Space Craft Systems & WikiHouse NZ:
Background to our project:
Born from a powerful sense of responsibility to those caught in the tragedy of the Canterbury earthquakes; for those who remain and the generations that will follow. A responsibility to ensure that the subsequent reconstruction of Christchurch and Canterbury doesn’t just build back that which has failed before and that which cannot take us forward sustainably; but instead to grasp this opportunity to re-imagine what could be and to build back better; much better. A project driven by the urgent need to address the high cost of both recent and long-standing issues in the built environment of New Zealand, a pressing need to transcend traditional solutions which have so far failed to address these needs, and the imperative to cast aside unsound, inappropriate and unsustainable contemporary construction methods as we move forward collectively to meet the mounting challenges of the twenty first century.
The vision:
To create a framework for world class design, manufacture & installation of small to medium sized dwellings, business premises and community spaces that sit lightly on the land and support community regeneration and resilience. To achieve volume production of buildings which outperform their traditional counterparts on a range of criteria, whilst also significantly reducing total cost of ownership. To perfect an agile construction method that contributes to a new transitional architecture - equally able to quickly address immediate needs, but also form part of a long-term solution; a combination which avoids using precious resources on temporary short term fixes and at the same time frees planners from rigid traditional planning - unsuited to meeting constantly changing requirements and unable to quickly respond to the lessons we will learn as a new vision progressively unfolds over time... A new way of working that reduces requirements for expensive and vulnerable infrastructure. A system that supports and empower the citizens of communities to directly solve their own issues, that protects their investment, significantly lowers financial and environmental costs and fundamentally improves well-being. To provide a catalyst for meaningful jobs, capabilities and opportunities in the region and beyond. To demonstrate that through the application of ecological design principles on a physical, social and spiritual level, that it is possible to create responsive built environments that are not only sustainable financially and environmentally in terms of their local & global impact, but create enhanced living solutions in co-operation with nature.
More details of the NZ WikiHouse project is coming soon; watch this space... in the meantime you can also check out the information on the wikihouse.cc website.
