A Colombian architect devised a system of building homes from recycled plastic bricks that are easy to assemble.
In order to reduce the housing deficit in Colombia and environmental pollution, an architect designed a building model houses with bricks created from the use of discarded plastic.
A native of Bogota, Oscar Mendez is the one who devised this system called ‘Plastic Concepts’ that reminds the “Lego” blocks, since the shape of the bricks allows people who have no experience in construction to assemble the houses training only three hours. These are obtained with an injection process after melting and mixing various types of plastic and rubber.
One of the places where this type of construction is implemented in the department of Cauca, where shelters for 42 families in Guapi were built in 2015. For this initiative 200 tons of plastic were recycled.Homes can be temporary or permanent, such as shelters, classrooms, community halls and other buildings.
Unlike traditional construction methods, such bricks do not require additional materials to join, because the parts are fixed when assembled only with a hammer. There are eight types of products to build this type of housing , and each block weighs about 3 kilos.
The interesting thing about this project is that the company provides materials and training to be the same community to build the housing . Four people can build a house of 40 square meters in five days. The interesting thing is that these houses cost 30 percent less than those of traditional materials.
The blocks are manufactured with additives that allow retarding combustion in case of fire. Moreover, they are thermoacoustic.
The high temperatures allows the bricks inside the house is cool, and low temperature, helps retain heat .
Currently this project seeks to automate its production process and expand the model in Latin America, especially in countries where the shortage of housing is greater than 40% and plastics waste is a serious problem.
