Architect builds eco-friendly houses for quake-hit Hatay

Ece Çelik - HATAY

An architect who survived the powerful twin earthquakes of early February has started an initiative to construct wooden, eco-friendly houses for the quake-hit provinces.

In the aftermath of the earthquakes that destroyed 11 provinces in the south, especially Hatay, many volunteer groups continue to work hard to create permanent shelter solutions, such as the Yuva Project, which aims to turn Hatay into an eco-friendly and sustainable city.

The project started with the efforts of volunteers and took on a new dimension after architect Gizem Cabaroğulları joined the project.

“I am from Hatay Samandağ. I lost six of my relatives in the earthquake. My friends and I made use of all our local networks for this project. We found an old furniture workshop and started working there.”

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, Cabaroğulları stated that this non-profit project also provided employment opportunities to locals as all proceeds from the sale of the houses to various organizations in the earthquake zone are allocated for the salaries and insurance payments of the employees.

“Currently, 16 of the 33-member team are women. We have produced 22 Yuva houses so far. Institutions such as the Autism Foundation and the Family and Social Services Ministry use them as classrooms, meeting spaces, kindergartens and psychological counseling centers,” she said.

What makes these wooden, eco-friendly Yuva houses different from tiny houses or regular containers is that the project is based on a larger and more comfortable house model, which also includes special features such as storing rainwater for water conservation purposes and using ‘fire extinguisher balls’ for a much stronger fire resistance than regular wooden houses. 

Emphasizing that architects undertook a crucial role during the reconstruction process after the destruction of the whole city, she noted that Hatay should be rebuilt as both an environmentally friendly and disabled-friendly city since thousands of residents became disabled after the disaster.

“There was a big problem of illegal construction in the city, it was full of unsound buildings and we saw the results of that. An important problem in Hatay was that the city was built in a contiguous order. In the earthquake, the buildings collapsed by crashing into each other because there was no room to stretch. Many citizens in Hatay became disabled after the earthquake. Therefore, we should build new houses in the new city by taking all these details into consideration.”