Social housing
Prototype for expansion Bamako
Social housing, Bamako
Variation within a fixed grid
At the request of the Malinese ministry of urban development and housing, LEVS has designed an integral study of social housing and developed the design for construction. For a site in an expansion area of Bamako, a design was made comprising 280 living spaces set in the common African-style raster of 10 m x 20 m. Our interpretation of the standard house floor plan, produced with hydraulically compressed earth blocks (HCEB), reveals a rich variety of options, specified in detail at building block-level.
First major assignment with HCEB
The demand for social housing is high in Mali. For this assignment, LEVS was approached for her expertise in HCEB. Compared to the conventional building materials, such as cement blocks, concrete, or the traditional baked clay bricks, HCEB are a cheap, pressure-resistant, and sustainable alternative. The blocks can be fabricated on site with a mobile compression machine designed by the Dutch company Oskam, making use of the soil available. The end-result is a comfortable indoor climate combined with an attractive roof-/floor-construction made of stone vaults.