Simple and fast modular method to build cheap, ecological and resilient

houses
Miguel Angel Vargas Cruz
President of Grupo Alianza Empresarial, NY 10001
April 24, 2019

Abstract: I developed an open method to build houses focused on efficiency and ecology, using easy
to obtain materials and you don’t need hard to learn skills. In this paper I want to describe the
process to build this house, in other papers I will share multiple ecological methods that can be easily
integrated in this house helping to omit public services.

Introduction
The cost to build houses is really high, in the third world case, most of the people build their own houses, sometimes
in dangerous ways and there are not asequible alternatives. Most of the permaculture methods miss the natural
light advantage, are too slow to build, require a lot of work and experience to make a good job, the houses are not
modular, most of the time is hard to build and integrate other rooms.

The method
I developed this method using materials easy to obtain in Mexico, but you can use other materials available in
your region, maybe bamboo or wood for structure or adobe for walls.

The most important characteristic of the method is the modular capacity, because you can easily improve your
home, the modules are simple rectangular prisms that you can connect with screws or knots if you use other kind of
materials.

The suggested steel rectangular prism for Mexico (and other countries):

This prism must build with at least 2 inch steel angle for the structure, galvanized steel sheet for the walls and floor

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and glass for the windows, the structure can be protected with white epoxy paint, is important because you take
advantage of the natural light, improve the resistance, thermal isolation and sterility of the environment, I’m going
to describe the figures:

A. Is the most common module when you don’t have a perimeter wall, in fact using this module like a perime-
ter wall is cheaper than build one.

B. If you already have a perimeter wall you can use glass in all the walls, and you can cover with curtains, that
improve the thermal and sound isolation too.

C. This is a module to isolate a space, you can use glass or galvanized iron sheet depending on the design.

The floor could be 2 galvanized iron sheets with a wood sheet or gypsum panel in the middle and you can use
ribbed sheets and make a green roof to isolate the house from temperature and sound.

You can use laminated glass for the windows if you don’t have enough space, but if you have more space, you
can use simple glass with a mobile greenhouse surrounding the house (D) to maintain an excellent temperature
and sound isolation, if you want to reduce the indoor temperature, you can separate the greenhouse from the house,
in fact this greenhouse can provide vegetables for the users of the house and collect water from the rain and grey water.

The greenhouse can be built with cheaper materials like 1 inch steel angle and simple glass, in this example I
use the same ratio of the modules, but the size can vary.

I’m working in an optimal water deposit, solar panels, a solar heater, a refrigerator and a water collector, that’s the
reason why I didn’t draw the devices at this time.

The minimal distribution

I developed this project to have a cheap and optimal alternative to build houses, and I design a minimal distri-
bution that can be used as a refuge or the first investment for the house, that can be easily improved only increasing
more modules, and this could be the dream house for a minimalists, this is the distribution:

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Could contain a king size bed or two futons, a wardrobe, a refrigerator, a little desk that can be used to take meals
and a bathroom, this minimal distribution could be enough if the user is a vegan minimalist couple, if you add one
or two modules, can obtain a kitchen, or increase other module in the bathroom for a washing machine.

You can use this design in a 20 ft shipping container too, but is by far more expensive and require more effort
to obtain the same result, but if in your region is cheaper, you can do that, I’m doing an effort to reduce the price
lower than a simple shipping container on May, 2019.

About the author:

https://www.miguelangelvargascruz.com
https://www.grupoalianzaempresarial.com

Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0)