Peru Project – Low Cost Housing for the United Nations: Sulphur reinforcing and topping

Master plan for a community of 1500 houses, submitted as one out of twelve other competition entries for the United Nations sponsored international housing competition PREVI (Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda). The Center for Environmental Structure was chosen as the ...

Axonometric drawing describing the use of sulphur additive to the floor topping and wall surfacing for waterproofing purposes; proposed new technique .

Detail section of a composite bamboo/polyurethane foam plank, laid over a beam, with sand-sulphur topping on the planks to form the upper walking surface .

Photograph of axonometric drawing depicting the toilet and shower spaces, in relation to the use of Sulphur as a water proofing agent for the surfaces.

One of the main topics of research, included in every building project, was to identify, early on in the design process, the material and techniques of construction. This would re-establish building as an art, and allow rapid shaping and adaptation, ...

The first patterns were developed in 1967 by a group of people working together with Christopher Alexander in the Center for Environmental Structure. Between 1968 and 1976 the first pattern languages were developed and tested for particular projects undertaken by ...

The second of Alexander’s early works published by the Center for Environmental Structure, lays out the process of creating the pattern language for a group of houses designed for an experimental housing competition in Lima, Peru in 1969. It ...