SCRUTINISING THE ZEMCH DESIGN APPROACH TO SOCIAL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Brazil faces the challenge of delivering affordable sustainable homes and it is emerging as a major problem due to the housing shortage of 5.8 million units. In March 2009, Brazil launched a social housing support program called “My House, My Life” (MHML) and it was aimed at promoting the production of new housing units for low to middle-income families. However, the previous experience of housing developments completed under the MHML program shows that the cost-driven delivery approach is affecting the whole lifecycle cost, quality and performance of these homes. The lack of housing design customisability and the negligence of overall product quality of these homes delivered to date have dr..