The Dancing House
An Alternative Housing System with a Humane Face.
What is it?
Tony Sargeant is the man behind the conception of “The Dancing House”.
It began after the devastating tsunami in Aceh and subsequent serious earthquake in
Aceh Tsunami Earthquake and Tsunami Safe House National Competition sponsored by the Indonesian Architects Association (IAI), 2005: Quick Bild as a Tent and can be further finished self help.
The Dancing House
An Alternative Housing System with a Humane Face.
What is it?
Tony Sargeant is the man behind the conception of “The Dancing House”.
It began after the devastating tsunami in Aceh and subsequent serious earthquake in
Beyond that it can also build a “COMMUNITY INDUSTRY” even at the Village Level thus creating a “Self-Help Poverty Alleviation” industry.
The FRAME is designed to modern , state of the art earthquake resistance knowledge, as it is effectively a “SHOCK ABSORBER FRAME”. Not many people know that this is actually ancient knowledge in communities as that is how they built temples in China or in Japan for example, where the FRAME MOVES in an earthquake.
The Earthquake RESISTANCE energy is using the same principles as the “TAI CHI” martial art, “BE IN HARMONY WITH THE FORCE” and follow it through to save lives.
The system can be used either as a totality or as a component. It can be mixed with other building systems.
At present, a one-to-one scale mock up has already been built as a Two Storey construction with a Three Storey version currently being manufactured.
This is not only a building system for LOW COST HOUSES but it can also be for any level of houses.
The texture of the walls is handmade (by the women or the men) and is adaptable. The “sandwich” panels could also be pre fabricated in factories.
It is not only a building system proposal that is READY and PREPARED for any new disaster that may occur but, as we have said before, it is also an ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM to PUBLIC HOUSING SHORTAGES in general.
Some of the questions and issues of concern that have been raised are:
§ Natural disasters are escalating in occurrence and frequency and are so much more devastating than in the past because of the large populations that live in vulnerable regions of the world.
§ Affordable Housing for the Poor is in very short supply as it is and these natural disasters are aggravating the housing problem greatly but how can Governments and individuals find an affordable alternative?
§ Brick houses are now the most common housing system for the poor in developing countries but this very process is, in turn, contributing to high emission levels of Carbon Dioxide and other pollutants and therefore is unintentionally contributing to the increased threat of some climate related disasters.
§ When many houses have been destroyed it gives an opportunity for communities and governments to rebuild using environmentally safe and economical techniques as opposed to just re-creating the same conditions for disasters to be repeated in the future.
§ On such a scale (when tens of thousands of house are destroyed or severely damaged in a short period) the effects can also greatly damage the top soil and thus deplete the quality of the agricultural land.
§ Brick and tile housing processes are actually using materials that become very dangerous in earthquakes because of the pendulum effect and also in typhoon/hurricane regions by virtue of becoming dangerously flying debris. H.eavy houses fall down and poor connections cause them to fail
§ These materials are commonly used at present because they have become favored as the “in style“ of house.
§ When we build houses, mainly of wood , they become a symptomatic problem as they cause further dramatic depletion of the forests, as has been seen in Aceh and, of course, will need replacing in the foreseeable future.
§ By using forest-originating building materials they have actually helped to “wipe out” these forest zones and have therefore increased the levels of vulnerability to even more natural disasters.
§ Flooding will carry away the top soil through increased erosion, down through the river systems to the oceans, causing drying of the land and thus denying the natural refill of underground aquifers upon which humanity depends.
§ Subsequent droughts cause losses in food production capacity and contribute to hunger. They affect land temperatures and contribute to global weather patterns.
So a vicious cycle is created and causes even worse calamities, poverty, hunger, and worsening global warming conditions.
The “devils downward cycle” is now rapidly endangering the future of the human race.
This is not a scare tactic but is simply the reality that we now face.
In response to these problems, Tony, has reacted in a very positive way and using a “nuts and bolts approach, as he calls it, has created “The Dancing House” experiment.
For the wall panels, Tony has used what he calls a “3rd generational bamboo-crete panel system”. BAMBOO USED AS REINFORCING is cleverly mixed with the art of the traditional woven bamboo partitions. Foam capped with a fishnet web and guarantees an all round secondary reinforcement. The final surfaces are sprayed with a small hand held compressed air driven gun. This spray crete is co polymerized super thin flexible cement. This spraying technique gives great strength attractive finish , combined with flexibility for disasters. AND CAN BE SPRAYED IN SITU.
This has a secondary effect of helping to make the transition from a bamboo house to a contemporary rendered masonry looking house which is especially desirable for rich or poor people.
The wonderful aspect of this, as Tony has said, is that “It can be done by the Women! This system will enable them to build, or rebuild, HOMES and not just HOUSING structures!” Generally, women have not been big participants in the worlds building trades NOW THE HOME MAKERS CAN SOON BECOME THE HOME BUILDERS.
The DANCING HOUSE is a constructive way of helping us to help ourselves, irrespective of our social status or financial ability, as Governments will be able to afford and encourage the usage of this process to help people to help not only themselves but the planet as a whole!
· Then will be the WALLs/ PARTITION that seems often the other most needed invention to all these earthquake resistance houses.
· What can substitue the brick house to be cheaper, faster built, and yet also not “dangerous” to break and just fall into pieces on children and the elderly? Tony called it the 3rd generation bambu cret panels. Learning from the traditional / indigenous Balinese / javanese and literature, Tony has briliantly mix the state of the art of Woven bamboo partition , the fishnet as reinforcement (an idea from where he lives among the fishermen) , stirofoam as insulation , and special
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as it innovation can actually be designed as a “HINGED WALL” , in case of a TSUNAMI , it can just let the water pass and so act as a MOSQUE that has proven to save lives in Aceh. The same principles then copied: Lesson Learned.
· The wonder is , as Tony mentioned: It can be done by the Women! This whole system should be able to be build by the Women. “It is to build HOMES beyond just HOUSES”!
· Beyond that it is so build also “COMMUNITY INDUSTRY” even at the Village Level. A means also as a “Poverty Alleviation” industry.
Another question that is often raised is:
“Do the materials last?”
They will LAST FOR VERY LONG PERIODS. The Japanese used bamboo to replace steel in structures in the second world war.
Steve
A Financial Expert: A Designer of the Housing Micro Financing Scheme in South Africa
Antonio
An Architect, Appropriate Technology Practitioner working on Poverty Alleviation, the Environment, thru out
The writer and the Inventor.
What next for the future?
Tony envisages that this system could become an industry, mixing both FORMAL Business and “Community Business” principles. Somewhat prophetically he calls it an integrated “mutually symbiotic system” as the producers and the users can become one system.
Training can easily be given and the frames and roof sections can be delivered in kit form with the panels and flooring being manufactured locally.
It is also foreseeable to link this business to a “CARBON TRADING” scheme as one hectare of Bamboo, for example, can absorb 4 times more carbon dioxide than one hectare of normal trees.
By using this natural product in a building process, where nothing is wasted, users will have made not only a positive contribution to the environment during growing but also will have erected a safer and more energy efficient house which will be easily affordable.
Many others have already realized this and the system that Tony has designed answers many problems.
Tony sees the real growth potential of this multi faceted approach when it can be set into a real business context whilst still having a “Social and Environmentally Responsible “ tag.
“We must not just think in a narrow minded way as we have done is the past. GLOBAL WARMING and the future of mankind are at stake”.
It is said that there is only a 10 year window in which the human race can save our home, Planet Earth, so therefore we are morally obliged to do this for our children, our grandchildren and subsequent generations.
The DANCING HOUSE is a constructive way of helping us to help ourselves, irrespective of our social status or financial ability, as Governments will be able to afford and encourage the usage of this process to help people to help not only themselves but the planet as a whole!