General:

One of the major housing problems in Ethiopia is the provision of affordable (low cost) housing
for the majority of urban population, specifically for the urban poor. The challenge remained
here responding to the fundamental question of “how to assure sustainable housing
development” within the country of diverse climatic condition, culture and denomination. As an
architect, you are requested to come up with a design solution that will solve the aforesaid
problem by taking your home town/city as an example and considering all of its climatic
condition, life style, cultural background and denomination. The followings are lists of design
considerations for low cost housing project.

Major design consideration

1-Relationship to Context (Urbanity):

 Coherence and surroundings:
 How well does your design fit the site? Is the scale appropriate? How does the
design blend in with the neighboring buildings and the surrounding landscape?
What is the positioning of the volumes? Issues of harmony and contrast with the
surroundings

2-Concept and Theory:

 Wholeness and fundamental idea:
o Is there a powerful design idea? To what extent has a strong fundamental idea and
an appealing design been combined with functional demands, durability and
economy.
o Concept interpretation.

3-Architectural expression, language and form:

 Symbolism:
 the design decision was based on a certain idea or concept related to ideology or
belief.
 Spatial qualities
 Qualities both indoor and outdoor.
 Identity:
 This deals with providing a distinctive character and identity to the provided project.

4-Suitability and functional set up:

 Circulation
 Configuration of horizontal and vertical circulation (if available).
 Potential and flexibility
 For future development and change.
  Human Behavior:
 Functional set up took into account human behavior.

5-Economical and technical solutions:

 The use of unique methods of construction.
 Materials and technology.
 A symbiotic relationship between the structure and the materials needed to build it
and the reuse or return to the earth of the materials after their use.
 Economy goals involve money related issues such as construction and energy costs.

6-Sustainability and green architecture:

 Use of passive design concepts
 Orientation and spatial configuration of planning and form according to prevailing
wind sun path, local climatic condition and surrounding urban context.
 Life- cycle of buildings.
 Use of sustainable materials (local, recycled, reused).
 Community and connection.
 Active Systems.

7-Development possibilities:
 To what extent your design is further developed? Can some of the shortcomings be
corrected and other solutions improved without losing the fundamental idea and
without compromising the architectural quality?

8-Graphics and Visual Presentation:

 Visual renderings of conceptual diagrams as well as exterior and interior drawings
should allow the viewers to clearly visualize the building exterior and interior as
well we communicating design ideas and content. The generated 3D exterior and
interior renderings should provide complete idea of color combination, landscape
details, shadows, interior and exterior element placements.