VALENCIA, April 26 (EUROPA PRESS) – Students from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) have designed and built a prototype of a wooden home with the aim of moving it to Equatorial Guinea.
The prototype can be visited at the Higher Technical School of Building Engineering (ETSIE) until May 3, when it will be dismantled and donated to a non-profit entity so that it can be used. It is also intended to measure the degree of disassembly and circularity of this construction.
Between April 2 and 5, the work team built this prototype in a workshop that aims to train and raise awareness among students about the use of wood in construction through the activation of educational programs.
During the first semester of the course, students have worked on the design of several prototypes of modular and circular housing with a timber frame structure to finally be built in the city of Bata (Equatorial Guinea). Three professors from the National University of Equatorial Guinea attended these practical sessions.
The aim is to address the need for residential housing derived from the impoverishment of the population of this country and the loss of techniques typical of its culture as a result of Western influence. To achieve this, the design and construction of a housing prototype that can be self-built by the population with wood, an abundant material in the area and of exceptional quality, is proposed.
The students presented six proposals, after which the design of the built prototype was selected by voting. The Department of Social Services, Equality and Housing has participated in the inauguration of the prototype, an event in which Housing technicians have awarded diplomas to the student architects, details the regional administration.
This activity has the cooperation of the Maderamen chair, which aims to make visible the need and importance of recovering wood in the design and improvement of the built habitat through innovation, digitalization and industrialization of the sector. The Okambuva bioconstruction cooperative participates in the chair and the Ministry collaborates.