kraaijvanger •

The Open Source House is an initiative of Vincent van der Meulen together with Enviu. Main goal is to structurally improve the quality and the sustainability of housing in low income countries, and thus improving the quality of life of the inhabitants. The middle class in low income countries is growing steadily and urbanization is increasing rapidly, creating a high demand for affordable housing. Existing construction methods however are too expensive, non sustainable and of very low quality. The ambition of Open Source House is to have built over 100.000 sustainable houses by 2020.

Open Source House is based on 8 principles, including modular building methods, locally implementation, clever use of proven energy saving techniques and growth potential for the future residents. The model of growth allows the emerging middle class to create value, thus growing from the informal to the formal economy. The first houses will be built in Ghana in 2011.

After the competition phase all designs will be freely accessible through the Open Source Platform www.os-house.org. Main goal of the platform is to offer future house owners a sustainable choice, knowledge and diversity. On the platform the designs of the OS Houses can be shared, improved or adapted to changing situations. Through the platform sustainable know how can be shared world wide and free of charge, and made available for low income countries.
 

year
2009

in cooperation with
Enviu

website
www.os-house.org

project team
Vincent van der Meulen