Estudio de caso: Diseño de viviendas ambientales de bajo costo, Cuenca (Ecuador)

Abstract

The main objective of green homes is to minimize the overall environmental impact by using as much as possible local materials and reducing the water and energy consumption, both during the construction and the lifetime of the home. This paper presents the design of a low cost sustainable home guaranteeing the quality of life of the residents. The result is a modular house with a total habitable (built-up) area of 81 m2, taking optimal advantage of local climate. The Autodesk ECOTECT 3D simulation software was used to validate the concept. The analysis revealed that it is feasible to build in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, social homes meeting the basic bioclimatic requirements given the local economic and environmental conditions. The approach is easy extrapolatable to other locations using the regional climate parameters and local available building materials.