Why Caheeba
Sustainable Living
Work and the environment,are the main factors determiningthroughout time,the living conditions of people. The contemporary growth model exhibitssustainability in humans; it is therefore necessary to find a new work-living model which will be in balance with the environment.
The Caheeba, include building types of summer, six month or annual use, that can be transported anywhere with road access, without requiring additional infrastructure. Their installation does not require any alterations of the natural terrain and their operation does not burden the soil, the air or water with pollutants.
Way of Life
The Caheeba buildings are addressed to groups of people who desire to live a different experience, for a short period vacation and even for a complete change in their living model up to now. If they wish, their time can be shared between the financial earning work (many will have the opportunity to work several hours from home) and their environmental work, which will concern all the necessary management activities of their living environmental load. By correspondence to the traditional settlements and villages that were meeting their limited living needs with their own resources and had small environmental footprint, the Caheeba residents will be using technology in their environmental work in order to meet their current expanded needs with low or zero environmental footprint.
Community
The Caheeba are intended, for suburban, touristic / vacationing and rural areas, where there are free spaces and expanses with possibilities of cultivation or other installations.This is because they can operate as stand-alone units, having little or no dependency on existing energy or other infrastructure. Additionally, they can form cells of autonomous communities, or complementary ones to existing settlements, thus contributing to the revival of small villages and rural communities in conjunction with stable forms of green building.
Their presence and functioning mode, affect their social and economic surroundings towards sustainable living. Due to their nomadic characteristics, when the reasons for their presence in the region cease to exist (social, climatic, economic, tourist reasons), the Caheeba will be transferred to other areas, not leaving behind any environmental residues or irreversible alterations of the natural terrain.
Adaptability-Flexibility
The Caheeba have variable climatic and operating characteristics of daily operation, which are combined with the elements of each environmental surrounding. The range of their adaptation capabilities is determined by the functional requirements of living, while different types of equipment are required, depending on the climatic zones and environmental possibilities, e.g. the climate adaptation required for a Cycladic island with dry climate, sun, wind, small farming possibilities and lack of drinking water, is rather different than that for an Ionian island, with humid climate, abundant water, less sunlight and air,as well asfertile land for cultivation.
Architectural Form
The properties of Caheeba are combined with innovative architectural designs that have characteristics of active and passive energy planning, as well as intelligent interior layout solutions. The restrictions imposed on the dimensions of Caheeba because of their portability, have beneficial effects on their scale, as they prevent the creation of large and complex building volumes.
The combinations of the above features have resulted in the creation of innovative products, rendering them unique in their kind worldwide.
Technology
Besides the passive architectural design that reduces the residential energy consumption, the active design incorporates technological solutions that manage the environmental load of buildings. These, individually concern any building, but in the case of establishing a group of buildings (e.g. touristic settlements) they will be cooperating to improve their performance. The methods of production and storage of energy and natural resources for consumptionare using the following technological solutions:
- Solar collectors (photovoltaic / solar-thermal panels)
- Wind generators
- Heat pumps
- Batteries
- Cooling / heating Storage in solid and liquid form
- Cultivation of plants for energy production and nutrition
The methods of managing the environmental waste from the consumption of energy and natural resources will use the following technological solutions:
- Biological treatment
- Composting
- Recycle-Reuse
- Irrigation
The choice of technological solutions depends on the environmental conditions and infrastructure of the area, the ease of their maintenance, the cost and the usage time of the residences.