THE IDEA
Nowadays there is much talk about the disintegration of family values but no mention of what sustains these values, namely what keeps families together. Since the sixties the breaking of close family ties seems to be the norm, and the housing industry, catering to the changing needs of a mobile society, has customized living conditions nation wide by clustering different generations in separate housing communities. Families scattered across the country are now facing the dilemma what to do when, due to health or circumstance an ailing family member needs to be taken care of for an extended period of time. The Smart Village corrects that social oversight by providing accommodations for sustainable family relationships without disrupting the life styles of different generations.
The Smart Village, a self-governing cooperative of three buildings where no person owns a piece of a building but purchases shares allotted by square footage, sustains itself by a monthly maintenance fee that covers the upkeep of the premises and pays the taxes. The Co-op, governed by officers elected by its inhabitants, is in turn accountable to the office of administrators who runs a complex of such net-working villages. As family situations change, a growing family has only to purchase extra shares to move into a larger apartment within the complex, while parents with children ready to leave can settle in a smaller unit, depositing the left over shares on a studio for the young adult in an adjacent building or village. Seniors, wanting to live independently, can move into the third building. The infirm, instead of being institutionalized, stay there close to their families in the care of a staff employed by the Village. The proximity of these three facilities eliminates an array of painful decisions incurred by the scattering of families, contemporary housing strategies, and the prohibiting costs of medical and institutional care.
The shells, built by the K-Method, are especially suitable for areas prone to flood & hurricane devastation and harsh temperature changes.
Advantages of the K-Method are:- Easy to build / frames partly prefabricated
- Cost efficient / low construction & maintenance costs
- Thermally efficient / R-27
- Termite proof / metal framing can replace wood
- Light weight / a collapsing building is less life threatening
- Aerodynamic shapes / wind resistant
