In January 2014, ten students from the University of NSW will travel to Cambodia to build houses they have designed for the impoverished rural village of Chaom Trach, halfway between the country’s old and new capitals of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.
For the last semester of 2013, a cohort of thirty UNSW students from both engineering and built environment faculties worked together on the project as part of the Sustainable Energy For Developing Countries course, which is run by the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, but open to postgraduate students from the built environment faculty.
The brief was set by course convenors and RAWImpact, a relatively new NGO working in Cambodia on community programs. Specifically the project involved students working in six groups (evenly split between engineering and built environment) to:
- Design and specify a sustainable dwelling for a family in Chaom Trach with a materials budget of $2,000;
- Design a pilot renewable energy project with a hardware budget of $20,000 (part of the university project and not actually being undertaken by RAWImpact); and
- Provide an implementation model for the construction of the dwelling, and the introduction of the new technologies, including management, scheduling, financing and capacity building.
During the course, regular studio sessions were held with different architects and engineers who helped the groups with their house designs. Final designs were judged by a panel of course lecturers, architects and engineers. It was originally intended that one final house design would be selected for construction in the village, but the calibre of entries was such that they will build a combination of all six.
UNSW engineering student Marton Kalocsay.
As part of the course, ten of the students will travel to Cambodia in January 2014 to build around five houses and complete the project. Among the cohort is third-year engineering student Marton Kalocsay. “Chaom Trach is incredibly poor and dilapidated, with few working toilets, no health services or grid electricity supply. There are two water pumps within the village, shared by 100 families, which pump bore water for cooking, bathing and drinking. Poor quality housing is a significant issue, as is sanitation, and the almost non-existance of a skilled workforce, another impact of the Khmer Rouge.
“During our time in the village, we will be working with labourers and professionals as well as the father of the family that will own the house. We will also be partaking in activities within the village primarily focused on educating the children and improving health (washing hair to remove nits and other basic hygiene practices). As part of the project, we were asked to cover our own travel expenses and raise about $1,000 each to help with the cost of building materials and professional help, so we’re looking for financial support from organizations or individuals for the project.”
Marton Kalocsay’s fundraising page.
The video briefly outlines the work RAWImpact does in Chaom Trach.
