The first building prototype SECU was realised in only three months, introducing the potential of highly compressed straw panels as a load-bearing building material.
The 1:1 scale prototype was erected on the EiABC campus in Addis Abeba with straw-panels imported from Germany, while options for future local production of the panels in Ethiopia were assessed.
The project included the realisation of three experimental prototypes in scale 1:1 over the project runtime of three years.
The basic SICU module was designed to be improved, adapted and expanded later by the inhabitants themselves depending on their shifting needs and resources.
The SICU prototype was the product of collaboration between different universities, the local city administration and the neighborhood comunity, and was awarded bronze in the Regional Holcim Award 2014 Africa Middle East.
The aim of MACU was to develop a small scale parameterised modular housing strategy which is flexible enough to suit the local needs of both Ethiopian and South Sudanese project partners.
MACU is a construction system made up of basic units, published under an open hardware license to be expanded, elaborated and adapted indefinitely based on local requirements and circumstances.
MACU consists completely of CNC milled plywood which is produced in Ethiopia out of Eucalyptus. It has no screws or nails and the only tool nessecary for assembly is a rubber hammer.