Advantages of using raw materials in low cost sustainable structural solutions for single-family buildings

Abstract

In the last decades, the Portuguese housing building industry has been mainly fo-cused on the construction based on reinforced concrete framed structures and non-structural clay brick masonry for exterior and interior partition walls. Recently, this industry started to in-clude alternative structural materials, such as steel and timber. The earth based construction techniques and solutions still remains limited to individual cases, in which the owner and/or contractor have a particular concern and knowledge of these ecological solutions. Within this context was developed the present research work, in which a sustainable structural solution for a typical house using natural materials is proposed and studied. Two different structural solu-tions are defined, namely a reinforced concrete framed column-beam solution (designated by traditional solution) and a solution based on adobe masonry and timber structures for floors and roof (designated by sustainable solution). These two alternative structural solutions are then compared in terms of building costs, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. All the main as-pects related to the design of the sustainable solution, such as the design assumptions, structural models and behaviour parameters are described. Taking into account that the proposed sustain-able solution is uncommon in the Portuguese building context, the difficulties faced during the design are also pointed out and commented.