Ecobreves – CUBA: Eco-Construction Hopes for Habitat Award

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, May 5 2007 (IPS) - A Cuban-developed method of construction with ecological materials is among the four finalist projects for the World Habitat Award, sponsored by the United Nations. Implemented in Cuba and in at least eight other countries, the approach focuses on developing building materials from alternative raw materials, ones that are cheaper and more resistant to natural disasters.

The Cuban eco-construction technique has already “proved its viability, and could change the paradigms of the relationship between academic institutions and the communities surrounding it,” says Fernanda Martirena, of CIDEM, a structures and material research center at the Central University of Villas, which designed it.

The award is given each October to projects that offer innovative solutions to housing problems around the globe.