Untitled Document

Adaptive Rebuilding

a design for the rebuilding of the town of Sirombu on Nias island in light of the temporary housing effort

early concepts | introduction | steps | strategies

An Introduction to the Town and Project
During the early discussion and research phase of the tsunami studio, the island of Nias was suggested as a possible area to focus on for relief design. After much time spent researching the culture and current situation of the area, the western coast town of Sirombu, most devastated on the island, revealed itself to be a deserving and intriguing community. An isolated, poor community rendered nearly inaccessible to outside aid, the unusual Christian community on the western coast of Nias is one of the most needy of aid, including that to rebuild.
With the destruction of nearly all of their buildings and infrastructure, including private homes, community buildings, schools, churches and mosques, governmental buildings, and bridges, the town is now struggling under the shelter of plastic tarpaulin. It is also a huge loss that all of the town's boats were destroyed, as eighty percent of the people make their living by fishing.
However, some aid has come in to assist with the destruction on Nias and specifically in Sirombu, including that of Surfaid International (medical), the Nias community NGO Howu-Howu, and now the Zero to One Foundation has begun an "emergency housing" reconstruction effort for Sirombu. The plan, now being built, is for pods of four housing units clustered in four around common toilet, laundry, and well facilities. The scheme is structured to serve the current needs of the community, as it provides common functional spaces with private ones, too, but private ones also.
	click on plan image for more comprehensive relief housing plans

	walls constructed with common concrete post and slat fencing materials; able to be done by untrained labor
Yet this "semi-permanent" housing scheme is not tailored to its context, and cannot persist as the primary form of permanent shelter for the community, though the sturdy-seeming structure might The more western-influenced style of building is not tailored to the culture nor context of the community. In a often-flooded region, the traditional stilted home can resist environmental conditions and events more. In addition, the traditional community structure is heierarchical, with stilted row houses lining an axis of public space that leads up to the chief's house. The relief housing is clustered in pods, decentralized and focused internally on the support functions of the mini-neighborhoods and not any common public space. Given that the structure of this temporary arrangement does not suit the community, the big question is now- How do we rebuild this tsunami-devastated town, transitioning it into a permanent community in a manner that is sensitive to the culture and tradition of the people, resilient to flooding and environmental events, and will support and adapt to the livlihood of the people? How to create an adaptive place?
[Back to top]

Steps to building an Adaptive Community
The rebuilding of Sirombu will require much time, work, and resources, and a plan tailored to its context. There are many unique questions needing to be addressed due to the circumstances; these centering on the traditional culture, the evolving town and its relationship to tourism, and the response to the natural environment and potential for future disasters. It may be broken down into four stages, with individual rebuilding steps and important questions to respond to falling within each category.
Select Site -Is the old town worth saving? -If a new site, what distance away? What distance is viable for this fishing community? -How will this site relate to the new "temporary" community? Layout Community -Look to traditional heierarchical layout of community ---place community structures at end furthest from shore, as center of community ---linear rows of residences bordering common open space -How will the semi-permanent or temporary housing site tie into the future permanent town's function? -Orienting the grid at a 45 degree angle to waves will decrease the potential for tsunami damage by facing corners to break impact instead of walls -How will the town relate to the shoreline, considering that the majority of people are fishers, but also given the recent tsunami? Reconstruct -Community-based, -designed, -driven -Creating community buildings as support center of community- highest priority for strength, resilience, important for ability to adapt to evolving needs -Referring to traditional building type as response to environmental conditions -How to transition semi-permanent settlement to permanent one regarding physical transition, reuse of materials, etc (see next section) -How to construct resilient shoreline development, or that which will be less destructive when it is wiped out? Plan/Prepare -Community buildings to adapt, evolve, persevere as vital support for town -Develop warning/evacuation system ---will this poor, isolated community really be able to be a part of an effective national system? If not, what are alternatives? ---poor, narrow road system in area needs better, more direct roads that connect the town to its context, and one that goes uphill -Develop emergency vertical evacuation strategies, as it is a flat and isolated area -Use community facilities to identify and educate about likely events and responses, create awareness and response systems for dealing with disaster scenarios -In this economically poor community troubled by a changing identity affected by western culture, target pre-tsunami community issues by implementing programs to take advantage of community's capital and potential.



[Back to top]

Adaptive Reconstruction Strategies
When it comes time to rebuild the permanent settlement, it may not be an easy task to transition from the so-called temporary settlement. Materials and resources to build new homes and structures may be difficult to acquire, and many people in this poor community might not be able to afford reconstruction. However, it's ideal and important that the community move out of these barrack-like structures and back into a more familiar community. The balance of creating a semi-permanent emergency town is challenging because it's important to create private spaces that function well enough for families while not being so comfortable that families want to stay there permanently. The idea is to have these structures function for the time being, but for families to want to become independent and move into a more familiar community structure, with homes that are more responsive for individual families, and better-equipped, both in amenities and against environmental conditions. Moving a family from their home is always a difficult undertaking; here, one must facilitate moving an entire village.Rebuilding by the community is very important; enough to warrant ongoing community support and rebuilding programs. I have developed strategies for transitioning the temporary community into a permanent one, and grouped them into three (perhaps familiar, for Seattleites) categories:
Reduce Reduce the number of residents in the temporary housing. After a good community support center is created as the basis for the reconstructed town, hopefully the impetus to rebuild will start moving and the able will begin rebuilding and motivate others. An ongoing community transitioning and building program will help realize efforts. However, it is realistic that some families will not be able to reconstruct; those who were badly off before the tsunami cannot be expected to build a new home from nothing. Some people may need to remain in the semi-permanent housing indefinitely. It is the goal, then, to reduce those living in the temporary settlement to a minimum through transition and rebuilding support. Then the families staying in the settlement may be concentrated and reconfigured in an arrangement more suitable to their community.
Reuse Strategies for reusing and reconfiguring the existing housing structures have been developed using the prototypical plans provided by the Zero to One Foundation.
-In a residentially-focused scheme, the layout of the existing homes (in light blue) in relation to eachother can be concentrated into a more traditional axial pattern, focusing on the open space between two development clusters rather than the functional structures of the settlement. Houses ringing the outside of this new neighborhood can be either converted into structures for other uses, or disassembled into materias for reuse in rebuilding efforts. Where the road between meets the next housing pod, houses can be built or moved (in light orange) to become part of a more traditional neighborhood scheme. To avoid focus on the existing restrooms at the end of the new axis, they can be removed and replaced by a more appropriate structure at the focus of the axis, possibly a community building.
-Another scheme can incorporate only the interior existing houses as homes, and then use the surrounding structures as secondary community structures (shown in yellow), such as work spaces or possibly a surf hostel to support the growing tourism industry. Once again, open spaces leave room for development of those supporting the function of the space, such as more work space, or development focused on tourism.
Recycle Ideally, families would be able to rebuild their own permanent homes and the entire temporary settlement would be able to be used for non-residential purposes. Even if a settlement of people remained in the temporary community, there would be potential for the reuse of the leftover buildings. This could manifest itself in-place as workspace or tourist lodgings, either as existing or reconfigured like lincoln logs with the easily configured post-and-slat materials. Reuse could also mean recycling of materials, though, also, in the rebuilding effort. The recycling of materials, namely the concrete slats, has many potentials:
-siding/flooring of new homes -construction of port and docks for fishing community -as part of a scheme for a shoreline wavebreak structure -non-supporting elements of new bridges -pavers for walkways -remaining foundation platforms as drying surfaces for mat-weavers
[Back to top]