My name is Philip Chidi-Njemanze. I am a civil engineering student from HZ University, Vlissingen. For my final thesis, I will be working on the Kaveh project. The aim of this project is to design sustainable offgrid container-houses. These structures will be a redesigned from regular 20 feet and 40 feet shipping containers. These container-houses fall under two categories; solo and grouped. The solo containers will primarily function as a housing for wildlife rangers while the grouped containers will serve as housing for earthquake victims in Iran.
Impact on the way we live
I will be reviewing and revising the initial design by students from Van Hall Larenstein University with the intention of making them more cost-effective, sustainable and liveable. I will also be focusing on the structural aspects of the project.
As an aspiring civil engineer, I believe we are in a position to influence society drastically. Civil works, technologies and practices go a long way in impacting the way people live their lives as well as the state of the environment.
Kaveh project
I have always had an affinity with animals and nature and am pleased to have the opportunity to be this closely involved with their well-being. Several species within the region, most notably the Asiatic cheetah are critically endangered (less than 100 individuals left in the wild).
This helps to emphasize the importance of the conservation efforts being made by NGO Simba. In addition to this, Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. The frequent occurrence of earthquakes has led to the deaths and displacement of hundreds in recent years. The Kaveh project aims to provide homes for these victims. Due to the unibody design of the containers, they serve as safer housing alternatives in case of future earthquake occurrences.
Working for this project will help me realise my personal goals of giving a positive impact to both nature and the society. The off-grid design of the containers make them very applicable as sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant. It has been a key part of my studies over the past
four years, hence its importance can not be overstated.