The new house has been designed to accommodate two permanent teachers and their families. This will assist with some of the social objectives of the project and provide permanant on-site support from teachers and other support staff.
The spatial arrangements allow for some sharing of facilities while maintaining two separate living quarters. Outdoor spaces for gathering and living combined with an orientation and location which integrates the house into the local village context while also intergrating with the school.
Sustainable design features:
Water: Collect, store and use rainwater after the monsoon period rather than relying on well water for consumption and domestic purposes and manage and reuse wastewater for garden or domestic purposes.
Energy: Generate energy from a renewable source such as biogas systems or parabolic solar cooking systems rather than mains electricity. Biogas systems consists of an underground storage tank which can be supplied with a mixture of effluent/ biomass and water. The organic material creates methane gas which can be used for cooking or lighting purposes.
Internal environment quality: Use natural ventilation to improve indoor environment quality for occupants.
Materials: Select materials with view to reducing depletion of natural resources and habitats, whilst considering, embodied energy, manufacturing techniques, transportation, management and waste.
Emissions: Reduce toxic emissions and greenhouse gasses by reducing energy consumption and eliminating the need to burn fuels and wastes.
Landscape: Consider impact on local ecosystems. Specific requirements for building design include:
Orientation: Maximise passive heating, cooling and lighting; provide natural day lighting; provide sun prortection from summer sun; avoid westerly sun; allow natural ventilation and cooling breezes
Insulation: Retain winter warmth and exclude summer heat within the building. Insulation to all walls, ceiling and floor areas
Thermal Mass: Stabilise internal air temperature. Incorporate materials such as brick or sand or water within the building fabric
Natural Light: Occupant-friendly light source and reduces energy consumption
Windows: Correct orientation and sizing to provide natural ventilation, sun shading and security
Passive heating: Allow winter sun to heat thermal mass in building
Passive Cooling: Draw cool air in through low vents/windows by allowing warm air to escapethrough high vents/windows; cross ventilation via opposing operable windows; allow air to pass over cooling vegetation before entering the building
Eaves, Verandahs & Shading devices: Ensure correct size, incline and placement to control sun; allow winter sun and prevent summer sun
Rainwater Harvesting: Reduces need for well water consumption; collect water from roof areas and store in above or below-ground tanks for general consumption wastewater collected & stored in tanks for irrigation
Effluent treatment and re-use: Black and Grey water treatment and re-use or production of biogas on site for re-use and irrigation/ fertilizer.
Waste: Reduce waste during construction and operations of the building; recycle all operational waste on site; implement waste management strategies
Cultural Suitability: The housing the design and layout of the housing quarters will be culturally suitable incorporating local material and traditional knowledge and skills.