AUTOMATED DESIGN ASSISTANCE FOR SELF-HELP HOUSING IN CAMPINAS, BRAZIL

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1 AUTOMATED DESIGN ASSISTANCE FOR SELF-HELP HOUSING IN CAMPINAS, BRAZIL Doris C.C.K. Kowaltowski; Edison Fávero; Franciso Borges FilhO; Lucila C. Labaki; Regina C. Ruschel; Silvia A. Mikami G. Pina; and Stelamaris R. Bertoli Department of Architecture and Construction, School of Civil Engineering State University of Campinas, UNICAMP, CP 6021, Campinas SP, Brazil Tel.: Abstract: The Self-built houses activity in the city of Campinas in the State of São Paulo, Brazil needs Professional design assistance. Help should be automated to reach self-builders and their technical needs. A self-built houses software was developed and applied to areas of urban expansion. Through attendance centers, this program provides house builders with individualized designs according to family profile and location specifications. Strategies are restricted to local ways of building to avoid cultural rejection The population quickly starts house construction. Experiences with the local population are being evaluated. Results indicate acceptance of the program, improvements in house construction and satisfaction with designs. Introduction and Goals: The population consolidation process, which occurred in the last forty years in Brazil, (Schütz, 1987), brought about an enormous influx of rural populations to urban centers. Towns like Campinas, in the State of São Paulo, have grown at a rate comparable to the metropolitan areas a decade before, mainly at the fringes of the city, which are being occupied by low income populations (Patarra et. al., 1994 ). Due to the speed of urban growth, land use planning is not able to control land occupation and construction quality. Urban peripheral land can be said to be chaotically occupied, predominantly by a poor and needy population. Urbanization can be said to be based on spontaneity of local conditions. Construction activities are carried out in anonymity and in many cases total clandestiny. Housing production is carried out as a self-help activity 1, where houses are built without permission and design assistance in most cases. Access to urban land, through the acquisition of lots from small land speculators, spurs speedy construction of crude minimum houses, which, once occupied, are continually changed over time and show to take twenty years and more to be finished (Kowaltowski et. al., 1995). Some technical design assistance is seen as needed in particular through the provision of architectural designs as a basis for building. The comparative evaluation of resulting house constructions as to satisfaction and incidence of modifications introduced when given technical aid should be a guide for the further development of the design assistance system described here. Economic constraints of the context of self-built housing and the poverty of the communities pose difficulties in the search for appropriate forms of design assistance. The 1 The term self-help is used here to represent building activities of user/owners to improve their physical conditions through their own efforts.

2 size or dimension of necessary assistance is another consideration to be made when suggesting specific technical aid systems able to address the problems efficiently and democratically. A Self-help system, as detailed below, is seen as an effective way of acting in this environment. Since 1986 Brazil does not adopt a national housing program. Official public housing policies prior to this date addressed primarily middle class populations leaving the lower classes with few options, which resulted in informal ways of residential production such as clandestine subdivisions, self-built houses and slums. Thus urban expansion even of medium sized cities in Brazil is essentially based on self-building activities. The self-built settlements can be described as fairly organized new suburbs which occupy urban empty land patches. According to a recent report, 30 times more homes are being built in the informal as against the formal ways of construction (Augusto and Bastos, 1997). Self-built houses are the predominant mode of urban habitation production of low income population in other Latin America countries as well (Turner, 1976 and Kellet and Napier, 1995). According to Brazilian data around 60 % of the local housing production is self-built (Schulz, 1996). The self-help activity has been hailed by many authors as a correct approach towards solving enormous housing deficits. On the other hand, the acquisition of finished houses is preferred by the public (Hamdi, 1991). A very low income population, however cannot afford them. The self-built housing activity will therefore continue only partially to be recommended. Interference by non-process members is necessary and an analysis of the phenomenon shows the need for design assistance. Methodology: To gain a better understanding of the self-building process for the development of an aid system, the activity of a specific place, Campinas, S.P., Brazil was studied 2 (Kowaltowski et.al., 1995). Campinas is a city with approximately one million inhabitants, one hundred kilometers from the largest city in Brazil, São Paulo. The city is thus influenced by the strong industrialization trends in the region. In the main growth vectors of the city, public and private settlements form a belt of urban developments interspersed with large pockets of unused land, waiting for speculative advantages. The topography of the outer suburbs is hilly. Urban land divisions, public and private, follow the traditional gridiron street pattern, of rectangular suburban lots with narrow street fronts. Most projects, whether private or public, lack adequate service infrastructure, however, giving rise to the introduction of haphazard commercial enterprises amongst the fabric of residential constructions. Lack of diversity, gridiron streets, poor landscaping and infrastructure create a visual poverty of setting in the new developments. With time these outskirts gain in urbanization and tend toward fairly comfortable suburbs. This is true for smaller and medium sized cities of Brazil, like Campinas, but not equally true for the larger metropolitan areas. There the selfbuilt outskirts have a lower quality of life, houses are smaller, multi-story on a narrow lot, predominantly unfinished and without a protecting roof, details which directly affect comfort. The western region of Campinas was chosen as our survey base. The region, representing 30% of the total urban population, is comprised of an income group earning from one to ten minimum salaries 3, hence a very low income social class. The characteristic of self-construction, house ownership and income level were considered priority in sample definition. Of the 97 self-built settlements and 33 public housing projects in the region, five settlements and three public housing projects were selected randomly. A 2 The research for this paper was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP (Processo: No. 92/ )and by FINEP, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Processo: No. 2782/97). 3 The minimum salary today is R$ 136,00 = US$ 65.70

3 total of 64 self-built houses and 95 public development single family units were studied extensively. Public housing projects were included in the sample, since houses are extensively modified by owners after occupation, therefore to some extent self-re-built. Questions on family size, house construction detailing and evolution, satisfaction, preferences and habits were included in the questionnaires. Extensively observed and analyzed houses were classified as to their house plan type, functional area, room numbers, environmental comfort and details of finishing. A shorter questionnaire on preferences of plan type and house fronts was further tested in 404 homes to gain information for the development of the technical aid system. Results of this survey have been detailed in previous publications (Kowaltowski et. al., 1996, Labaki et al., 1997, Kowaltowski, 1998 and Kowaltowski et. al. 1998). Important data can be summed up in the need for design assistance. Houses are built, often without any prior planning to breaking ground for footing construction. These, however, determine functional aspects of the house and future modification possibilities and are thus a vital part of housing quality. The main results of our field study show that for most self-builders, the participation condition in the construction process of his house is insufficient to attain adequate homes, especially in relation to thermal comfort. Although owners express high satisfaction in relation to self-built houses, adjustments to design are necessary to elevate these houses to adequate standards of physical setting. Tradition is strong in the self-builder population. Tradition may hinder the building of homes technically appropriate to specific conditions and location, since improvements are not introduced in the existing design model. On the other hand the population is open to new ideas in relation to appliances and novelties around the home. These characteristics of the self-building environment are important for the development of a technical support system, where tradition must be respected but openness to innovation should be applied as a spring board to the introduction of technical improvements in house design. Although social and economic conditions can restrict access to better ways of building, simple strategies of design are available especially through the principles of bioclimatic design which should be explored in a support system (Labaki and Kowaltowski,1998). The main results of the study must be incorporated in a technical aid system as design parameters. Houses, using the lot back walls as exterior walls, should be avoided. This type of construction has few possibilities for improvement and is not preferred, although often used as an economic first shelter relying on three neighboring lot walls. Self-builders must be encouraged to start their house in the center of the lot, where conditions for the building of an adequately sized and preferred home are more favorable. Self-builders must also be encouraged to build their home in rational stages to avoid the wasteful occurrences in home remodeling so predominant in the self-building process. The twostory houses, although preferred must not be encouraged, due to its technical complexity and difficulty in building in rational stages which include comfort and maintenance. Twostory house should be options only for extremely narrow lots and exceptionally large families. The preferred traditional layout can be properly incorporated in a support system with adjustments for adequate siting and environmental comfort parameters. Adequate room sizes, shown to be present in most houses surveyed, must be maintained to avoid the dissatisfaction existing in relation to many public housing projects with a 30% reduction in room areas. A computerized design method which can produce individualized designs rapidly, using simple communication drawings, adequate to the instruction level of the target population, was devised. The support system is based on user preferences and includes 3D representation to facilitate design comprehension, especially of logic roof configurations. The architectural design tool is called AUTOMET since it is devised for the self-builders,

4 auto-construtor in Portuguese, to run in AutoCad, still the most popular CAD (Computer Aided Design) product used by the profession in Brazil. The process begins with the dialogue box, Fig. 1 and the characterization of the design according to family size, special desires (inclusion of three bedrooms, garage or shop), lot description and choice of plotting visualization in three different forms (floor plan, 3D representation, official drawing for legalization of the construction). Self-builders with large families, houses on irregular shaped lots and designs for users with physical disabilities are excluded from the method, since they need special design attention. Once parameters are indicated, the program chooses an appropriate design for the lot width and street location. Windows, verandas and outdoor stairs, designed as blocks, are inserted according to orientation and topography. Fig. 1: Dialogue Box of AUTOMET for characterization of appropriate self-built house design. To bring the design assistance tool to the population of self-builders, design awareness must be developed. This awareness can be built on good plan reading capacities of selfbuilders, which are present in the population as shown in the results of the survey. Assistance must also take into account economic limitations and the slow and individualized building process. Indication of building phases on the house plans is therefor important. Lack of strong group identity creates barriers of communication. Working by example can however be the instigator of change. Active professional involvement is necessary to introduce necessary house design improvements. The conventional clientdesigner relationship cannot be applied however, due to the dimension of the phenomenon and its assistance needs. The distribution of standard designs is inadequate, since it does not address individual problems. The design tool, described here, must be applied in the environment of the existing self-building process. To create a climate for changes in design and construction, self-builders must be made aware of improvement possibilities. This awareness must not cause distrust of unknown technology. New strategies should be restricted to local ways of building to avoid cost problems, cultural rejection and therefore quick abandonment of new positive elements. To facilitate access to the proposed design tool described above, mobile service units can be set up in areas of urban expansion. Through these attendance centers researchers of this project and a group of students, can distribute design and building assistance to selfbuilders on the spot. Small service offices in bus terminals on the outskirts of the city are also being planned in connection with local administrations.

5 Some Results: A recent attendance scene can be seen in Fig. 2 (A). The population is eager to obtain design help and open to discuss their ideas and desires in relation to the building of their own house. Construction of houses is quickly started as in Fig. 2 (B). Some of the selfbuilders bring their own sketches of design ideas. Examples can be seen in Fig. 3. Most of these sketches lack technical design qualities and are not adapted specifically to the owner s lot conditions, making such sketches inadequate as construction documentation. A Fig. 2: (A) Scene of Design Assistance Center and (B) Starting the construction of a Self-Built House B Fig. 3: House plan sketches drawn by self-builders

6 The first experiences in applying AUTOMET to the local population result in a rich experience in three separate suburbs attended. 310 families received house designs, 28% of these families started to built their houses with some modifications. Satisfaction with the house is high. Houses are built at fast rate Fig 4 shows one of the houses already occupied. Families move into their houses quickly and the exterior finishing of the house is often delayed for years. The research continues at this time evaluating the comforto conditions of houses and he rate of remodeling of houses is being used as a quality standard of the assistance system. Thus the changes introduced will be used as indicator to improve the design system for this population. Conclusion Fig. 4 A self-build house based on the Aid System Automet In this paper the case of design aid for the self-built housing phenomena is discussed and an automated house design program is presented for the use in the City of campinas, Brazil. The system is based on an automated design tool using CAD (Computer Aided Design). The assistance program was shown to be very important to improve house quality. Help on the level of house design only was found insufficient in creating adequate communities. The assistance program should be coupled to local administration infrastructure improvement programs. REFERENCES Augusto, C. and Bastos, R., (1997), Moradia Informal Vive Boom em São Paulo, in O Estado de São Paulo, Caderno Cidades, , São Paulo, pp. C1. Hamdi, N., (1991), Housing without Houses: Participation, Flexibility, Enablement, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold. Kellett, P. and Napier, M., (1994), Squatter Architecture as Vernacular: Examples from South America and South Africa, in Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Papers Series,Vol. LX, 1-48, pp Kowaltowski, D.C.C.K., Pina, S.A.M.G. and Ruschel, R.C., (1995), Relatório Científico: Elementos Sociais e Culturais da Casa Popular em Campinas-SP., Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP.. Kowaltowski, D.C.C.K. and Labaki, L.C., (1996), The Missing Attributes of the New Vernacular: A Brazilian Example, in Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series, Vol. 99, pp

7 Kowaltowski, D.C.C.K., Ruschel, R.C., Pina, S.G.M., Granja, D.ª and Oliveira, P.H., (1998), Examples of User Representation in Brazilian Housing and the Need for Professional Support in the Self-Building Process, in Shifting Balances, Changing Roles in Policy, Research and Design, ed. Tecklenburg et al., IAPS 15, Eirass European Institute of Retailing and Services Studies. Kowaltowski, D.C.C.K., (1998), Aesthetics and Self-Built Houses: an Analysis of a Brazilian Setting, in Habitat International, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp Labaki, L.C., and Kowaltowski, DCCK, (1998), Bioclimatic and Vernacular Design in Urban Settlements of Brazil, in Building and Environment, Vol 33., No. 1, pp Pappatarra, N. et. al., (1994), Migrações, Condições de Vida e Dinâmica Urbana, IE, UNICAMP, Campinas. Schulz, C., (1996), Pequeno Comprador Domina Mercado de Cimento in O Estado de São Paulo, Caderno de Cconomia, , São Paulo, pp. B9. Schütz, E.J., (1987), Städte in Lateinamerika. Barrio-Entwicklung und Wohnbau, Aachen, Misereor. Turner, J.F.C., (1976), Housing by People: Towards Autonomy in Building Environments, Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd., London.