, they ensure healthy humidity inside the houses.
We must discard the stupid idea that only Bahareque ranches can be built from clay; The stately mansions of Coro and the photos of beautiful mud houses that I publish on my personal blog (joelsangronispadron.blogspot.com) refute this claim.
Countries such as the USA, France, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile have experienced a real renaissance in recent years in the construction of luxurious villas and 3 and 4 star hotels made of clay, which contradicts the poor social perception that prevails in our countries Countries on this material are only available to people with great economic power.
In Australia, impressive hotels such as the Kooralbyn in Queensland or the Church of Thomas More in the Western Territory are built from mud bricks.
Central American countries such as Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador, as well as southern countries such as Chile and Uruguay, are establishing schools to train master builders in sound engineering.
In the Cruz de Taratara, in the heart of the Falconian Mountains, relatively close to the town of Coro, until a few years ago there was a “clay school” (I don't know if it still exists) where older masons came from the region Ancient techniques of making clay, adobe bricks and building houses were taught. The Venezuelan Corporation of Guyana (CVG) also promoted housing projects (including two-story houses) using clay as the main raw material in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Only through the use of economical, ecological and abundant materials (e.g. clay) will the various governments of the countries of the world be able to cover the deficit of more than 500 million homes expected to be built worldwide in the next 20 years years are needed.
While clay is the ideal material for walls and fillings of a new type of popular housing, bamboo is the ideal material for interior structures and supports.
Bamboo or Guadua
Bamboo (also known as Guadua or Guauda in Venezuela) is a grass that reaches a great height (30 meters) and is called “vegetable steel” due to its exceptional hardness, flexibility and resistance.
Its weight-to-strength ratio is such that it is comparable only to that of space-age metal alloys. Incredibly, bamboo has a tensile strength of 40 Kp/mm2, which is higher than that of wood (5 Kp/mm2) and that of mild steel (37 Kp/mm2).
Colombian architect Simón Vélez has become a world celebrity for his avant-garde constructions made from bamboo, including bridges, houses and even the ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives) pavilion at the technology fair in Hanover, Germany, which was entirely built in 2000 this material.
This pavilion was the most visited pavilion and the “Ecobook” laptop made of bamboo from Asus could be seen there.
Among the most emblematic structures made of bamboo in Latin America is the Cathedral of Pereira, in the Colombian coffee region, an area of great seismic activity, a danger for which, as it is called, the flexibility and resistance of bamboo structures represent great advantages “Bamboo is not earthquake-proof, but rather earthquake-inert,” says Vélez himself.
Bamboo can be advantageously used as a raw material for the production of laminates, tongue and groove elements, flooring, cabinets, panels, etc. Its resistance, durability and elegance are far superior to plastic and other more expensive and less ecologically sustainable types of wood.
There are many bamboo forests in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Central America. They contribute to the regulation and maintenance of watercourses and the protection of watersheds. This plant is excellent at binding carbon dioxide (one of the gases that create the greenhouse effect) because when it uses or converts its wood, it does not release the retained gas into the atmosphere.
A bamboo forest regenerates every 5 years without the need to be replanted, making it extremely sustainable as a building material, unlike species such as cedar (20 to 25 years) and oak (75 to 80 years).
Colombia has been importing machinery, technology and technical assistance from Taiwan to use bamboo as a building material for several years. Since Venezuela now enjoys excellent relations with the People's Republic of China, it would be desirable for us to examine the diverse possibilities that this plant offers in all areas of housing construction, as well as the ancient experience that the Chinese have in this field. www.
Joel Sangroni's Padron – Professor UNERMB