Creative Uses of Land

Climate conditions, urban growth, legal restrictionsÐthere's no shortage of challenges to finding suitable land for building houses. Habitat affiliates around the world are finding creative ways to make the best use of available space. Here are just a few examples.

In some parts of Papua New Guinea, rainfall can be extremely heavy, exceeding 300 inches per year. Building houses on stilts helps keep the houses dry, and the area under the house is used for storage, community gatherings and livestock.

A defined urban growth boundary in Portland, Ore., encourages high-density building. Zoning laws in some areas specifically require multi-family units. Portland HFH builds row houses to make the most of available lots. By building more units on the available space, construction manager Rick Marshall says the affiliate has been able to build homes with about 15 more families than it could have by building detached houses.

Braga HFH in Portugal also is building row houses. Each unit will have a bit of land the family can use for a garden, a cultural tradition that is very important to the Portuguese, says international partner Jane Silverman. By building the houses in a row, the affiliate expects to save time and building materials. For example, instead of eight exterior end walls as would be necessary in four detached houses, there will be two, and the walls can insulate and hold plumbing for two houses at once. Also, the roof is continuous, making more efficient use of labor and materials.


--Rebekah Graydon





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, August/September 2000.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International