Tlholego Ecovillage:
A Sustainable Development Project in Rural South Africa
Housing
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Tlholego Ecovillage: A Sustainable Development Project in Rural South Africa Housing
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Cost Benefits Over
Standard Housing
The
goal we set for our first prototype house in 1996 was a four-room,
45-square-meter family home for Tlholego site manager Fanki Mokgokolo.
It features passive solar design with shower, laundry, kitchen
area, damp proofing, termite protection, insect screening, high-quality
surface finishes, on-site waste treatment and electricity in each room.
Many of these components are not even included in large high-cost houses
in South Africa. The price
limit we set was R8,000
(US$1,070 at $/R exchange rates of 7.5:1), which corresponds to the
"top structure"
proportion of the "site and services" approach. From
the beginning, we chose owner building because of the cost savings it
achieves. By selecting
labor intensive but low-cost techniques, we reduced material costs even
further. In 1996, based on
a one-off house, paying full retail prices for materials, we produced
this house with all of our objectives for R10,000. On a large project,
group purchasing could reduce this to less than the R8,000 limit.
Today, the costs for this unit would be closer to R18,000
(US$2,400 at $/R exchange rates of 7.5:1). An important dimension of the TBS houses is that they are designed to last far longer than those of conventional materials. By establishing permanent food systems in the immediate vicinity of the home, we are creating a living environment far larger than the internal dimensions of the house as well as setting the foundations for a family’s primary asset to appreciate in value over time. [Return
to Housing Table of Contents]
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Fanki and Kentse Mokgokolo beside their Prototype 1 house
Prototype 1 house perspective
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Flexible Design The
TBS can be applied across various sectors of the housing market and there
is plenty of flexibility to allow for designs to differ, according to
one’s personal set of criteria. The
various prototype The
TBS demonstrates that flexibility, quality design and materials standards
do not have to be compromised in low-cost housing systems.
It demonstrates that limits can be set to the degree of
flexibility, within a range of low-cost alternatives for each element of
the building. If the cost implications of the different alternatives are
clearly spelt out, then the owner-builder can make an informed choice,
within a certain cost structure. This
choice may be between different materials, based on cost or availability.
The choice may be between quality or quantity – a larger, lower-quality
house, or a smaller, higher-quality house. The flexibility of the TBS
facilitates staged construction, and/or extensions, at a later date depending on availability of resources. [Return to Housing Table of Contents]
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Prototype 3 house interior, left and below
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designs at Tlholego have shown that the TBS system can
easily be adapted to suit a particular situation.