Paper presented at the XXXIII IAHS World Congress on Housing, 27-30 September 2005,"Transforming Housing Environments through Design", University of Pretoria.
This paper investigates the recycling of waste materials for use in social housing in South Africa. The availability, environmental impact, physical, acoustic and thermal performance of these materials are assessed within the context of Soshanguve, Tshwane (Pretoria). Firstly, the paper briefly considers Soshanguve as a suitable context. Thereafter, environmentally responsible materials for use in social housing are suggested in the light of open building systems. The aim of the study is to ascertain which of these proposed waste materials are most suitable for use in the creation of interior partitioning and furniture in social housing schemes. The introduction of these modular infill-systems, made of locally collected re-usable materials, could contribute to the low-cost construction of sustainable social housing in South Africa.
