AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
KEYWORDS
LOW-COST HOUSING, open-source , integrated design
COUNTRY
India
DESIGNED BY
Carlo Ratti, Architect
Indian non-profit WeRise
WEBSITE
https://carloratti.com/project/livingboard/
The Livingboard system
Low-cost, open-source housing system
"Livingboard provides access to basic services – from electricity to water treatment – while encouraging an open-source approach to design, allowing people to build their own dwellings on top of a prefabricated core." Livingboard is the prototype of a portable “motherboard system” to improve housing conditions in rural parts of India. Livingboard encourages an open-source approach to design, allowing people to build their own dwellings on top of a prefabricated core. The first pilot is currently under study for development in the Indian state of Karnataka, near Bangalore. Livingboard is a flexible “core” system to support the development of housing initiatives in any rural area of the world. This core must be positioned horizontally, constituting the floor of a 12-square meter room (3x4m). It can provide, depending on the geography and infrastructure of the region, water storage and distribution, water treatment through filtration, waste management, heating, batteries etc.