I have to be honest, I had to go read the rules before writing this Post, because I did not know if I was giving it the correct approach, I think I am within the parameters, although it will still be something interesting that can fill us with ideas. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it.
Hace un tiempo hablé de un Arquitecto Chileno muy reconocido llamado Alejandro Aravena, explicaba que tenia un concepto bastante interesante de las inmobilarias y que no intentaba hacer el mejor diseño sino el mas funcional de alguna manera. Reconocido por crear el proyecto "Quinta Monroy" que consistió basicamente y cito "La mitad de una buena vivienda".
Some time ago I spoke about a well-known Chilean Architect named Alejandro Aravena, he explained that he had a very interesting concept of real estate and that he was not trying to make the best design but the most functional in some way. Recognized for creating the project "Quinta Monroy" which basically consisted and I quote "Half of a good home".
Y es que era basicamente eso, era una obra dejada a la mitad, sin pintar y con pisos de concreto. La idea del proyecto es que personas de bajos recursos pudieran adquirir estas "Medias casas" y poco a poco ir terminandolas segun sus gustos o simplemente segun su poder adquisitivo. Es bien sabido que la "contruccion incremental" como El lo llama, no es un concepto nuevo, aunque hay que admitir que es uno de los pocos con el caracter para realizarlo. El costo Total del proyecto debió ser de 7500$ americanos por familia, (guarden ese numero, es importante.) con ese dinero debia comprarse el terreno, los materiales y pagar la mano de obra para la construccion. Hacemos una pausa en la historia de nuestro arquitecto Chileno, luego volveremos. Dejenme contarles otra cosa para ir entrando en contexto.
And it was basically that, it was a work left in the middle, unpainted and with concrete floors. The idea of the project is that low-income people could acquire these "Half houses" and gradually finish them according to their tastes or simply according to their purchasing power. It is well known that "incremental construction" as He calls it, is not a new concept, although it must be admitted that it is one of the few with the character to carry it out. The total cost of the project should have been US $ 7,500 per family, (save that number, it is important.) With that money the land, materials and labor had to be purchased for the construction. We pause in the history of our Chilean architect, then we will return. Let me tell you something else to get into context.
Esto que ven en la imagen de arriba es un concepto algo diferente, aunque con un mismo fin, crear hogares con un bajo costo. Estamos hablando de la empresa Colombiana Conceptos Plasticos. Especializada desde 2010 en la creacion de casas a base de plastico reutilizado. Estuve leyendo e investigando al respecto y descubrí que si bien existen muchos modelos a nivel mundial, fué esta empresa Colombiana la que mas resaltó y ganó fortaleza debido a que su modelo posee una mejor resistencia estructural y no pretendian cobrar una cantidad exagerada con la exusa de "Salvar al mundo", de hecho, sus casas las cobran por Kilogramo de plastico utilizado, asi que literalmente estas pagando lo que pesa tu casa.
What you see in the image above is a somewhat different concept, although with the same purpose, to create homes with a low cost. We are talking about the Colombian company Conceptos Plasticos. Specialized since 2010 in the creation of houses based on reused plastic. I was reading and researching about it and I discovered that although there are many models worldwide, it was this Colombian company that stood out the most and gained strength because their model has better structural resistance and they did not intend to charge an exaggerated amount with the exuse of "Save the world", in fact, their houses charge per kilogram of plastic used, so you are literally paying what your house weighs.
Esta empresa no construye solo casas, sino que es capaz de adaptarse a cualquier cosa que le pidas utilizando el mismos sistema y los mismos materiales. Imaginate una cama con espacio para gabetas, una pared separadora, escalones, mesas de exterior.. Lo que logres imaginar. Algo en contra que la misma empresa lo asume, es que para escalar en altura si es necesario utilizar pilares de concreto y ascero, ya que a pesar de contar con una gran resistencia estructural, no seria capaz de lograrse contruir un edificio de 3 pisos UNICAMENTE utilizando plastico, aunque ya digo que no tendria nada de malo utilizar pilares de concreto y utilizar el plastico solo para las paredes.
This company does not build only houses, but is able to adapt to anything you ask using the same system and the same materials. Imagine a bed with space for drawers, a dividing wall, steps, outdoor tables ... Whatever you can imagine. Something against that the same company assumes, is that to climb in height if it is necessary to use concrete pillars and ascent, since despite having a great structural resistance, it would not be able to build a building with 3 floors ONLY using plastic, although I already said that there would be nothing wrong with using concrete pillars and using plastic only for the walls.
Otra cosa que podria ser preocupante para algunos es el aspecto exterior, la resistencia a los elementos o simplemente el "que dirán" que preocupa tanto a la sociedad hoy en dia. Es un material bastante porozo en la superficie, asi que acepta con mucha facilidad cualquier tipo de revestimiento. Respecto a la resistencia a los elementos, como ya dije es un material bastante porozo en el exterior, pero en el interior es plastico solido, por lo cual puede resistir hasta la lluvia mas fuerte sin filtrar una sola gota de agua, tambien resiste el inclemente sol ya que tiene muy bueas propiedades termicas y no llega a resecarse. Por otro lado si te preocupa el "que dirán" de tus vecinos, tienes dos opciones, o llevarlo con orgullo y enseñarles la factura de lo tontos que son por no ahorrarse todo ese dinero o simplemente revestirlo y ocultarlo, de cualquiera de las dos maneras tendrias paredes con un nucleo de plastico solido que empezaria a deteriorarse en unos 300 o 400 años.. SI, EMPEZARIA a sufrir deterioro en ese lapso de tiempo, ni siquiera es que en ese tiempo seria inutil, estamos hablando que la tal vez empiece a deteriorarse en 300 años y la primera grieta la veas 20 años despues de eso.
Another thing that could be worrying for some is the external appearance, the resistance to the elements or simply the "what will they say" that worries society so much today. It is a material that is quite porous on the surface, so it accepts any type of coating very easily. Regarding the resistance to the elements, as I said, it is a fairly porous material on the outside, but inside it is solid plastic, so it can withstand even the strongest rain without filtering a single drop of water, it also resists the inclement sun as it has very good thermal properties and does not get to dry out. On the other hand, if you are concerned about the "what will they say" of your neighbors, you have two options, or wear it with pride and show them the bill of how stupid they are for not saving all that money or simply covering it and hiding it, in either of the two ways. You would have walls with a solid plastic core that would begin to deteriorate in about 300 or 400 years. YES, it WOULD START to suffer deterioration in that period of time, it is not even that at that time it would be useless, we are talking that it may begin to deteriorate in 300 years and the first crack you see 20 years after that.
Como extra, se que hay personas que le gustan las paredes de ladrillos, aunque es mucho mas costoso incluso que una pared de bloques de cemento tradicional, para esto existe Corium Brick, es una empresa que desarrolló esta especie de falso revestimiento. Consiste en una especie de lamina de ascero inoxidable con carriles donde van incrustados ladrillos y luego se rellenan los espacios con cemento y queda un aspecto de ladrillo perfecto, todos iguales y con el mismo espacio entre uno y otro y demas. A modo de idea, yo me plantearia la posibilidad de unir las ideas de Conceptos Plasticos y Corium Brick, osea crear carriles en los bloques plastios para luego incrustar y rellenar las grietas como lo plantea Corium.
As an extra, I know that there are people who like brick walls, although it is much more expensive even than a traditional cement block wall, for this there is Corium Brick, it is a company that developed this kind of false cladding. It consists of a kind of stainless steel sheet with rails where bricks are embedded and then the spaces are filled with cement and a perfect brick appearance remains, all the same and with the same space between one and another and others. As an idea, I would consider the possibility of joining the ideas of Conceptos Plasticos and Corium Brick, that is, creating lanes in the plastios blocks and then embedding and filling the cracks as proposed by Corium.
Para terminar, volvamos rapidamente a nuestro arquitecto chileno y a su proyecto Quinta Monroy del 2004. Medí todas las paredes exteriores de este bloque de 3 casas y llegué a la conclusion de que está hecha con aproximadamente 3750 bloques de concreto, esto es sin contar los bloques se parten en el proceso, supongamos que fueron exactamente 3750 bloques de concreto, en mi pais Venezuela, cada uno cuesta 1$, estariamos hablando de 3750$ solo en bloques de concreto. Luego tomé como medida el bloque de plastico mas pequeño que ofrece Conceptos Plasticos y volvi a hacer mis calculos. Llegé a la conclusion de que se necesitarian 12.000 bloques de plastico, cada uno hecho con 1kg de plastico reciclado. en mi pais el kg de plastico tiene un valor de 0,20$ x kg asi que estariamos hablando de 2400$.
To finish, let's quickly go back to our Chilean architect and his 2004 Quinta Monroy project. I measured all the exterior walls of this block of 3 houses and came to the conclusion that it is made with approximately 3750 concrete blocks, this is not counting the blocks they are broken in the process, let's suppose that it was exactly 3750 concrete blocks, in my country Venezuela, each one costs $ 1, we would be talking about $ 3750 only in concrete blocks. Then I took the smallest plastic block that Conceptos Plasticos offers as a measurement and did my calculations again. I came to the conclusion that 12,000 plastic blocks would be needed, each made with 1kg of recycled plastic. In my country the kg of plastic has a value of $ 0.20 x kg so we would be talking about $ 2400.
Si en tu pais el plastico es mas caro y el valor te da por encima de los 3750$, ten en cuenta que no necesitaras sumar un 30% en los materiales para pegar bloques de concreto, que no necesitarias mano de obra especializada que cobra por lo general el doble del costo de los materiales, los gastos de transporte serian menores ya que seria menos peso y sobre todo que tus paredes durarian al rededor de 300 años. En resumen, el plastico es un material extremadamente util, ligero y con muy buenas propiedades que creo que deberiamos tener en cuenta en nuestros diseños a futuro.
If in your country the plastic is more expensive and the value gives you over $ 3,750, keep in mind that you will not need to add 30% in the materials to glue concrete blocks, that you will not need specialized labor that charges for Usually double the cost of materials, transportation costs would be less since it would be less weight and especially that your walls would last around 300 years. In summary, plastic is an extremely useful, lightweight material with very good properties that I think we should take into account in our future designs.
Important note: I will be doing another Post where I will be showing the procedures used by Conceptos Plasticos step by step, giving ideas about objects that we can build at home with their materials and above all explaining the environmental part a little better of the whole thing. I do not do it in this Post because it seems to me that it would come out of the parameters of the architecture community, so I will be publishing it in the friendly community of "Build-it" and I will be leaving the link in the comments for those who are interested in it theme.