These type of projects might be a good use for out beetle wood.
I am sure they don't care what color the wood is... If all else fails, paint it or put it under sheet rock... it can't be seen then....

Be nice if we could build some homes like these for the working poor in our Province. We are going to run out of those efficient boxes that were built in the 70's. How can anyone fork over 300 thou plus for one of what are being built at this time.

There is a new home being built on Shane Cres on a 60 foot lot. It fills the entire lot. What makes this different it is being built next to a 70's box.All this home for a couple of bodies and a dog. Are we loosing it?

Cheers

No, we are not loosing it at all .... we are paying $300,000 for a house for 2 ... feeding the mortgage companies .... and bitchin' about the money the banks are making .. and the amount of taxes we are paying to pay for those who are not as well off ...

Besides, it is the catch phrase of today ... INFILL .... we are infilling spaces which were "underbuilt" in the past with 1,000 to 1,200 or so SF houses with "daylight" basements ready to be expanded into as the family grew from 3 to 4 and maybe even 5 in some cases.... and we are building houses almost twice the size with double garages instead of carports or noports to house two people and a dog, as you say. With the other house now only having two people in it, since the youngsters in the family have moved out, we now have two houses housing the same number of people in three to four time the finished living space, all needing to be heated, painted, carpeted, furnished, outfitted with LCD or plasma TV's in every room ..... and we have closed down the local school which was fed by the kids ... and we have stopped the community programs in the schools due to lack of money for operation ... btu are building more sport facilities because we are getting capital dollars from the feds ... which are our local dollars coming back .. and which will cause us to raise our taxes or user fees due to not having the very same operating funds which caused community programs at local schools to be shut down ....

It is called "smart growth" ....

And it is those same people who gave us samrt growth who are causing a fruther deterioration of local culture through globalization in such countries as Indonesia who hit on hard times due to a major natural disaster ....

look at the wasted space in that house design ... the attic space would make for wonderful additional living space or storage space, except that it is criss-crossed by the idiotic truss system so inappropriate for that type of building...

The traditional batak houses were built off the ground and the underneath part used as storage, including animals where appropriate, as can also be seen in many European Alpine houses.

I hope the pressure treated wood will not give the residents repiratory or allergic diseases. There are many reasons why wooden playground equipment is being removed. One is that most, if not all has been treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate.

makes me cringe ..... but, yes, it is a positive story in that we get some buisness and people in Indonesia are getting a roof over their head ....... so were those who moved into the high rise tenament housing of the late 50's and 60's built all over urban North America, most of which has been torn down by now..

Looks like a good design for Powder King. You never can be too prepared for climate change. They learnt that the hard way. Simon is a good salesman. I bet he makes the point about not having to shovel his roof in the winter. It all makes sense....

Look at how short the doors are. That must be taking local conditions into account I would think....

Perhaps there was a proviso from the Canadian Goverment that funds donated for the re-construction had to be spent on Canadian type housing. Who knows. It seems a long way to send prefab houses to be built. One would think that sending a cheque and having the local people build their own houses woud make more sense.

Bingo Palopu .... aid money usually comes with such strings attached.

For those interested in Architecture 101 .... others might wish to ignore .... :-)

Steep roofs are indigenous to rainy areas of the world while low slope roofs are indigenous to colder climates which get snow.

North Sumatra is a region with high rainfall. In fact, here is a story I have not read in any local papers of present conditions there. I assume these houses are located near the ocean, although that does not mean they may not be subject to landslides or flooding from heavy rain as can be see along the sea to sky highway in this province.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200612/200612290007.html

The reason why indigenous roof slopes change with precipitation amount and type is simple. Snow on a roof acts as a natural insulator, so the smart individual will build a strong, low slope roof, without a ventilated attic space. In wet climates you want to be able to shed the water as quickly as possible. In addition, wet climates are often humid and hot as well, thus a high ceiling is typical with good ventilation that allows the rising warm air to be exhausted to the outside. Southern USA plantation housing is the best example of the latter in North America.

http://www.alpinesnowguards.com

The snow guards above are a modern addition to metal roofs used in cold climates to prevent sheets of ice, which has formed into ice over time or with rain following snow, from detaching from the adfreezing to the metal and shearing structures or people’s heads off below.

This picture shows a modern apartment with non-traditional roof style. Notice the snow guards on the roof. The dormers act as “natural” snowguards. http://flickr.com/photos/crafterm/84792730/in/photostream

Here are more traditional high rise hotels/apartments http://flickr.com/photos/kingsleyclan/184951077/in/photostream

You can be guaranteed that these buildings will get several feet of snow on them over the winter. Both the older stone roof building and the newer buildings have low slope roofs.
http://flickr.com/photos/kingsleyclan/184951256

Newer buildings built to the traditional style shown with snow on roof in early winter.
http://flickr.com/photos/crafterm/84792827

Here is a house in the Austrian Alps with a bit more snow. No one will be shovelling the snow off that roof. It was designed to carry the snow load.
http://flickr.com/photos/44368335@N00/211649640

A Japanese building in their alps http://flickr.com/photos/61985917@N00/7402203

A traditional North Sumatra house style. http://flickr.com/photos/78653806@N00/236320457

So why flat roofs in some parts of the world? In hot areas such as parts of the Mediterranean, southern pueblo areas of North America, middle east, etc. the roofs can be used to sleep out on during hot times of the year, when the temperatures outside are cooler than inside.

In North America especially, we have lost the notion of even understanding “green” architecture. We build against nature rather than with nature and compensate with the greater expenditure of materials and energy. Thus, we have considerably compromised the first principle of green architecture: design and build to work with climate and natural energy sources.

BTW ... did anyone notice that the adjacent house is on stilts as is typical for regions prone to seasonal flooding, whether through high waves from the ocean or simple flooding of a low lying delta.

The house under construction may simply be lifted off its foundation as it takes on buoyancy with the rising water level and floats along similar to the occasional video of houses one sees floating during floods in North American river valleys.

Savage amusement to second guess someone else's design. ;-)

An interview with Mr. Yu about the design as it relates to indigenous housing, especially the one adjacent, might be interesting.

Houses on stilts are not very structurally sound.

He did say that the homes were designed to take the worst that mother nature can dole out, and that they were superior to other homes in the area. They were designed specifically with the climate of the area in mind.

Yes, that is what he said.

I agree that a house on wooden stilts as a foundation system is not as structurally sound as one on a wall foundation system when one is designing a building which has to withstand potential vandalism from a person with a chainsaw.

However, a house on wooden stilts designed to withstand repeated loads from ocean wave action, or the action of a "wall" of water which in reality is more like a rapidly rising water level, does not have to withstand the same magnitude of force as a solid wall does. It allows the water to flow through, providing less resistance to the wave action. Designing to withstand a 20 foot “wall” of water is likely not reasonable, especially when that wall of water is full of large debris from other buildings or items which have been added to the landscape over time – cars, boats, docks, fences, outbuildings, etc. In fact, positioning of the superstructure of the building in relation to the line of the beach and likely direction of the wave should also be a major consideration. If the building is angled so that a corner is encountered first, similar to the prow of a ship, the energy would be better dissipated in addition to the corner of the building presenting the strongest part of the structure to the incoming water face.

It is sort of intuitive thinking actually, and has been the standard with indigenous buildings along coastal areas for millennia. Very similar to a fighter "rolling with the punches" or those playing other sports rolling as they fall. Don't resist totally; dissipate the force.

But why take my word for it ... MIT is a more accepted source than I am for that kind of knowledge and thinking .....

From their linked site: “The team recently produced an architectural model for a Sri Lankan house that essentially would allow a powerful ocean wave to go through the house, instead of knocking it flat.”

“The homes will be built atop concrete blocks or wood 1 or 2 feet above ground so that high waters can flow underneath, making them more storm resistant.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050608055016.htm

http://senseable.mit.edu/tsunami-prajnopaya

It is worthwhile looking at the structural concepts on page two of the above linked page. Note that they also consider expansion of the building. Since local materials are used, that is easily done. With the PG version, they will not have access to the gang nailed trusses used. Even the plywood may present a problem. For those experienced in providing any kind of facility in foreign countries, that is rule #1 – make sure it can be maintained locally with local labour and local materials.

Therefore, it is important to note that they also promote the philosophy of work with the knowledge and culture they have, provide the increment of additional safety which modern technology may be able to add, and do as much work locally to assist the economy and allow “buy in” by the people.

So, this is a project which appears, on the face of it, to be of a high quality structurally, economically, culturally, and socially.

Palopu was alluding to that.

BTW …. Many countries and organizations from the world over are doing the same thing – designing housing units of about 400 to 500 SF that are designed to be highly earthquake resistant and building about 400 or so. They will then typically go on to build several thousand. I believe well over 100,000 will be required in total. So, I am sure that the process and progress will become material for many future articles in professional engineering and architecture journals.

Once all the information is out, it will be interesting to see the different approaches and those which some of the professionals may deem to be the superior approaches, as well as those who live in the housing and the villages which will have a mixture of old houses that survived the event as well as the new housing.

BTW .... this pier foundation has withstood the test of time .... the sand on the beach has not .... sound structure ... poor location ....

http://flickr.com/photos/ojoyolife/190455617/in/photostream