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A low-cost vernacular improved housing design

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 Civil Engineering Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers
http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jcien.15.00041
Paper 1500041
A low-cost vernacular Received 04/08/2015 Accepted 09/12/2015
Keywords: developing countries/disaster engineering/
improved housing design
seismic engineering
Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

A low-cost vernacular improved

housing design
1 Sebastian Kaminski MEng (Hons), ACGI, CEng, MIStructE 3 Katherine Coates MS, CEng, MIStructE, PE
Senior Structural Engineer, Arup, London, UK; Director, Engage for Associate, Arup, London, UK
Development, London, UK 4 Louise Foulkes MEng (Hons), ACGI,
2 Andrew Lawrence MA, CEng, MICE, MIStructE Construction Manager, Engage for Development, London, UK
Associate Director, Arup, London, UK

1 2 3 4

Arup, in conjunction with the non-governmental organisation Fundación Redes, has developed a form of
vernacular improved construction for use in pre- and post-disaster contexts in El Salvador. The design takes
the vernacular bahareque construction and engineers it, making it a more durable and stronger form of
housing. The new design is seismically resistant, low-cost and uses sustainable materials such as timber and
cane. In addition, the design can be constructed in stages such that only the foundations, frame and roof
can be constructed faster and for a lower cost than the full house, forming a strong core shelter that can be
clad using salvaged materials; at a later date, it can be made permanent. This paper presents an evaluation
of permanent low-cost housing in El Salvador, a description of the development of the new design and an
evaluation of the design, describing both its advantages and disadvantages.

1. Introduction 2. Review of existing low-cost housing in

El Salvador has one of the largest divides in the world between
the rich and the poor (UNDP, 2007), with nearly 30% of the
population living in poverty (World Bank, 2015). Coupled with
frequent earthquakes and other natural disasters, this has left a
housing deficit (the number of new houses required to house all
those living in substandard, precariously located or overcrowded
housing) in El Salvador of 950 000 homes, equivalent to 58% of the
population (Vakis et al., 2015). These problems, however, are not
isolated to El Salvador – recent estimates of the housing deficit in
Latin America as a whole are up to 51 million homes (UN‑Habitat,
2011).
Natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and
hurricanes contribute significantly towards this housing deficit.
As the worst effects of hurricanes tend to be confined to the
Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of North and Central America,
El Salvador’s greatest natural hazard is arguably earthquakes, and
the country is considered to have a high seismic hazard (with a
peak ground acceleration greater than 0·4g for a 10% probability of
exceedance in 50 years) (Benito et al., 2012).
In addition, the tropical environment of El Salvador has high
rainfall, high humidity and has a prevalence of termites and borer
beetles, all of which can lead to rapid deterioration of exposed and
susceptible natural building materials such as timber or bamboo.
El Salvador
Vernacular and traditional designs are ancient building traditions
that have been developed over time in response to changing local
conditions in the social and physical environment (Gutiérrez, 2004).
There are two forms of permanent vernacular housing designs that
have been and continue to be used in Central America: adobe and
a derivative of wattle-and-daub (locally called bahareque), both
of which use local materials, are relatively cheap to construct and
have a large thermal mass.
Historically, adobe was more common in poorer and/or rural
areas and typically consisted of unreinforced unfired mud bricks
and a simple timber- or bamboo-framed roof, clad with clay
tiles or palm fronds (López et al., 2004a). Due to its weak and
brittle nature, combined with its large self-weight and often poor
condition, conventional adobe houses typically perform very poorly
in earthquakes, with for example 12% of adobe houses destroyed
and 8% damaged after the 2001 earthquake series (Dowling, 2004).
Bahareque, which was more popular in relatively wealthier and/
or urban areas, typically consists of a timber or bamboo frame,
clad in a matrix of split bamboo, cane, twigs or timber strips, and
finally plastered in manure or soil, sometimes with straw added
for strength (López et al., 2004a) (Figures 1 and 2). It is normally
elevated on top of a rock or brick upstand to reduce the risks of

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 Civil Engineering A low-cost vernacular improved housing design
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes

Tiled or sheet
metal roof

Wall matrix consists of Timber or bamboo

split bamboo culms, frame, sometimes
woven twigs, opened braced
bamboo, cane or
small-diameter
bamboo. Steel mesh
or barbed wire is also
sometimes fixed to
frame Mud or manure
render, often with
straw added, and
finished with lime
Matrix can be single-
or double-sided, with
the gap in between Upstand of Figure 2. A well-constructed rural bahareque house in Colombia
often filled with rock/brick and (from personal photo collection of Kaminski)
rubble mortar

houses are light but suffer from water ingress and damage, and tend
to get very hot inside.
New permanent low-cost housing in El Salvador consists of a
Figure 1. Traditional wattle-and-daub in Latin America and specifically mixture of engineered and non-engineered housing. The design of
El Salvador (from personal collection of Kaminski) non-engineered houses often rests entirely with the owners or local
skilled workers, and normally consists of a vernacular design or a
damp, has a good roof overhang and uses naturally durable timber copy of a more modern design, often using masonry (Kaminski,
or treated timber and bamboo (often with pig soap – a traditional 2013). The design of engineered houses is normally determined
soap made from pig fat and ash) (Carazas-Aedo and Rivero-Olmos, by the government, donors or non-governmental organisations
2013). (NGOs).
Historically, the roof was constructed from palm fronds, Modern engineered low-cost housing in El Salvador is nearly
but switched to cooler yet heavier clay tiles after the Spanish all constructed using a form of confined masonry or reinforced
invasion of Central America. Properly constructed and maintained hollow blockwork. Simplistically, this confined masonry consists
bahareque has been shown to possess good structural unity and of reinforced concrete columns and beam tie elements that
flexibility, and therefore has a surprisingly high degree of seismic confine unreinforced panels of fired clay brick, while reinforced
resistance (Gutiérrez, 2000; López et al., 2004a). blockwork consists of hollow breezeblocks infilled with concrete
However, it requires a reasonable standard of construction, and reinforcement. Both forms of construction are moderately
detailing and maintenance so as not to deteriorate under rot or expensive, do not use particularly sustainable materials and are
insect attack; in addition, the traditional treatments used are not heavy to transport to rural areas.
entirely effective and damage due to termites and borer beetles
is still common (both of which are a significant risk in Central
America (Figure 3)). Because of this, frequent maintenance is
essential, which includes periodic rendering and painting, replacing
damaged elements and controlling water ingress – without this,
bahareque generally becomes very vulnerable to earthquakes after
around 5–10 years (López et al., 2004a).
In addition, the use of clay tiles increases dead loads on the roof
and hence the seismic demand on the structure. Bahareque is not
endorsed by the seismic code of El Salvador and therefore does
not attract the attention of potential charities to sponsor housing
projects.
Another important disadvantage of both adobe and bahareque
is that they are prone to harbouring insects, notably ‘the kissing
bug’ or chinche as it is known locally. This small biting insect can
transmit Chagas disease, a potentially life-threatening illness that is
estimated currently to affect 10 million people worldwide, mostly
in Latin America (WHO, 2010).
Lámina is a housing type that sprung up in the late nineteenth Figure 3. Damage to bahareque from termites and rot, El Salvador
century (López et al., 2004a), consisting of simple wood or metal (from personal photo collection of Kaminski)
frames clad in thin metal sheets, normally corrugated iron. These

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 Civil Engineering
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes
Both can be built to be seismically resistant, but are dependent
on the quality of the materials and the detailing and quantity of
the steel reinforcement. Confined masonry is normally built
by unskilled labour without NGO support, can be difficult to
construct with appropriate detailing and is no longer particularly
popular. The current best option for permanent low-cost housing
in El Salvador is widely considered to be reinforced hollow
blockwork, due to its durability, seismic resistance, availability and
simplicity of construction (Figure 4).
Regardless of socioeconomic bracket, people tend to aspire to
have what they perceive to be a better and more durable house,
and one that reflects a higher level of prosperity in comparison
with their neighbours. In this respect, poor communities across
Latin America generally seem to prefer more modern looking
houses such as those constructed using masonry (Gutiérrez, 2000;
Kaminski, 2013; López et al., 2004a). Additionally, because of
the significant damage to traditional construction styles – namely
adobe and bahareque – after the 2001 earthquake series (López
et al., 2004b), communities have developed a distrust for these
systems in the event of an earthquake (Audefroy, 2010; Lyons
and Schilderman, 2010). It is for these reasons that reinforced
blockwork has prevailed as the most desired and most common
new low-cost housing solution.
Figure 4. Reinforced blockwork housing in El Salvador (from personal
photo collection of Kaminski)
Construction type Occupied houses: %
Urban Rural All areas
Concrete or mixto (confined masonry) 84 46 71
Bahareque (wattle-and-daub) 2 9
Adobe (unfired clay brick) 7 31 15
Timber 1 3
Lámina (metal sheeting) 5 8
Other 1 3
Table 1. Wall construction type by percentage of total occupied
houses in El Salvador (MdE, 2008)
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A low-cost vernacular improved housing design
A breakdown of housing types in El Salvador determined from
the 2007 census is presented in Table 1. It is important to point out
that the more modern housing types do not necessarily mean they
are of better construction quality or sanitary conditions.
3. Development of a new design
3.1 Brief
Over the past 5 years, Arup, in conjunction with an El Salvadoran
NGO named Fundación Salvadoreña para la Reconstrucción
y el Desarrollo (Redes), has been exploring the possibility of
building homes using more sustainable and local materials in order
to reduce their environmental impact and also to provide more
money direct to the local community. The aims are to produce a
viable housing technology and design that
■■ is low cost
■■ is disaster-resistant
■■ is durable and termite-resistant
■■ is thermally comfortable
■■ is easy to construct using semi-skilled labour
■■ is easy to maintain using unskilled labour
■■ is safe to construct
■■ is culturally acceptable
■■ is flexible in layout
■■ uses community-sourced materials
■■ requires minimal maintenance
■■ has appropriate room layouts and uses.
The design is intended to be available for use in both long-term
development and post-disaster contexts to replace existing substandard
or damaged housing in rural and peri-urban areas across El Salvador.
An owner-driven housing approach was selected from the outset
because this was considered to be the most appropriate (IFRC,
2010). Compared with traditional donor-driven approaches,
owner-driven housing generally results in better user satisfaction,
quicker construction, lower overall costs, the ability to incorporate
livelihoods and the ability to upskill both the local workforce and
the beneficiaries (Lyons and Shilderman, 2010).
International NGOs and the El Salvadoran government would
fund the materials for the houses and skilled workers and engineers
to supervise construction of the houses, but beneficiaries would
provide a significant proportion of the labour. A participatory
design approach was selected to allow the process to incorporate
the culture, values and needs of El Salvadoran communities with
regards to housing (PA and IFRC, 2010).
3.2 Design process
The project began with a review of the local market and both
4
traditional and modern housing styles, especially within El
Salvador but also exploring further afield within Latin America.
1 The following three key questions were explored.
7
■■ What existing housing materials and technologies are
2
available?
■■ Is there scope to introduce new materials and technologies?
■■ Alternatively, can lessons be derived from existing designs and
improved upon?
3
 Civil Engineering A low-cost vernacular improved housing design
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes

Studies by Gutiérrez (2000, 2004) and López et al. (2004a) The tropical hardwoods would need to be naturally durable and
showed many advantages of the vernacular bahareque technique sufficiently strong, but were also discounted because the price
and provided ideas on how this system could be improved. was excessive and the sustainability of the sources questionable.
Following this, a comprehensive assessment of existing projects The final timber that was selected is southern yellow pine.
involving improved bahareque houses in Latin America was Although imported from the USA, this was considered the most
conducted (Kaminski, 2013). appropriate because it is from a verifiable source, is thoroughly
Modern engineered bamboo housing projects (a mixture of graded, cost competitive and reliably treated with the safer and
long-term development and post-disaster) were reviewed in Costa still effective copper azole chemical (Lebow, 2004).
Rica, Colombia and Ecuador, and visual inspections and interviews Should the design team identify another more appropriate timber,
were conducted in order to determine the existing condition of the the design can easily accommodate this. It is hoped that the Central
houses and the opinions of their occupants. American pine treatment plants start to adopt safer alternatives to
The results of the assessment concluded that, when well CCA, which would allow the design team to be more comfortable
designed, these forms of houses have significant potential as a using local pine.
sustainable, durable, seismically resistant and appropriate form The frame design style selected is similar to both platform
of low-cost housing. The assessment also identified that, despite framing and the bahareque style in that it uses vertical studs and a
bamboo or cane being commonly considered a poor man’s timber, horizontal sole and head plate (Figure 5). While nailed connections
a well-implemented housing project had the ability to change were used wherever possible because of their simplicity and
people’s perceptions of these materials. cost, for certain joints off-the-shelf galvanised nailed steel plates
Additionally, the beneficiaries of the well-constructed
structures expressed very positive views of their houses, with
many now preferring them to masonry (generally viewed as the
material of choice). Using this assessment, the weaknesses of the
El Salvadoran bahareque were then explored, these being notably
durability and maintenance, a heavy roof and the risk of chinche.
With the knowledge that these problems could be overcome, it
was agreed to improve the existing bahareque system in order to
produce a vernacular improved construction technique.
Starting with the foundations, bahareque traditionally uses
simple strip footings filled in with rocks and/or masonry, which
extend above ground to form an upstand that protects the frame
from moisture and rain. The internal floor is then finished with
unreinforced screed. The team improved on this by using a simple
thin reinforced concrete slab sitting on reinforced concrete ground
beams under the walls. Two courses of reinforced blockwork form
the upstand under all of the wall. These changes had the benefits of
firstly providing a more rigid foundation that could better resist and
redistribute loads, hence reducing settlements in the case of weak
soil, and secondly eliminating internal gaps in the slab that could Figure 5. Prototype house under construction with bare frame
(ESP, 2014)
allow insects and vermin into the house, hence improving sanitary
conditions.
For the frame of the house, although timber is traditionally used
for bahareque, steel and bamboo were also explored. However,
bamboo was found not to be available in significant quantities in
El Salvador and there is no long tradition of using it. Steel was
also considered inappropriate because of its expense and difficulty
in making simple connections. Accordingly, timber was selected as
the most appropriate material because the communities are familiar
with it, it is easy to work and connections are relatively simple and
can be made ductile (energy absorbing).
The requirements for the timber for the frame were that it be
graded, reliably sourced from a sustainable resource and properly
pretreated against insects using a safe chemical. Ideally, it would
also be grown locally, and so species of pine and tropical hardwoods
from Guatemala and Honduras were explored. Unfortunately, the
pine was soon discounted because it was not considered sufficiently
well graded or treated; in addition, the treatment chemical used is
copper–chromium–arsenic (CCA), which is considered unsafe
(EC, 2003). Figure 6. Detail of blockwork to timber connection (ESP, 2014)

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 Civil Engineering A low-cost vernacular improved housing design
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes

Figure 7. Prototype house under construction with cane finished (ESP, 2012) Figure 8. Prototype house completed (ESP, 2012)

(MiTek, 2014) were selected because a larger load capacity was building, which was found to be very important to the beneficiaries
required or traditional connections were too awkward for the (Figures 8 and 9) (Kaminski, 2013).
beneficiaries to construct. To better determine the in-plane seismic behaviour of these walls,
A good example of this was the upstand to sole plate connection: a series of cyclic shear tests was conducted at Imperial College
a traditional connection requires that the sole plate be predrilled in London using different geometrical and material characteristics
the correct places in order for the vertical steel rebar that anchors (Málaga-Chuquitaype et al., 2014). These tests showed that this
the plate to protrude through; however, this weakens the sole plate form of structure has sufficient strength for the high seismic loads
and is prone to errors. Instead, the design uses off-the-shelf Y-straps of El Salvador, allowed elements to be further optimised by, for
that are cast into the upstand and then nailed to the sides of the sole example, reducing the cement content of the mortar, and showed
plate – this detail is also very ductile in-plane (Figure 6). that it was essential to use a chicken wire mesh material within the
The use of steel plates for the connections overall reduces the wall in order to aid rendering (Kaminski et al., 2015).
cost of the house by requiring less timber, significantly increases The final detail adopted uses two layers of chicken wire mesh,
the strength and ductility of the connections and, importantly, one either side of the cane with steel wire through-ties (Davies,
results in connections that are more forgiving if errors are made. 2014). This eliminates any risk of spalling in large earthquakes
For the wall matrix, bahareque is traditionally constructed from and improves the in-plane strength of the wall, while also further
single- or double-skin walls – the former are much lighter and reducing the importance of the quality of the cement mortar, which
less costly and hence were selected. The options for the matrix can be hard to control.
material include cane, timber slats or split bamboo. The cane For the roof, a simple duo-pitch timber frame was selected,
species Gynerium sagittatum (known informally as caña brava which also follows the bahareque style. Instead of using the
(Francis, 2004)) was the obvious choice due to it being cheap,
sustainable, quick growing and readily available across the country
(Figure 7).
Out-of-plane shake-table tests of full-scale wall panels carried
out at Cambridge University (Davies, 2014) and flexural tests of
the cane at Coventry University (Chan, 2014) determined that it
was also sufficiently strong in bending to take the earthquake out-
of-plane loads reliably. Hence the timber stud spacing could be
increased, further reducing the quantity of timber required.
To protect the cane from termite and beetle attack, boron was
selected as the most appropriate treatment chemical because of
its efficacy against insects, its low mammalian toxicity and hence
safety for use by communities, its low cost and its availability
across the country as a fertiliser (Liese and Kumar, 2003).
The boron is applied using the quick and effective dip-diffusion
method developed in Costa Rica (Liese et al., 2002).
To improve the longevity of the structure, the mud traditionally
used to finish the walls is replaced with a simple sand–cement
mixture. This acts to protect the cane and timber better from rain,
requires less maintenance, provides an alkaline environment in Figure 9. Internal view of completed prototype house (from personal
which the steel nails are protected from corrosion and eliminates photo collection of Kaminski)
the risk of chinche. It also creates a more modern looking

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 Civil Engineering A low-cost vernacular improved housing design
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes

heavy traditional clay tiles for the roof covering, a corrugated

cement–fibreboard sheeting material was used. This has a fraction
of the weight of tiles (which reduces seismic loads), is relatively
inexpensive and is widely available across the country.
As a final verification of the seismic behaviour of the design,
a full-scale 3 m × 3 m model of one room of the house was
constructed on a shake-table at the University Mariano Gálvez,
Guatemala City (Figure 10) (Beteta et al., 2015). The specimen
was subjected to earthquake design loads up to 1·5 times greater
than the code requirements and experienced insignificant damage.
A video recording of the test also now serves as a powerful visual
tool with which to explain to lay people such as NGOs and potential
beneficiaries the advantages of such a construction system.
On completion of two prototypes of the house in 2012,
a comprehensive sociological evaluation of the design was
carried out (Bunclark, 2013) involving focus groups, interviews
and workshops with both the existing beneficiaries and other
community members currently living in substandard housing.
Figure 10. Damage state at end of shake-table test (Universidad
Although at first the thought of using cane and timber for a house
Mariano Gálvez, Guatemala City) of full-scale model of a room of the
was considered very negatively, after presenting the design and new design (from personal photo collection of Kaminski)
explaining the various details and treatment methods used, these
perceptions changed rapidly. By the end of the evaluation, all
participants provided very positive feedback on the houses, with disaster-resistant and durable (requiring only limited additional
over half preferring them to masonry. Comments on the design diagonal timber bracing) and can be made permanent at a later date
and the results of space-planning workshops for potential room with cane and mortar. This core shelter is two thirds of the cost of
layouts were then fed back into the design, resulting in an improved the permanent house and can be constructed in less than 3 weeks.
prototype being constructed in 2014.
The design team and Redes are currently looking for 3.3 Review of new design
opportunities to begin wide-scale construction of the housing A high-level (opposite of detailed) comparison between
system in a long-term development context to replace existing commonly constructed reinforced blockwork housing and the new
substandard housing. However, the design also has the ability to timber, cane and mortar house is presented in Table 2. The new
be constructed post-disaster as part of a progressive/core shelter design matches most of the blockwork characteristics, only
programme. In this mode, the structure can be finished only up to requiring a little more maintenance over its design life and a little
frame and roof level, and then the walls can be clad by beneficiaries specialised training for construction. It is also more seismically
in salvage material they have available (e.g. corrugated iron resistant, experiencing less damage in a large earthquake.
sheeting or plastic sheeting). The underlying structure remains

Characteristic Reinforced blockwork housing Timber, cane and mortar housing

Cost US$6000–6500 US$6000–6500
Carbon dioxide footprint High embodied energy and no renewable materials Uses renewable materials, 35% less cement and
40% less steel
Use of local materials None Cane (6% of cost)
Seismic resistance Code compliant Exceeds code requirements
Wind resistance Code compliant Code compliant
Durability Permanent, 30+ years Permanent, 30+ years
Maintenance requirements Minimal Minimal, painting
Ease of construction Simple, knowledge exists Moderate, some new training required
Internal temperature Comfortable in hot and cold weather Comfortable in hot and cold weather
Requires dangerous materials or construction No No
techniques
Popularity within the community High High
Risk of insects Low Low
Ability to form core house with a frame and roof only No – walls need to be built in order to form roof Yes – frame and roof can be built independently
from walls

Table 2. Comparison of reinforced blockwork housing and timber, cane and mortar housing

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 Civil Engineering
 Kaminski, Lawrence, Coates and Foulkes
With respect to carbon dioxide footprint, the new design is an
improvement in that it uses significant quantities of renewable
materials, 35% less cement and 40% less steel. By using local cane,
it also provides a new livelihood for local farmers. Finally, in a post-
disaster scenario, it has the ability to be constructed as a core house,
forming a frame and roof only, in less time and at reduced cost.
4. Conclusion
Vernacular housing styles generally adapt to the conditions
and markets in which they develop. Hence, when exploring new
housing solutions, there is much that can be learned from them.
This paper showed how a traditional form of housing such as
bahareque can be engineered to form a vernacular improved
construction style, which results in an improvement over both the
traditional style and other more modern forms of low-cost housing.
In comparison with importing new housing technologies to
developing countries in both long-term development and post-
disaster scenarios, simply improving traditional housing can often
be a more appropriate solution in many respects. However, it is
always essential to involve the community in all aspects of the
design process and to develop the solution to be within the abilities
of the beneficiaries to construct and maintain it.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research conducted
towards this project by Imperial College London, University
Mariano Gálvez, Cambridge University and Coventry University.
The authors would also like to thank the contributions made
towards the project by Engage for Development and the Imperial
College El Salvador Project.
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