Slumtube transforms pallets and other recycled materials into a semi-circular long house that is insulated from the heat and cold. The structure also makes use of other waste products like old formwork panels, straw and clay — materials which are both available and affordable.

Three Austrian workers and five locals constructed the “Slumtube” in three months. Slumtube was built in a township near Johannesburg and it was first used to accommodate European students who volunteered to educate the community’s children. In the future the structure will be used to house residents of the township, improving their standard of living. The project was sponsored by the Austrian government (BMVIT and FFG) in cooperation with the Technical University of Vienna.

In Johannesburg, temperatures can fluctuate from 45 degrees C in the summer to -2 degrees in the winter, and many homes are not equipped to keep residents comfortable. Most shelters are made out of metal sheets and wooden beams — these serve well to keep the rain out, but provide no insulation, so they are sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter. Residents usually burn whatever they can find to provide heat — even discarded pallets that they find at nearby factories.

From inhabitat