(continued)

A third observation informed by the climatic variations of Ecuador suggests that regional differences in climate and available natural resources suggest different approaches to affordable housing even though the guiding principles remain the same.

Ecuador's resourceful builders merely echo a known fact: Smart folks build on their own as the only way to shelter themselves.

Different Climates, Different Houses: Same Process

Ecuador is a South American country that straddles the equator. Its coast, at the Pacific Ocean, is hot and humid; people live with light clothing and sandals near sandy beaches. In the highlands, an hour or so by airplane from the coast, nestled between steep volcanoes, inhabitants live at elevations of 9,000 feet (2700 meters) and more above sea level. The climate can be cold, and the ground rocky. People make use of blankets and heavy wool and alpaca garments to keep warm.

Lower-income people of the high altiplano and those of the tropical lowlands build their own houses with the same logic, but these houses differ in the ways their climates and regional resources would suggest.

These are regionally specific shelter solutions. The use of adobe and rock in the high mountains can be contrasted with the use of bamboo in tropical seaside domiciles. These choices of material are commonsensical. Bamboo grows along the coast, and rocks are prevalent in the altiplano.

But while the choice of construction materials differs according to natural resource availability, the concept of buildings in small affordable increments transcends resource, climatic, and other criteria. People in both locations use this important approach to shelter.

The Tropics

In the hot and humid tropical environment on the coast there is little concern for tight buildings that keep the winter cold out; instead, any directing of breezes through the house is desired. Thus, a frame structure with split bamboo cane siding does nicely.

The fact that vermin and mosquitoes can come through the walls is regrettable, as is the fact that in time the house will begin to show signs of rot, especially where it touches the ground. When adequate resources are at hand, the bamboo can be replaced by more durable concrete block walls.

The builder-occupants' ability to change house cladding and even structure over time reflects their variable buying power over time. It isn't much different from the way some people in New England build a second floor onto a house after living in a one-story house for a number of years.

Colder Climates

In the altiplano — the high region of Ecuador that is sometimes described as a valley between volcanoes that runs along the spine of that nation's steep mountains — self-built housing varies in terms of construction materials according to what is on hand.

Stucco over adobe and rock are common materials. These materials result in thicker solid walls that are appropriate to the colder climate. Yet the approach to housing remains essentially the same: use local materials that are free or least-cost, build only what you can afford, and add on when you can.

The permanence of stone and the somewhat less permanent nature of stucco and adobe differ from the bamboo of the tropics, which can be readily removed or replaced when a more stable shelter can be afforded. The improving of the shelter over time through the use of more permanent materials suggests that finishes, both interior and exterior, can be added later to walls.

Roofs can be upgraded from thatch or asphalt-impregnated cardboard to clay tiles if the initial roof rafters and purlins are sized at the beginning to carry the weight of the heavier clay tiles.

In Ecuador I learned that different locations yield appropriate materials for construction, that the concept of incremental building is viable regardless of climate, and that early construction can be supplanted later by more refined finishes and more substantial materials.

Business and Housing

The interests of for-profit business intersect with self-help, low-cost housing at the points where value-added materials become essential. Nails, new concrete blocks, metal window frames, asphalt-impregnated paper sheets, and bags of cement are value-added materials that Ecuadorean and other self-help builders might reasonably purchase.

Yet in Ecuador I listened to a housing official who told me how the government was going to solve the low-income housing problem through an altogether opposite approach. As part of their program, they were inviting for-profit businesses to acquire and develop land; provide roads, sewers, and water systems; and provide a basic house to which the owners could attach additions over time.

The problem with this kind of approach is that business's usual costs and demands — the cost of labor, material, and overhead as well as the expectations of a profit — get in the way of affordability.

Cast reinforced concrete "minimumexistenz"-like structures were considered by some firms. Their plan was to open casting plants remote from the sites and truck the finished starter houses to the sites. Never having heard more about this attempt, I can only assume they realized that it was too costly and abandoned the idea of bringing for-profit enterprises into the arena of least-cost housing.

Affordability, sustainability, self-help labor, and environmental sensitivity remain readily achievable attributes of housing development. To ignore them is to do away with useful principles for integrating life experiences with design, building, and living in a house related to the land.

Losing these connections of self to soil, self to land, and self to spirit suggests a self without a home.

Dr. Richard Burnham is a practicing architect who lives in rural Western Massachusetts when he is not traveling the globe in search of exemplary occupant-built housing. This book was an outcome of research, funded by the James Marston Fitch Charitable Trust, to uncover design and building principles of early New England settlers for use today in economical and sustainable housing.

This article is excerpted from Housing Ourselves: Creating Affordable, Sustainable Shelter, copyright © 1998, and is available from McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing and Amazon.com.

Ecuadorean buildings illustrate the potential to be upgraded over time with more durable materials and even to be made into larger structures. Photo: Richard Burnham The two-story house suggests that a second floor could be added after the first floor was built. Photo: Richard Burnham Some people in New England build a second floor onto a house after living in a one-story house for a number of years. Photo: Richard Burnham Use of adobe in the Ecuadorean altiplano. Photo: Richard Burnham Stucco over adobe and rock are common materials in the Ecuadorean altiplano. Photo: Richard Burnham Housing Ourselves: Creating Affordable, Sustainable Shelter by Richard Burnham. Image: Richard Burnham   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.