SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIALS, INSULATION, AND PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN University 391 / Schwartz / Fall 2012 Kirsten Stabler, Victoria Carranza, Andrew, Pike Harris, Nina, Meghan Legg, Heiu Le, & Mike Miller

Location  Guateca  San Pablo, Guatemala  San Pablo Tacana, San Marcos, is approximately 260km from the capital Guatemala City, and sits at an elevation of about 10,000ft. Source: Guateca.com

Problem Statement  The people of San Pablo, Guatemala continue to build their homes in a way that creates rapid heat loss and contributes to inefficient energy usage, including but not limited to poor lighting, cold environments to sleep in, and hauling more fuel up and down the rough terrain to heat their homes. How can San Pablo create comfortable and beautiful living spaces while being resourceful at the same time? To increase quality of life it is imperative to incorporate renewable and recyclable alternatives for building design and construction for an energy retrofit in each home.

Our Goals… Context Shelters  People & Culture  Natural Resources & Climate  Quality of Life  Existing Technology  New Construction vs. Retrofit  Materials  Recyclable  Renewable  Precedents

People & Culture "farmers who were carrying upwards of 200 lbs of wood each, from two-thirds of the way up the mountain…and would be doing so two or three times that day..." Source: ( “Different cultures around the world have developed their own techniques of building based on local resources, topography, and climate. Many of these societies produce decent living spaces, but without knowledge of modern day building techniques and materials, these current living spaces could be much improved. Our team plans on integrating our knowledge of modern day building techniques to produce a more efficient living space…” - Feelings on using waste as a building material? “The Mine” Economic Prosperity?

Natural Resources & Climate  Existing building materials:  Clay, Sand, Hay, Water, Corrugated Steel  Adobe - sand, clay, and water with a bit of straw, twigs or manure thrown in  Natural materials  Fire wood, bamboo, cob, stones, pine needles, corn husks, straw  Climate  Max Average Temp: 78 F Max. Temp: 90 F (This week)  Min Average Temp: 44 F Min. Temp: 73 F (This week)  Average humidity (high): 23 Inches  Average humidity (low): 2 Inches Source:

Existing Technology  Issues pertaining to San Pablo Residence:  Warmth (Heat Retention)  Light  Energy Use  Technology  Structural Integrity  Cost  Resources  Location/Topography  Earthquakes  Current Materials Used:  Clay  Sand  Hay  Water  Corrugated Steel Source:

New Construction vs. Retrofit Aspects of Guateca’s Mission  Build cross-cultural community with the needs and interests of both communities in mind.  Develop sustainable technologies to meet the needs of San Pablo. Retrofit  Integrate our research with the existing building methods.  Focusing on recyclable and renewable building materials to address current issues.

Material Investigation  Recyclable  "Lack of resources often prevents the problems from being solved. This is where resourcefulness comes into play: if you don’t have what you need make do with what you already have." - S. Shoppman Source: Can the problem be a solution? Looking at used materials as insulators

Material Investigation  Renewable  Cob / Mud Bricks / Adobe  Different Bales  Biomass – Pressed banana peels  Other local organics Source:

Natural Resources Source:

Precedents  Eco-Tec's Ecoparque El Zamorano, Honduras.  Ecological House  Constructed with 8,000 bottles with composting toilets and a solar water heating system. The green roof can weigh 30 tons when wet and has been supported by the walls without any extra reinforcement. It is the first house in the world made from PET bottles without using cement in the walls. Source:

Precedents  My Shelter Foundation  Built school house made of 9,000 plastic bottles in San Pablo, Philippines. Thousands of volunteers collected the used bottles, helped to raise awareness of the Philippines classroom shortage and participated in building the structure. Source:

Precedents  Natural Building in San Pablo, Previous UNVI 391 Group Research  From the research, we concluded that straw bale construction is most efficient. Because straw is not readily accessible in the area, we have decided to use corn husks from the waste of harvested corn. In order to do this, we need to make bailers, which can be made of small amounts of wood and some screws. Custom building these bailers also enables us to build custom sized bales to fit the building design. These bales can be used to construct more quickly and efficiently than their current use of adobe. This also provides them to utilize their waste in a productive way. Source: