One of the key problems in indigenous communities is the issue of housing. For this reason, a group of students prepared a prototype of housing solutions that would allow them to have houses in a matter of 14 days.
It is an inter-institutional project in which the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the National University (UNA) and the Technological Institute (TEC) participate, which has already delivered the first home.
The plan complies with construction regulations and respects the needs, traditions and tastes of the families that will receive it.The house is made mostly of melina-type wood and stands out for the speed of construction.
The first delivery was made in Cabagra in Buenos Aires. The project benefited a family in extreme poverty and with a daughter suffering from cancer; for the minor, the adaptations recommended by the Children’s Hospital were made.”I think the house is beautiful, it fits well for what we need as a family and the truth is that I am very happy,” said María Cecilia Ortiz, a beneficiary of the house.
Universities and private companies united
The housing development had a cost of ¢8.5 million –not including the lot–.The project was sponsored by public universities, the local development association and timber companies from the Southern Zone. The TEC School of Forest Engineering, the UNA headquarters in Pérez Zeledón and the UCR School of Civil Engineering participated in the design.
They were joined by the help of the National Learning Institute (INA). This entity made a carpentry workshop in the region and three of the graduates were part of the construction.
“The idea of this was to make a model house that complied with two points, first that it complied with the materials that were asked of us in the consultation workshops with the inhabitants of the indigenous territory, and also that it also complied with Banhvi regulations. for social welfare housing”, explained Diego Camacho, in charge of the project at the TEC.
Camacho explained that he is now following the follow-up stage with the house. This implies controlling the materials and analyzing the use that the family makes of them.
