The Design Indaba bunch have done it again! The Brit Insurance Design Awards 2009 has nominated the 10 x 10 Project, in the architecture category. It is amongst other great projects from 2008 in many categories, including the Shepard Fairey Obama poster in the graphic design category...
... and the Aesop Stores and Branding by March Studios and Aesop (my apologies for my graphic design bias in choosing nominees to share!)
These will all be shown at the London Design Museum next year (great museum, if you're into design in any way, get yourself there).
Back to the 10 x 10 Project. The idea is to challenge the starchitects from around the globe to help build new homes for the millions of South Africans who call informal settlements home (in a six-metre square space that is usually available in the existing townships, and in a R50000 or 3300 pound budget). That means that someone who lives in a building made from corrugated iron sheeting, newspaper and other make-shift materials could have a home that is less vulnerable to fire (a large problem in informal settlements), wind resistant, and more heat/cooling efficient. Depending on the architect, some of these ideas were tackled.
One architect who met these environmental challenges, and more, is Luyanda Mpahlwa. His design is created by timber beams and filled in with sand bags. This creates walls that are less vulnerable to fire, keeps the wind out, keeps moisture out, and are probably bullet proof, too. It is also possible for the inhabitants to be able to build the two-storey homes themselves after a few days' training (pics below, a house in process of being built, and then the projected end result).
The other upside of this is that the architects ended up building a street of 10 houses each.
I read about the Project on the Creative Review's blog, which ran a great, and more detailed story here.
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